Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Sophie Gonzales for giving me a free review copy of this amazing book.

I'm not quite sure where to start except that I love this book and these characters and you should definitely read it. I knew right away while reading that I would fall in love with this one. There's an incredible level of detail and understanding that I haven't really seen elsewhere.

Ollie's inner monologue is so great - it's so much like my own. There's a lot of comedy that comes through that as well. The gay rep and commentary is really interesting - I loved his description of coming out again and how it differed in the small town vs California. I know the author put TWs in a comment on the Goodreads page - related to that, it's really nice that even though some characters said things that were homophobic, biphobic, or fatphobic, it was always called out - even if just in Ollie's inner monologue. That is so important for readers and I'm really glad the author did that.

I was really excited and pleasantly surprised with the bi rep in this one. They actually said the word bisexual and didn't just dance around the concept. [potential spoiler alert] They even gave us an amazing bi queen with her iced coffee (talk about getting details right!)

[another potential spoiler in this paragraph]
This author clearly has been through immense grief. The way she captured it is all too real. She’s captured perfectly the feeling of your first deep loss as a kid/young person. When Ollie is thinking about all of the things his Aunt Linda will never experience it made me think of my own young bereaved self. When my dad died I thought about how he’d never get to read the last Harry Potter book. The depiction of grief was completely heartbreaking and entirely accurate on how it affects children and each person differently. Devastating. I couldn't stop crying for the last quarter of the book.

I know this was written about loss, but it really nails depression as well.
“Conversation just seemed to take up so much energy. Energy I didn’t have.”
“Even though I’d made it through, the effort of being okay and engaged all morning had been more exhausting than I’d realized.”

One of the things that stuck out to me was the attention to detail throughout this book. The author clearly not only understands all of these things, but is able to articulate them in an amazingly relatable way. I'm not sure I've read a book that really got it as much as this one. A close contender would be Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston though. If you liked this one, I'd also highly recommend RWRB.

"There were worse things that could happen than being a little embarrassed. And life was too short to play chicken with something as important as the person you loved."

Other things I wanted to mention: They talked about PCOS and *actually* talked about it in a real way and then referenced it later which was great. The MC doesn't drink and people didn't make that big of a deal about it which was nice.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and will most likely have to buy a copy when it comes out in March 2020. I look forward to reading more by this author.

What a charming book!

While Ollie and his parents are visiting his sick aunt in NC, Ollie meets a great guy named Will, and the two of them have a summer fling. They think they’ll never see each other again - which comes as a relief to Will as he’s not out to anyone. However, as Ollie’s aunt gets sicker, his parents decide to stay in NC permanently - setting up the push and pull relationship between Ollie and Will. Will clearly likes Ollie but isn’t ready to be out. Ollie, being a somewhat typical teenager, doesn’t understand why Will must deny his feelings to everyone in public. While Ollie is trying to navigate his complicated relationship with Will, he is also trying to adjust to life in a brand new place, figure out new friendships, and learn how to cope with his very sick aunt.

I really liked the dynamic Ollie had with his aunt, and the great advice she gave him that helped open his eyes to how Will may be feeling about coming out. I also loved the fact that no one is a “villain” in Ollie’s and Will’s relationship; neither of the boys is in the wrong while they’re trying to navigate how they feel and if they can be together 100%.

Only Mostly Devastated is a heartwarming and heartbreaking story about friends, family, and love that all teens will enjoy diving into.

(Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for a digital ARC of this book.)

“Here walks Ollie DeFiore. Master of his feelings, expert detacher, only mostly devastated. “

SO I’ve never seen Clueless, though supposedly this is like that, but I have seen most of Grease and this is definitely like that, except better and gayer, better because it is gayer. What this does, is take a story people already know and love and adds layers of humor and complexity onto the story making it even more fun and layered.

So you’ve got Ollie, who’s first of all, adorable. He’s also really funny, loyal, and a good friend. He’s also no where near perfect and I thought that was probably the best thing about him. Even though, he was not this character i could just adore and love, he felt more like a real person, someone you could get frustrated with and have to work through and at the end of the day, still love him.

Will was very similar in that he could be a real jerk. In some of their fights, I didn’t agree completely with either one of them. That felt awesome to me because it just showed that the book really understands tensions within the lgbtqia community. The book was also really able to demonstrate that it understands the contemporary lgbt experience. There’s more and more people who aren’t deathly afraid of coming out and those who are have reasons that go way beyond the fear of being discriminated against.

I loved that the book included more LGBT characters than just Ollie and Will because that’s more realistic than the alternative. And you also get to see a variety of experiences within one book. I think it’s really important to show how LGBT people are with each other in platonic relationships because it’s not something I see all the time.

The book also did a really awesome job of showing how important ally-ship is. The positive effects that it has on the entire community and why ally-ship isn’t just this title you have. It’s a way to behave, a way to support without saying “I support you”. It’s demonstrative and it’s crucial to show out loud even when you think there aren’t any queer people around you.

