This book was everything I wanted and more. When I read the summary, I had a completely different idea in my head – especially having read Hello Forever first. While the premise was nowhere near what I expected, it was original, beautiful, and I knew I was in for something extraordinary within the first few paragraphs.

Josh and Caleb’s story will gut you, tear you into pieces, and then put you back together in the most beautiful mosaic art you can imagine. You will laugh… a lot, but you will definitely need to have a box of Kleenex nearby. Josh’s story, perspective, and journey are so disheartening, yet enlightening.

What I love about this story – and the sequel – is that being gay isn’t glorified. It isn’t some spectacular gift with no qualms that the world just accepts with open arms. In a lot of fictional stories, it is glorified, where everyone is accepting, loving, and you can just be yourself. The mixture of perspectives between Josh and Caleb breathes life into what it means to not only realize you are queer but to see how the rest of the world may treat you, perceive you, and the losses you may endure just to be yourself. Each time you come out (because it is not a one-and-done event), it brings the same feelings of vulnerability and insecurity all over again.

I applaud Sarina Bowen for keeping it real (as real as you can within fiction) and not glamorizing the lifestyle. You feel the pain, the fear, and the struggle, which makes the ending so powerful that I, personally, was a blubbering mess.

The icing on the cake was their friend Maggie’s journey – what she went through, how she persevered, and how it motivated her to help others. What happened to her sister?! I wasn’t ready for that, but it was needed to show why Caleb just…well, why he broke and the weight of everything that came crashing down. It also set the stage for Josh to rise like a phoenix. The third act of the book was incredible, and that says a lot because I couldn’t help but keep turning the pages.

I have enjoyed a lot of books by Sarina Bowen, but she truly has a gift with her MM romances, and I can’t wait to read more. I gave a lot of credit to Kennedy for the Him series, but after reading this one and Hello Forever, I humbly give credit where credit is due. I now believe there was more of Bowen in the heart of those books than I originally realized.