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patslibrary's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting, Homophobia, and Racism
Minor: Sexual harassment
book_lover206's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Biphobia and Homophobia
Minor: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
wellreadjill_'s review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Stalking, Sexual content, Racial slurs, and Gaslighting
queerolderdaughter13's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-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
5.0
(I don’t think this contains spoilers but idk,read at your own risk I guess)
Read this book.Please.Is really worth it.
I love this book,is actually my favorite book.
Is kind of hard for me to believe than this amazing book is Casey’s DEBUT novel.
I love it especially for how real it felt,the way they felt exposed to the world by the constant following the media had in them,the racism Alex and June experienced,the feelings and the way the characters felt so human,like you could see yourself in them easily.
I love it,definitely recommend
Also this book is an ADULT book,not Young Adult.
I see this book as (in my personal opinion) a love letter to history,a love letter to being impulsive and clumsy and a fucking nerd,a love letter to those people who love shitty teen magazines,and who read a lot,and who’s is mental health is the WORST,and to those who feel like they were born to do something big,to be someone big.A love letter to Texas,to Mexico,to being weird,to being yourselves,to keep going on and on,and not giving up,doesn’t matter how many times this world is going to hurt us.To not being white,to queer history,to those who wonder which space in the universe they take vs which one they really want to take,to the lgbt community,to those who live in abusive families,to those who come out and are out and proud and doesn’t give a shit what anyone says,and to those who can’t come out.A love letter to queer love,and to those who stand up to their abusive family members,and to those who can’t.To those who want to make a change in this world,and who have a heart of gold.A love letter to older siblings,to Mexican culture,to justice,to peace,to equality.
It also have great representation of mental health (as someone with terrible mental health) (depression,adhd,anxiety,dr0gs addiction,panic attacks)
Check tw’s before reading (I don’t consider the book triggering but you’ll never know)
(TW’s:
Addiction
Alcohol
Anxiety
Blackmail
Cancer (mentioned,side character)
Death (parental, mentioned)
Drug abuse (mentioned)
Forced outing
Grief
Homophobia
Invasion/violation of privacy
Neglect (parental)
Panic attack
Politics
Racism
Sexual abuse (mentioned)
Sexual harassment (mentioned)
Sexually explicit scenes)
Also I swear to god than Alex and Henry are fucking soulmates,I would kill for them.
+June and Nora were definitely dating,you can’t convince me otherwise
(Also,Casey,did you entered my brain to write Henry? I kin him so much omg)
(Some of my fav quotes because why not)
“Should I tell you that when we’re apart, your body comes back to me in dreams? That when I sleep, I see you, the dip of your waist, the freckle above your hip, and when I wake up in the morning, it feels like I’ve just been with you, the phantom touch of your hand on the back of my neck fresh and not imagined? That I can feel your skin against mine, and it makes every bone in my body ache? That, for a few moments, I can hold my breath and be back there with you, in a dream, in a thousand rooms, nowhere at all?”
“Here lies Prince Henry of Wales. He died as he lived: avoiding plans and sucking cock.”
“You see, for me, memories are difficult. Very often, they hurt. A curious thing about grief is the way it takes your entire life, all those foundational years that made you who you are, and makes them so painful to look back upon because of the absence there, that suddenly they’re inaccessible. You must invent an entirely new system.”
“Seriously,” he says. Henry’s looking back at him, beautiful and vital and heartsick and still, always, the person Alex is willing to risk ruining his life for. “I hate this so much. I know. But we’re gonna do it together. And we’re gonna make it work. You and me and history, remember? We’re just gonna fucking fight. Because you’re it, okay? I’m never gonna love anybody in the world like I love you. So, I promise you, one day we’ll be able to just be, and fuck everyone else.”
“He wants to set himself on fire, but he can’t afford for anyone to see him burn.”
“He’s definitely not thinking about Henry.
He’s not thinking about Henry when he puts in twenty-three hours in his first week of work, or when he’s filling the rest of his hours with class and papers and going for long runs and drinking triple-shot coffees and poking around the Senate offices. He’s not thinking about Henry in the shower or at night, alone and wide awake in his bed.
Except for when he is. Which is always.”
“But Nora makes friends, and Alex ends up with acquaintances who think they know him because they’ve read his profile in New York magazine, and perfectly fine people with perfectly fine bodies who want to take him home from the bar. None of it is satisfying—it never has been, not really, but it never mattered as much as it does now that there’s the sharp counterpoint of Henry, who knows him. Henry who’s seen him in glasses and tolerates him at his most annoying and still kissed him like he wanted him, singularly, not the idea of him.
So it goes, and Henry is there, in his head and his lecture notes and his cubicle, every single stupid day, no matter how many shots of espresso he puts in his coffee.”
“I love him, with all that, because of all that. On purpose. I love him on purpose.”
“Bisexuality is truly a rich and complex tapestry,”
“In the end they picked Dickens, which is hilarious. They wanted something less fruity than the truth, but truly, what is gayer than a woman who languishes away in a crumbling mansion wearing her wedding gown every day of her life, for the drama?”
