I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars overall.

This book was very much set up like Grease, as the blurb promises. Ollie is still savoring his casual summer fling in North Carolina when he finds out that his family is staying in North Carolina instead of heading back to California--and his summer fling, Will, won't acknowledge him. What follows is a sensitive portrayal of love, sexuality, and loss as Will struggles to hide their relationship from the world around them and Ollie tries to reconcile his feelings with the hurt Will is causing him, all while Ollie's Aunt Linda is battling cancer.

The way Gonzales writes evokes a very real sense of what it's like to be a teenager; I think it will resonate well with its intended audience. In this way, I appreciated that Ollie's new set of friends was tentatively accepting of him in the beginning; it can be annoying when YA authors write "insta-friendships" in their books--where's the struggle to fit in there, especially in a new environment? Will and Lara were both incredibly frustrating at times, which was grating, even if it was meant to highlight their character development. The way Gonzales portrays illness and death also felt very real and was not romanticized; I teared up several times.