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a_reader_obsessed's review
4.0
4 Stars
A road trip. A homage. A chance to defy the rules and ultimately break them.
Justin has barely been living under the thumb of his well intentioned mother. He’s been in the closet and in love with his best friend Landry for years, and he’s scared shitless to do anything about it. On said road trip to honor his dead father, stress and grief come to a head, and the truth comes out with unsurprisingly, a lot of consequences.
Despite some upsetting angst, the writing here is what gives this extra points. The way Erickson conveys how Justin and Landry fit perfectly - always did, always will - was the best part of this book. So yes, this wasn’t the easiest read - but the poignancy, the intimacy - all won me over.
Admittedly, Justin has a shit ton of growing up to do - finding, owning, and embracing himself so he could be with Landry who btw, was a wonderful character to experience. Overall this was touching and very romantic. Of course, it was sweet and sexy too. These two meet cute when they were young and immediately connect. There was never a question as to whether they were meant for each other - they just had to take a journey to realize and embrace that possibility. Really, all the rest is inconsequential, and that my friends, is the way love should be.
A road trip. A homage. A chance to defy the rules and ultimately break them.
Justin has barely been living under the thumb of his well intentioned mother. He’s been in the closet and in love with his best friend Landry for years, and he’s scared shitless to do anything about it. On said road trip to honor his dead father, stress and grief come to a head, and the truth comes out with unsurprisingly, a lot of consequences.
Despite some upsetting angst, the writing here is what gives this extra points. The way Erickson conveys how Justin and Landry fit perfectly - always did, always will - was the best part of this book. So yes, this wasn’t the easiest read - but the poignancy, the intimacy - all won me over.
Admittedly, Justin has a shit ton of growing up to do - finding, owning, and embracing himself so he could be with Landry who btw, was a wonderful character to experience. Overall this was touching and very romantic. Of course, it was sweet and sexy too. These two meet cute when they were young and immediately connect. There was never a question as to whether they were meant for each other - they just had to take a journey to realize and embrace that possibility. Really, all the rest is inconsequential, and that my friends, is the way love should be.
leelee68's review
5.0
This was really good. I loved how they traveled and why, it was bittersweet but also such a great and sweet gesture for Justin's dad's memory. It's funny even though it was just Justin's pov I still felt like I knew Landry, it was done in such a way where it worked. They were so sweet together and were perfect for each other, Justin just had to get things right in his head. This is my first Megan Erickson book and of course it won't be my last. I really enjoy her writing style, her MC's felt so real and made me care about them both. I'm about to read the second book in the series. People keep telling me they loved this one but the second one is even better. Great to hear ;-)
anadomingos's review
3.0
It's a lovly book, well written with a nice story. My 3 stars are only because i couldn't really connect with Justin. A typical case of it's not him its me.
rose_d's review
5.0
I was a mess when reading this book. There were so many moments tears left my eyes and I kept blaming it on me being tired, but it was all due to this book.
There's plenty of angst, of which most if created by Justin, because he's being a dumb fuck who keeps hurting Landry's feelings. And then Landry being a dumb fuck. It's a vicious circle, really.
This book is so much more than just a road trip. The time they're on the road is all about self-discovery and self-acceptance and dealing with loss and love and about how the future is a scary thing. This was a great read.
There's plenty of angst, of which most if created by Justin, because he's being a dumb fuck who keeps hurting Landry's feelings. And then Landry being a dumb fuck. It's a vicious circle, really.
This book is so much more than just a road trip. The time they're on the road is all about self-discovery and self-acceptance and dealing with loss and love and about how the future is a scary thing. This was a great read.
bookish_notes's review against another edition
5.0
Can I just melt in a puddle of happiness? I'm not used to reading sweet NA books, but this is just the sweetest, adorable NA book I've ever read? The book is emotionally raw and feels realistic, and I love this romance so much! The friends-to-lover trope isn't usually the kind of book I wind up reading because it always seems like we're missing the backstory before the friends fall in love. Thankfully, that's not the case here. Megan manages to create these moments where you get the feeling of really knowing the characters and not feeling like you've been left out of the friendship bonding stage.
Justin just graduated from college and his mother plans to run for Senate on a conservative ticket in the fall. But first, he takes the summer for himself to travel the country as a farewell to his dad. His dad was rarely ever home and traveled across the United States as a photographer. Justin wants to honor his memory by traveling to some of those same places and scattering his dad's ashes at each of those sites.
