HO-HO MAN LEMME TELL YOU ABOUT THIS BOOK
we've got two gay guys, one has ADHD (arthur), one is Puerto Rican (ben). Ben's best friend gets panic attacks. OH AND THAT's NOT ALL
Healthy romantic relationships!
Great friendships!
Healthy ways to make up with your friends!
A little bit of teenage-angst, but acknowledgment of that teenage-angst!
Great parents!
A first-love story!

This follows two guys. Arthur is living in New York City for the summer while his mom works at her firm's NYC office. Arthur interns there for the summer to add it to his resume. His dad is a web-developer between jobs. He came out to his friends and family just before the summer and their all super chill about it, but his friend Ethan has been acting kind weird. Arthur is Jewish and he has ADHD. This story isn't about Arthur being gay and coming-out, and it's not about his struggles with ADHD, it's about his first love, Ben.
Ben is Puerto Rican, and he's white-passing. He's just broken up with his friends-first, now ex-boyfriend Hudson. Them dating and breaking up has taken a toll on his friend group, and they've broken up into Hudson and Harriet, and Ben and Dylan. Dylan has a panic disorder (hashtag relatable!). But now he's taking summer school and Hudson and Harriet are there, so it sucks.
Upon taking a box of Hudson's stuff to the post office so Ben doesn't have to hand it over in person, Ben and Arthur run into each other.
The parents are fantastic too. I've said this before and I'll say it again, YA author consistently find ways to get rid of parents so their characters can do whatever they want and it's just not realistic in contemporaries. Ben's parents are great with getting him to connect with his Puerto Rican roots, and he's got a reasonable curfew. They show interest in his grades and they want to meet Arthur right away. Arthur's parents encourage him to openly talk about his relationships and share his everyday life with him. Arthur is concerned cause they seem to be fighting a lot lately since his dad is between jobs, but they're open about that, too.
A big thing for me was that this book wasn't about the struggles of mental health, or arguing parents, or finding where you fit in the world, or coming-out - even though those issues are there and they're important, it's not the sole focus of the story. Instead this book is about relationships. Romantic and platonic. The different ways platonic friends show affection for each other, the different ways romantic relationships show affection. It's about breaking-up and making-up. I loved how the rifts in friendships were handled. It's something everyone goes through, and the characters handle it in such mature and healthy ways. It's ok when books handle it like teenagers might, but they rarely learn their mistakes when that happens. This book doesn't do that. They make mistake, but they learn and they grow, and they make mature decisions because of it. And I'm not gonna spoil it... but the ending! I really, really liked the ending!
Oh, and Ben and Arthur are both total nerds. Ben wants to be a writer and his writing a fantasy novel. He's into fanfiction and playing the Sims. Arthur is obsessed with musicals... particularly Dear Even Hansen and Hamilton, right now. So like, obviously you have to read this if you like Hamilton. I kind of wanted to be annoyed with the Hamilton references. Sometimes I find references to current tech and pop-culture in novels pulls me out a bit. It almost feels like reaching and begging for an audience to read your books. But this is references done right. Instagram and texting fit seamlessly into the narrative, and sharing a love for writing and a love for Hamilton is just what friends do. When you like something, you want to share it. So it's not overdone in the way I feel like other authors overdo the references.

Obviously this one's a 5/5 stars. I can't wait for everyone to read it come September!

Thanks again to Harper Collins for the e-arc on Edelweiss!