As much as this book teaches, it also is a lot of fun. This book was funny and had lots of great moments. It also did have moments of drag where I was thinking “this is cute and all, but what’s the purpose of it?”. Not that I’m complaining about frivolous fun, but I felt like maybe somethings weren’t totally necessary. But nevertheless, it was a lot of fun to read and really easy to get through.

And also, this book was also pretty darn romantic. Like- really adorably romantic. I was obviously was rooting for Ollie and Will the whole time, even when they made it hard. But when they had their moments, they were really good! It was really awesome to see these characters that were unique and didn’t feel like I’ve heard this story a million times.

TL;DR: The aesthetic of this book was able to give off Grease high school vibes, but fill that space with its own authenticity and flair. The book is very funny, romantic, and incredibly poignant, like a balm for the scars your high school experience left you.

*Thank you St. Martin's Press for this arc via Netgalley.

3.75 / 5 stars

Only Mostly Devastated follows Ollie as he moves to a new place so that his family can help care for his ill aunt. Ollie thinks he has found his dream guy over the summer, but his perspective soon changes when he realizes that Will is a different person back at school. Ollie knows that he does not want to be associated with the new version of Will that he meets, but Will keeps trying to be around Ollie as he shows glimpses of who he was over the summer.


I enjoyed these characters quite a bit. I love how this book emphasizes support and respect within friendship. I loved the friend group that Ollie made at his new school. I also appreciated seeing different changes and growth for all of the characters. A good book shows growth and change for minor characters as well when possible.


I felt like the story was very well-written and enjoyable. The book was interesting and fun to read. I feel like this would be a good back to school book, or summer read. I would not quite say that this is a “Grease” retelling though. I just do not fully see a parallel between the two.

I am newly a lover of gay male fiction written by women. In Only Mostly Devastated, Ollie has a summer fling with closeted Will Tavares, but then Ollie's family decides to stay in North Carolina to take care of his cancer-stricken Aunt Linda and her family that includes two little kids. It turns out that Will goes to Ollie's new school and isn't as thrilled to see Ollie as Ollie is to see Will.

Ollie is quickly befriended by a trio of girls and becomes part of their group. They know he's gay and are comfortable with that. A little too comfortable, maybe.

What was it with girls and boundaries when it came to guys they knew were gay?

He wonders when the girls don't seem to mind being unclad in front of him.

I know it's fiction and all, but it's neat to read how women perceive the differences in how men and women are in relationships. I appreciate that Ollie is much better at sticking up for himself and not settling for crumbs than most ciswomen are.

He touched my arm. Even though it made me shiver, and my blood heat up by several degrees, and my stomach kick up, I yanked away. The anger was well and truly back, and it wasn't any of my body's romance bullshit.

At least at first...

...it was getting easier to adjust to the idea of going at his pace. I didn't have the energy to resist his endless olive branches. Even if they resembled olive twigs more than branches, sometimes. Plus, it felt so much better to let him melt me than to fight to stay frozen.

He knows the power dynamic is bs and doesn't question if he's the one at fault!

It's a fun, sweet read. Ollie is probably too good to be true, but Will and the rest of the characters are flawed and believable.

I was immediately sold once I heard this was essentially a queer modern update on Grease - minus the random bursts of songs. This book wasn't just a gimmick though, it was a really well done queer coming of age romance with a helping of struggling with grief. I found the characters to be very realistic and relatable. There are a few characters who struggle with their sexuality and coming out to friends and family. Ollie is a great narrator, he's funny and very heartfelt. And while there were times that I found Will to be very problematic that in itself made the story a much more realistic portrayal of teenage life.

Only mostly devastated at once makes you think of grease. As a grease modern retelling it has all the elements of the movie but it has its coming of age twist which you would expect from a non straight romance novel. The characters are all very likeable, well at times you do get annoyed at Will but by the end you are probably rooting for him and Ollie to go out flying in a magic levitating car.
Ollie's family story is a perfect add to this story, its sad, painful, tears will get involved but its also slightly so truthful and honest that you can't help but feel this was just the thing needed to make this story an instant hit.
I absolutely loved this story, I can't wait until its released so I can buy a copy.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Only Mostly Devastated follows Ollie, a teenage boy who, after a summer fling with Will in North Carolina, finds out that his family is staying in NC instead of returning to California. It's very Grease but gay. I really enjoyed this book. Yes, it follows some tropes, but it flips them around and gives you new perspectives. It also features a lot of bi rep, which I loved, and featured discussions about gaslighting, fatphobia, PCOS, and grief that I haven't seen that often. I'm so glad that my wish for this book was granted because it was a highlight of the month for me.

I'll be on the look out for Sophie Gonzales' other work.

2.5 Stars. This book is cute. A bit too glaringly young adult for me, but cute nonetheless. I liked the characters. Ollie's inner dialogue grated on me a bit.

A story about two boys who spend the summer falling in love only to have to say goodbye.. But wait.. Ollie shows up as the new student at Will's school, where will is NOT out of the closet.

