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stacy837's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, and Alcohol
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Panic attacks/disorders
evelynyle_88's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, and Homophobia
Moderate: Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, and Bullying
Minor: Grief and Sexual content
luxxltyd's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Alcohol
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Mental illness
Minor: Addiction, Sexual content, Infidelity, and Grief
hayleythegoose's review
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
ivulikkivulik's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Divorceitsnotalakeitsanocean's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol and Infidelity
Minor: Cursing, Homophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders
diana_raquel's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
“I feel the past clinging to me like condensation on a glass of water. He’s everywhere around me. He’s my relief, and my protection.”
Look at me!! Reading a book I know nothing about! This was impulse buying. I liked the title and decided to buy it. However, it was a nice surprise. This is a coming-of-age story about 4 friends that decide to follow different paths during the summer before their senior year of high school. It's a story about identity, growing up, and romance. The characters are well-written and well-developed. And the story itself is also well-structured. I also liked that the reader has access to other mediums, such as images of Reese's schedule.
However, I think that the pacing is slow in the beginning. And that affected my reading experience to the point that I thought about DNF'ing the book. After the friends went their separate ways, the story becomes more dynamic but, in the beginning, it was very slow for my liking.
Still, it is a solid reading.
Look at me!! Reading a book I know nothing about! This was impulse buying. I liked the title and decided to buy it. However, it was a nice surprise. This is a coming-of-age story about 4 friends that decide to follow different paths during the summer before their senior year of high school. It's a story about identity, growing up, and romance. The characters are well-written and well-developed. And the story itself is also well-structured. I also liked that the reader has access to other mediums, such as images of Reese's schedule.
However, I think that the pacing is slow in the beginning. And that affected my reading experience to the point that I thought about DNF'ing the book. After the friends went their separate ways, the story becomes more dynamic but, in the beginning, it was very slow for my liking.
Still, it is a solid reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, and Mental illness
Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, and Infidelity
Minor: Sexual content
emmaward55's review
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.5
This review is a bit of a sad one, because I'm feeling disappointment with this book.
It starts slow and the pacing felt off throughout. Having four point of view characters can be tricky at the best of times, but it was too many narrators in the allotted space. Stamper would have done better either by spending more time with each boy (and giving us a longer book) or cutting one of the POVs. This is a shame to say, because at first all the different stories sound so interesting, but we're never with any character long enough to get anything of substance from them. I know as much about these boys in chapter sixty as I did in chapter ten.
Heath suffered the worse from this, with what felt like barely any chapters to live out his child-of-divorce plot. I can list off five surface-level facts about his life and that's it. I didn't get why Reese had such a thing for him. Reese is also the other character who doesn't seem to undergo any significant transformation during his "character arc", if we can call it that. He decides he likes a slightly different field of art better than his current interest and that was... it? There was no sense of passion from him in his chapters, no inspiration or excitement in his telling of events. He was boring for an artist.
Sal and Gabe fare better overall, with the former confirming that he has no idea what his next step is, and the latter getting a shot of confidence for the first time. Sal's plot was the most interesting. I could have read an entire novel just about Sal's time interning for the Senator.
Honestly I'm losing interest in writing this review now. I don't think it was a bad book, but it had some pretty big structural flaws. The writing isn't detailed, but it's easy to read and fine if you're just looking for some lighthearted queer romance and friendship dynamics.
It starts slow and the pacing felt off throughout. Having four point of view characters can be tricky at the best of times, but it was too many narrators in the allotted space. Stamper would have done better either by spending more time with each boy (and giving us a longer book) or cutting one of the POVs. This is a shame to say, because at first all the different stories sound so interesting, but we're never with any character long enough to get anything of substance from them. I know as much about these boys in chapter sixty as I did in chapter ten.
Heath suffered the worse from this, with what felt like barely any chapters to live out his child-of-divorce plot. I can list off five surface-level facts about his life and that's it. I didn't get why Reese had such a thing for him. Reese is also the other character who doesn't seem to undergo any significant transformation during his "character arc", if we can call it that. He decides he likes a slightly different field of art better than his current interest and that was... it? There was no sense of passion from him in his chapters, no inspiration or excitement in his telling of events. He was boring for an artist.
Sal and Gabe fare better overall, with the former confirming that he has no idea what his next step is, and the latter getting a shot of confidence for the first time. Sal's plot was the most interesting. I could have read an entire novel just about Sal's time interning for the Senator.
Honestly I'm losing interest in writing this review now. I don't think it was a bad book, but it had some pretty big structural flaws. The writing isn't detailed, but it's easy to read and fine if you're just looking for some lighthearted queer romance and friendship dynamics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Cursing, and Alcohol
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content
queer_bookwyrm's review
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
3 ⭐ CW: bullying/homophobia mention, anxiety/panic attacks, Covid/pandemic mentions
Golden Boys by Phil Stamper is a contemporary novel about four gay best friends from a small Ohio town that are each about to go on separate summer adventures. This was a nice and light summery read, but I felt it didn't really have much substance.
We get POV chapters from Sal, the uptight buttoned up one with ambitions to get to work in politics; Gabriel, his best friend/hook up who suffers from panic attacks and wants to save the trees; Reese, the guy from a big family who gets to study design in Paris; and Heath, the poorest of the group dealing with his parent's divorce and being shipped off to Florida with his aunt and cousin. Heath is my favorite.
I loved seeing how their friendships work and balance each other out. It was also nice to see platonic intimacy depicted from teen boys. Each character is trying to find out who they are away from Ohio and away from their friends. Sal and Gabe strive to figure out how to be just friends in order to let each other grow, and Heath and Reese both have huge crushes on each other, but don't know it.
This was a sweet story, but I think it was a bit young for me or it could be the fact that I have a hard time being gripped by contemporary YA stories. It was fine, but it just didn't have that...*something*, you know?
If you're looking for a sweet, easy summer read about teen romance and then finding themselves, this is perfect for that.
Golden Boys by Phil Stamper is a contemporary novel about four gay best friends from a small Ohio town that are each about to go on separate summer adventures. This was a nice and light summery read, but I felt it didn't really have much substance.
We get POV chapters from Sal, the uptight buttoned up one with ambitions to get to work in politics; Gabriel, his best friend/hook up who suffers from panic attacks and wants to save the trees; Reese, the guy from a big family who gets to study design in Paris; and Heath, the poorest of the group dealing with his parent's divorce and being shipped off to Florida with his aunt and cousin. Heath is my favorite.
I loved seeing how their friendships work and balance each other out. It was also nice to see platonic intimacy depicted from teen boys. Each character is trying to find out who they are away from Ohio and away from their friends. Sal and Gabe strive to figure out how to be just friends in order to let each other grow, and Heath and Reese both have huge crushes on each other, but don't know it.
This was a sweet story, but I think it was a bit young for me or it could be the fact that I have a hard time being gripped by contemporary YA stories. It was fine, but it just didn't have that...*something*, you know?
If you're looking for a sweet, easy summer read about teen romance and then finding themselves, this is perfect for that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Bullying
imstephtacular's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Alcoholism
Minor: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Classism, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Grief
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