Henry speaking facts since always
“If Alex’s head is a storm, Henry is the place lightning hits ground.”
“History, huh? Bet we could make some. Affectionately yrs, slowly going insane”
“Straight people, he thinks, probably don't spend this much time convincing themselves that they're straight.”
“But the truth is, also, simply this: love is indomitable.”
“Alex forgets what he was going to say next.
He just ... Well, he gets told he’s great a lot. He just doesn’t often get told he’s good enough.”
“He’s looking fresh-faced and relaxed, all rolled-up sleeves and soft gray linen, and Alex feels calmer knowing somewhere in Wales, Henry got a decent night’s sleep.”
NOT ALEX STRESSING OVER SCHOOL BUT FEELING CALMER AT THE FACT THAN HENRY SLEPT WELL I-😭
“I do think I got a gut feeling with you, I just didn’t have what I needed in my head to understand it. But I kind of kept chasing it anyway, like I was just going blindly in a certain direction and hoping for the best. I guess that makes you the North Star?”
“and then Alex has him, inhaling the clean smell of him, laughing into the crook of his neck.
“Hi, love,” he hears Henry say quietly, privately, right into the hair above his ear, and Alex’s breath forgets how to do anything but laugh helplessly.”
“Dear Thisbe,
I wish there weren’t a wall.
Love, Pyramus”
“I’m not ... good at saying these things like you are, but. I’ve always thought ... ever since I knew about me, and even before, when I could sense I was different—and, after everything the past few years, all the mad things my head does —I’ve always thought of myself as a problem that deserved to stay hidden. Never quite trusted myself, or what I wanted. Before you, I was all right letting everything happen to me. I honestly have never thought I deserved to choose.” His hand moves, fingertips brushing a curl behind Alex’s ear. “But you treat me like I do.”
“They clink together gently as he tucks them both under his shirt, two homes side by side.”
“Sería una mentira, porque no sería él.”
“Even if you expose him now, straight people always want the homophobic bastards to be closet cases so they can wash their hands of it. As if ninety-nine out of a hundred aren’t just regular old hateful bigots.”
“He is my choice” This line makes me go weak each time
Read this book.Please.Is really worth it.
I love this book,is actually my favorite book.
Is kind of hard for me to believe than this amazing book is Casey’s DEBUT novel.
I love it especially for how real it felt,the way they felt exposed to the world by the constant following the media had in them,the racism Alex and June experienced,the feelings and the way the characters felt so human,like you could see yourself in them easily.
I love it,definitely recommend
Also this book is an ADULT book,not Young Adult.
I see this book as (in my personal opinion) a love letter to history,a love letter to being impulsive and clumsy and a fucking nerd,a love letter to those people who love shitty teen magazines,and who read a lot,and who’s is mental health is the WORST,and to those who feel like they were born to do something big,to be someone big.A love letter to Texas,to Mexico,to being weird,to being yourselves,to keep going on and on,and not giving up,doesn’t matter how many times this world is going to hurt us.To not being white,to queer history,to those who wonder which space in the universe they take vs which one they really want to take,to the lgbt community,to those who live in abusive families,to those who come out and are out and proud and doesn’t give a shit what anyone says,and to those who can’t come out.A love letter to queer love,and to those who stand up to their abusive family members,and to those who can’t.To those who want to make a change in this world,and who have a heart of gold.A love letter to older siblings,to Mexican culture,to justice,to peace,to equality.
It also have great representation of mental health (as someone with terrible mental health) (depression,adhd,anxiety,dr0gs addiction,panic attacks)
Check tw’s before reading (I don’t consider the book triggering but you’ll never know)
(TW’s:
Addiction
Alcohol
Anxiety
Blackmail
Cancer (mentioned,side character)
Death (parental, mentioned)
Drug abuse (mentioned)
Forced outing
Grief
Homophobia
Invasion/violation of privacy
Neglect (parental)
Panic attack
Politics
Racism
Sexual abuse (mentioned)
Sexual harassment (mentioned)
Sexually explicit scenes)
Also I swear to god than Alex and Henry are fucking soulmates,I would kill for them.
+June and Nora were definitely dating,you can’t convince me otherwise
(Also,Casey,did you entered my brain to write Henry? I kin him so much omg)
(Some of my fav quotes because why not)
“Should I tell you that when we’re apart, your body comes back to me in dreams? That when I sleep, I see you, the dip of your waist, the freckle above your hip, and when I wake up in the morning, it feels like I’ve just been with you, the phantom touch of your hand on the back of my neck fresh and not imagined? That I can feel your skin against mine, and it makes every bone in my body ache? That, for a few moments, I can hold my breath and be back there with you, in a dream, in a thousand rooms, nowhere at all?”
“Here lies Prince Henry of Wales. He died as he lived: avoiding plans and sucking cock.”
“You see, for me, memories are difficult. Very often, they hurt. A curious thing about grief is the way it takes your entire life, all those foundational years that made you who you are, and makes them so painful to look back upon because of the absence there, that suddenly they’re inaccessible. You must invent an entirely new system.”
