A review by mrtvavrana
Been Here All Along: He's in Love with the Boy Next Door by Sandy Hall

lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

 
I am not sure where to even start with this review! I think this was by far the worst book I have read this year. 
 
This book has 4 first-person POVs. I think that is two too many, given how short and simple this book is. I understand Gideon and Kyle having their own, and I can even understand Ruby, but why Gideon´s brother Ezra? He is so useless; all he does is lay around and eat. Not to mention he literally called a 14-year-old Ruby hot. He was 17-18 AT THE TIME!!!!! Disgusting.
What is worse, they end up dating...
 
 
All of the characters are shallow and very childish. I found it extremely hard to connect with them in any capacity. Kyle is constantly described as a stupid basketball player, and as a bonus, the author slapped an unspecified and definitely unresearched diagnosis of "learning disability." Somehow it went undetected until he was 17, because up until then he was always with his very wise and intellectual bestie, Gideon. This is now how this works. 
 
Both Gideon and Kyle are super duper big massive nerds about The Lord of the Rings. Somehow they both speak perfect "elvish," but we are not even told that the language they speak is (most likely) Sindarin. I am a Tolkien nerd, and I was excited about these two being nerds also, but similarly to an unspecified learning disability, it feels like the author just took whatever they knew and did not bother to even look up the simplest, most basic information available online. 
 
I think Ruby was the only somewhat genuine and good character, but the author tried to paint her as the villain most of the time. Ruby comes from a poor family, while Kyle, Gideon, and Ezra are rich, spoilt kids. She has a difficult home life—
her dad losing his job, she is worrying about whether she will be able to afford university, and then her bloody boyfriend breaks up with her because he is suddenly and magically, without any proper logical reason, in love with a guy he´s been best friends with for 15 years. And she is supposed to be the bad guy in this story. Right.
 
 
Moving on to the actual story: it was a disaster. I usually love simple stories and simple characters; I have come to really like them. When they are done right. 
 
The main conflicts revolve around a love triangle between Ruby, Kyle, and Gideon. Gideon, who discovers he is gay and in love with Kyle, writes a list of positives and negatives of Kyle and dating him. Ruby finds the list, takes a photo, and then attempts to blackmail him. Gideon distances himself from Kyle, trying to understand his own sexuality. Kyle is upset because they have barely been hanging out in the past couple of days, and they are probably not besties any longer because Gideon is keeping a secret from him!! And then the whole thing disappears until the last 30 or so pages. 
 
Kyle and Gideon start dating after Gideon´s (awful) coming out during a game of truth or dare, and everything is going well; even Ruby seems to be coming around. And then her friends find a photo of that list on her phone, and they send it to the whole school. Kyle is upset, ghosts Gideon for weeks, and suddenly comes back with a romantic gesture. Because who needs to communicate and overcome problems with their partner like equal when ghosting works so well sarcasm)? Every one is forgiven, everyone is happy, and everyone is best friends forever, including Ruby, who is now dating Ezra.
 
 
I had zero expectations for this book, and yet I still ended up extremely disappointed.
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