Landry has always been Justin's best friend. His gay best friend. While Justin played baseball and pretended for his mother's sake that he was straight, he realized years ago that he had fallen in love with Landry. During this road trip across the country with his best friend at his side, Justin feels that he's left his confession too late.
The book starts off with a sad premise. The only reason Justin and Landry are going on this trip at all is because Justin's father died. There's a weight hovering in the background where yes, they're discovering the love they have for each other, but it kind of took a death in order for everything to come out. There are times in the story where Justin says he would have told his dad he was gay and the two of them would have been able to convince his mom, but I'm not sure if he really would have done it even though he adamantly claims he would have. But this isn't a story of what-ifs.
Landry thought he had been in love with his straight best friend for years, and when Justin confesses that he's always loved Landry as well, it seems rightly so that the confession is met with skepticism. This book is just full of FEELS that both manages to pull at your heartstrings and makes you want to laugh out loud. I love that Justin and Landry's nicknames for each other are "Lan" and "Jus." I love the banter between Justin and Landry, because it's so casual and easy between them. Whether it's on a hike, or in the middle of sex, they always manage to laugh at each other's jokes.
It is weird to say that I am in love with love? Justin and Landry's love is so pure for one another, and it just makes my heart ache when their love is met with a few bumps along the way. The biggest obstacle in Justin and Landry's relationship is Justin's mother. Or rather, whether or not Justin will be able to tell his mother he's gay and that he would rather choose a career in sports photography over joining his mother's political campaign. Landry runs a blog and catalogs every step of their journey across the country. It's filled with fun little posts, and contains Justin's photographs in each one. His love for photography comes from his dad, but it has always been more of a hobby for him since he knows his mother would never approve. Without spoiling anything, I just want to say that how the situation was handled with his mother made me tear up. A lot.
What ultimately separates a NA novel from being a YA novel is the sex. Is it a fade-to-black scene or is everything written out in detail? Well, this is most definitely a NA novel, with all the awkwardness going from best friends to lovers could possibly have. Justin and Landry also have their hot moments, but I like that they talk through everything together and you can see how they slowly become more comfortable with each other.
This book is written solely from Justin's POV. I never felt like I was missing anything from only reading the story from one perspective. I absolutely loved reading this book, and wish only to read more happy and sweet books like this that can make me laugh and leave me in a mess of tears. My only disappointment is that this book isn't available has a paperback for me to buy, because you guys just know from my Instagram that I love my physical copies. I guess I'll just have to read this over and over again on my Kindle. I highly recommend reading Trust the Focus if you're in the mood for a sweet m/m novel! This book is a standalone, but I can't wait to read the rest of the books in this series!
Justin just graduated from college and his mother plans to run for Senate on a conservative ticket in the fall. But first, he takes the summer for himself to travel the country as a farewell to his dad. His dad was rarely ever home and traveled across the United States as a photographer. Justin wants to honor his memory by traveling to some of those same places and scattering his dad's ashes at each of those sites.
Landry has always been Justin's best friend. His gay best friend. While Justin played baseball and pretended for his mother's sake that he was straight, he realized years ago that he had fallen in love with Landry. During this road trip across the country with his best friend at his side, Justin feels that he's left his confession too late.
Dad always said he was glad I had Landry. That boy would walk through fire for you, asking nothing in return.
I never told Dad I'd do the same.
The book starts off with a sad premise. The only reason Justin and Landry are going on this trip at all is because Justin's father died. There's a weight hovering in the background where yes, they're discovering the love they have for each other, but it kind of took a death in order for everything to come out. There are times in the story where Justin says he would have told his dad he was gay and the two of them would have been able to convince his mom, but I'm not sure if he really would have done it even though he adamantly claims he would have. But this isn't a story of what-ifs.
We'd crested that hill, but we were still falling. I didn't know yet what waited for us at the bottom.
Landry thought he had been in love with his straight best friend for years, and when Justin confesses that he's always loved Landry as well, it seems rightly so that the confession is met with skepticism. This book is just full of FEELS that both manages to pull at your heartstrings and makes you want to laugh out loud. I love that Justin and Landry's nicknames for each other are "Lan" and "Jus." I love the banter between Justin and Landry, because it's so casual and easy between them. Whether it's on a hike, or in the middle of sex, they always manage to laugh at each other's jokes.