“Seriously,” he says. Henry’s looking back at him, beautiful and vital and heartsick and still, always, the person Alex is willing to risk ruining his life for. “I hate this so much. I know. But we’re gonna do it together. And we’re gonna make it work. You and me and history, remember? We’re just gonna fucking fight. Because you’re it, okay? I’m never gonna love anybody in the world like I love you. So, I promise you, one day we’ll be able to just be, and fuck everyone else.”
“He wants to set himself on fire, but he can’t afford for anyone to see him burn.”
“He’s definitely not thinking about Henry.
He’s not thinking about Henry when he puts in twenty-three hours in his first week of work, or when he’s filling the rest of his hours with class and papers and going for long runs and drinking triple-shot coffees and poking around the Senate offices. He’s not thinking about Henry in the shower or at night, alone and wide awake in his bed.
Except for when he is. Which is always.”
“But Nora makes friends, and Alex ends up with acquaintances who think they know him because they’ve read his profile in New York magazine, and perfectly fine people with perfectly fine bodies who want to take him home from the bar. None of it is satisfying—it never has been, not really, but it never mattered as much as it does now that there’s the sharp counterpoint of Henry, who knows him. Henry who’s seen him in glasses and tolerates him at his most annoying and still kissed him like he wanted him, singularly, not the idea of him.
So it goes, and Henry is there, in his head and his lecture notes and his cubicle, every single stupid day, no matter how many shots of espresso he puts in his coffee.”
“I love him, with all that, because of all that. On purpose. I love him on purpose.”
“Bisexuality is truly a rich and complex tapestry,”
“In the end they picked Dickens, which is hilarious. They wanted something less fruity than the truth, but truly, what is gayer than a woman who languishes away in a crumbling mansion wearing her wedding gown every day of her life, for the drama?”
Henry speaking facts since always
“If Alex’s head is a storm, Henry is the place lightning hits ground.”
“History, huh? Bet we could make some. Affectionately yrs, slowly going insane”
“Straight people, he thinks, probably don't spend this much time convincing themselves that they're straight.”
“But the truth is, also, simply this: love is indomitable.”
“Alex forgets what he was going to say next.
He just ... Well, he gets told he’s great a lot. He just doesn’t often get told he’s good enough.”
“He’s looking fresh-faced and relaxed, all rolled-up sleeves and soft gray linen, and Alex feels calmer knowing somewhere in Wales, Henry got a decent night’s sleep.”
NOT ALEX STRESSING OVER SCHOOL BUT FEELING CALMER AT THE FACT THAN HENRY SLEPT WELL I-😭
“I do think I got a gut feeling with you, I just didn’t have what I needed in my head to understand it. But I kind of kept chasing it anyway, like I was just going blindly in a certain direction and hoping for the best. I guess that makes you the North Star?”
“and then Alex has him, inhaling the clean smell of him, laughing into the crook of his neck.
“Hi, love,” he hears Henry say quietly, privately, right into the hair above his ear, and Alex’s breath forgets how to do anything but laugh helplessly.”
“Dear Thisbe,
I wish there weren’t a wall.
Love, Pyramus”
“I’m not ... good at saying these things like you are, but. I’ve always thought ... ever since I knew about me, and even before, when I could sense I was different—and, after everything the past few years, all the mad things my head does —I’ve always thought of myself as a problem that deserved to stay hidden. Never quite trusted myself, or what I wanted. Before you, I was all right letting everything happen to me. I honestly have never thought I deserved to choose.” His hand moves, fingertips brushing a curl behind Alex’s ear. “But you treat me like I do.”
“They clink together gently as he tucks them both under his shirt, two homes side by side.”
“Sería una mentira, porque no sería él.”
“Even if you expose him now, straight people always want the homophobic bastards to be closet cases so they can wash their hands of it. As if ninety-nine out of a hundred aren’t just regular old hateful bigots.”
“He is my choice” This line makes me go weak each time
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Stalking
Minor: Biphobia, Cancer, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Religious bigotry
lunep's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Cancer, Outing, Mental illness, Cursing, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Homophobia
Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Racism, and Sexual content
Minor: Stalking, Deportation, Slavery, Colonisation, Rape, Sexual assault, Classism, Incest, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, and Biphobia
obsidianroyalty's review
emotional
hopeful
tense
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? N/A
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Sexual harassment and Death of parent
sugarpal's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Adorable. The love letters? PEAK romance. And the YEARNING — wow.
Truly a lovely read. And so very gay. Definitely reading McQuiston’s sapphic novel next.
Truly a lovely read. And so very gay. Definitely reading McQuiston’s sapphic novel next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Outing, Sexual content, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Cursing, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Racism, and Colonisation
blakethebookeater's review
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Religious bigotry
Minor: Bullying, Colonisation, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, and Sexual assault
readandfindout's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Style/writing: 4 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Characters: 5 stars
Plot: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Characters: 5 stars
Plot: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Biphobia, Death of parent, Grief, Addiction, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting
Minor: Racism, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Cancer, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Sexism, Colonisation, Terminal illness, and Abandonment
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