It is weird to say that I am in love with love? Justin and Landry's love is so pure for one another, and it just makes my heart ache when their love is met with a few bumps along the way. The biggest obstacle in Justin and Landry's relationship is Justin's mother. Or rather, whether or not Justin will be able to tell his mother he's gay and that he would rather choose a career in sports photography over joining his mother's political campaign. Landry runs a blog and catalogs every step of their journey across the country. It's filled with fun little posts, and contains Justin's photographs in each one. His love for photography comes from his dad, but it has always been more of a hobby for him since he knows his mother would never approve. Without spoiling anything, I just want to say that how the situation was handled with his mother made me tear up. A lot.
I wanted to tell him I wasn't worried about getting knocked down. I was worried about getting stabbed in the heart by my mother's heels.
What ultimately separates a NA novel from being a YA novel is the sex. Is it a fade-to-black scene or is everything written out in detail? Well, this is most definitely a NA novel, with all the awkwardness going from best friends to lovers could possibly have. Justin and Landry also have their hot moments, but I like that they talk through everything together and you can see how they slowly become more comfortable with each other.
"I'm gay and that's a fact. And I don't want the future that was planned for me. I dreaded it and I'm too fucking young and have too much going for me to settle. So I did all this for me."
This book is written solely from Justin's POV. I never felt like I was missing anything from only reading the story from one perspective. I absolutely loved reading this book, and wish only to read more happy and sweet books like this that can make me laugh and leave me in a mess of tears. My only disappointment is that this book isn't available has a paperback for me to buy, because you guys just know from my Instagram that I love my physical copies. I guess I'll just have to read this over and over again on my Kindle. I highly recommend reading Trust the Focus if you're in the mood for a sweet m/m novel! This book is a standalone, but I can't wait to read the rest of the books in this series!
iam's review against another edition
4.0
Okay, what to say about this book.
It's alright. Not great, not terrible, not memorable, but a nice enough past time.
Some points I liked/disliked (and how they are tied together):
- the whole "i gotta act straight" act. idk, not a trope I enjoy in general and the first few chapters are basically just that. Urgh, I really dislike it. BUT it ended... pretty quickly. Not painfully slow over the course of the book but actually pretty early on- so, that was good, and that point it was no longer a problem, hence I'm willing to overlook that.
- completely unecessary drama. like... come on. Really? And while I really HATED those moments... they were short. The characters said shit, did shit, but they calm down a page later and go "...frick, I completely regret that". And they say that and do something about it. That's so refreshing to read instead of the chapter long drama that could have been solved by one conversation, but no... Luckily, this book isn't like that.
- the humour in the relationship! There's lot of laughter and joking and gods, I love that. It's so much more realistic to me about what relationships are, and that's wonderful to read. You can be sappy and romantic and completely sincere with your feelings without having to have a straight face 100% of the time. I don't know if other people like that, but it's something that is important to me and it makes me feel good because it reflects my own experiences - and how often can you relate to something in a romance novel?!
- generally, the humour and jokes in this book are great. I laughed a lot.
- Loved the blog posts and the comments! I lived for a character called Trenton's comments, even though we otherwise don't even know who he really is.
- there was one spoilery thing that happened at the end that I really don't understand. It served no purpose. Why did that happen? It had no effect on the plot except to make the reader a but anxious for half a page longer. what?
Overall probably closer to 3.5, but in the end there were so many small details that I liked that trump the ones I didn't, so 4 stars from me!
It's alright. Not great, not terrible, not memorable, but a nice enough past time.
Some points I liked/disliked (and how they are tied together):
- the whole "i gotta act straight" act. idk, not a trope I enjoy in general and the first few chapters are basically just that. Urgh, I really dislike it. BUT it ended... pretty quickly. Not painfully slow over the course of the book but actually pretty early on- so, that was good, and that point it was no longer a problem, hence I'm willing to overlook that.
- completely unecessary drama. like... come on. Really? And while I really HATED those moments... they were short. The characters said shit, did shit, but they calm down a page later and go "...frick, I completely regret that". And they say that and do something about it. That's so refreshing to read instead of the chapter long drama that could have been solved by one conversation, but no... Luckily, this book isn't like that.
- the humour in the relationship! There's lot of laughter and joking and gods, I love that. It's so much more realistic to me about what relationships are, and that's wonderful to read. You can be sappy and romantic and completely sincere with your feelings without having to have a straight face 100% of the time. I don't know if other people like that, but it's something that is important to me and it makes me feel good because it reflects my own experiences - and how often can you relate to something in a romance novel?!
- generally, the humour and jokes in this book are great. I laughed a lot.
- Loved the blog posts and the comments! I lived for a character called Trenton's comments, even though we otherwise don't even know who he really is.
- there was one spoilery thing that happened at the end that I really don't understand. It served no purpose. Why did that happen? It had no effect on the plot except to make the reader a but anxious for half a page longer. what?
Overall probably closer to 3.5, but in the end there were so many small details that I liked that trump the ones I didn't, so 4 stars from me!
saraubs's review against another edition
2.0
Some moments in this book were very sweet. There were scenes that were genuine and heartfelt, where I really rooted for Justin and Landon. However, most of the time I was *aware* that they were characters and *aware* that the conflict they had to fight was completely contrived. Felt a little contrived and much of the dialogue did not flow naturally. I also felt that the subject matter (while important and worthwhile) was a little better-suited to Young Adult. I definitely understand that these issues can affect gay men of ANY age, but it's just a trope that's overdone in the YA market, so i was looking for something a little more "fresh". Despite some clunky dialogue I did enjoy the writing, so I will probably read the next in the series.
robazizo's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. I quite enjoyed this road trip romance, but some things kept me from loving it wholeheartedly, like Justin's anger issues, his mom's sudden and pretty unbelievable change of heart and a lot of editing mistakes. I also felt like the story lost some steam once the boys got together.
missawn's review against another edition
2.0
I don't like audiobooks (even though this one is done well). Just not my thing ...
I didn't realize when I started that this was a New Adult (NA) book. There is a tone that comes with NA/YA narrators that I find irritating. They tend to be angsty about trivial, juvenile things -- chatting away about fast food, tattoos, school/parent drama, and "boys" etc. and over using words like f*ck as if the book itself is insecure and needs to appear cool ...
This book came across as preachy (be who you are and be that well etc. messaging) ... and was a little too "perfect" ("Disney" style) ... with a saccharinely sweet happy ending ...
But perhaps the thing that was the biggest deal-breaker for me was how big of a jerk and how repeatedly cruel Justin was to Landrey (?). I found that to be too much and crossed the line of what was is acceptable/healthy. Given that the target audience is NA ... I think these kinds of books are dangerous ... it is not okay for anyone to talk to or treat anyone like that ... and its not okay to go back to someone who has done that. It is almost irresponsible to end this story with a happily-ever-after, because in real life, the typical ending for relationships that begin this way is usually heartbreak or abuse. That was a huge red flag for me and affected my overall enjoyment of this (audio)book ...
Also, Justin used Nikon cameras ... deal breaker #2 ... he should have used Canon and then I'd have liked this book better :) ...
I didn't realize when I started that this was a New Adult (NA) book. There is a tone that comes with NA/YA narrators that I find irritating. They tend to be angsty about trivial, juvenile things -- chatting away about fast food, tattoos, school/parent drama, and "boys" etc. and over using words like f*ck as if the book itself is insecure and needs to appear cool ...
This book came across as preachy (be who you are and be that well etc. messaging) ... and was a little too "perfect" ("Disney" style) ... with a saccharinely sweet happy ending ...
But perhaps the thing that was the biggest deal-breaker for me was how big of a jerk and how repeatedly cruel Justin was to Landrey (?). I found that to be too much and crossed the line of what was is acceptable/healthy. Given that the target audience is NA ... I think these kinds of books are dangerous ... it is not okay for anyone to talk to or treat anyone like that ... and its not okay to go back to someone who has done that. It is almost irresponsible to end this story with a happily-ever-after, because in real life, the typical ending for relationships that begin this way is usually heartbreak or abuse. That was a huge red flag for me and affected my overall enjoyment of this (audio)book ...
Also, Justin used Nikon cameras ... deal breaker #2 ... he should have used Canon and then I'd have liked this book better :) ...