This book was done so well.
At the beginning of the book, I was a little worried because the Grease storyline was screaming at me a little too loudly. However, this story quickly found its way and became one of my favorites of the year and possibly of all time.
The friendship aspects of this book are absolutely amazing; I loved seeing them blossom from Ollie's first day at his new school forward. The relationships are complex and flawed and fantastically entertaining to read about. The character growth from the beginning to the end is just amazing; everyone is working through their own journey and blocks and everyone's path makes sense and feels natural.
Also the topical discussions of this book on the closet and grief and friendship all threaded together so nicely and were talked about with humor and beauty and a little bit of wonder.
I honestly can't recommend this book enough, and I can't wait to read it again.

I binged this book in one sitting. I could not put it down. It made me smile. I made me cry(HARD). And I loved every second. I adore the witty monologue that is Ollie. I smiled so much at his quirkiness. I couldn’t get enough of it. The trials of coming out of the closet are portrayed so vividly. The trials of loving someone still in the closet as well. The death of a family member but also the love and life that comes after, it was written so powerfully. The ending was so perfect and pure. It’s absolutely worth the read. Just do it.

I really enjoyed this book!! I thought the characters were fun and interesting and the plot was different enough from Grease to still be new and exciting. There were a few points where the events were a little predictable but overall I thought it was fun and sweet.

I really enjoyed this book on many levels. The characters were real complete with flaws. There were real emotions and enough reality to bring you into the story and become vested in the outcome. The introduction of sexuality was done with well developed characters who were figuring things out. A well done love story.
For the editors - I did struggle with the timelines. Sometimes things jumped in time and I didn’t know if things were happening or had happened.

I recognize this book's flaws. But boy, was it a fun read.

I cannot say when I recently laughed at a YA narrator like this: Ollie was sassy and had the most ridiculous inner thoughts, and he completely stole the show. I could have done without the romantic drama and tension, just give me a story about Ollie babysitting his cousins and navigating friendships and sexuality. If it wasn't obvious from my previous statement, the romance really didn't wow me for a few reasons. I didn't like Will as a character or a love interest; to put it nicely, he sucked. But I also feel like the way this book is written (mostly in the present but with little glimpses into the past) made it harder for me to get behind the relationship. This could have been executed well, but it seemed rather incomplete. I was reading an ARC, so maybe there will be some changes made to the published version. The rose gold trio was a lot of fun, and I loved seeing Ollie interact with his aunt and cousins. I do wonder at the tone, though, because we've got this lighter, more comedic vibe going on for a good portion of the book, but right beside that is cancer, and these didn't always weave seamlessly together.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, Publisher and NetGalley for this early copy!

This was insanely cute! I will be posting a full review closer to the release date. I need to go watch Grease now.

This is YA, and it’s filled with just about every YA trope you can think of. No surprises whatsoever.
But it was still a fun, enjoyable, feel good read. A good palate cleanser from some of the heavier stuff I’ve been reading lately.

Rating: 3 stars--no 1 stars...actually UGH no 2.

I think, at the end of this day, this book is for a very specific audience. Definitely if you’re that person that loves watching Christmas Hallmark movies even though they are the most predictable stories in the world, then I think you’re definitely going to be into this book.

This is the book equivalent of a gay Christmas Hallmark movie.

To put it nicely: it’s predictable. The characters are straight out of High School Musical only with flipped sexualities (and High School Musical was honestly more likable if we’re going to put it like it is).

But to get a more in depth review (I have a LOT of notes in my kindle that I’m not letting go to waste), I think I want to make clear that the first 50% of this book is a lot rougher than the last 50%.

I think the thing that gets me the most about this story--the thing that really grinds my gears, so to say--is that just like any other teen high-school drama, the MC is completely unhealthily obsessed with his love interest. I mean, to the point that I grew to very much dislike Ollie. Ollie puts Will over his friends, over his family, over himself constantly throughout the story. I think I nearly pulled out my hair when Juliette (his only friend in school at this point might I add) is talking to him about her important clarinet audition and he completely tunes her out as soon as Will walks into the hallway.

The notes on my Kindle looked like:
Does this man have NO passion or personality other than Will? When he saw Will at the school, all the horribleness from moving away from home & leaving his friends vanished from his head. So like, fuck the hometown & friends were supposed to believe he cares about? Then we see he enjoys music, once again he is completely ready to ditch it for Will. Literally what the hell.

It gets to the point where it’s just fucking creeeepy. Look at this quote from the book that I highlighted: “Likely, in the near future, I’d be stuck in close vicinity with Will. Will, who’d spent all day every day with me this summer. Will, who now seemed to have developed an acute allergic reaction to me.” This man just stalks THE FUCK out of this poor boy that’s doing everything he can to not be around him. Like, Ollie, you said it yourself, it seems he’s developed an allergic reaction to you, leave him alone and go find some self worth!

I think the catch line of this book is: “Here walks Ollie Di Fiore. Master of his feelings, expert detacher, only mostly devastated.” And I highlighted that and commented: Ollie is a master detacher because he ditches everything, from his passions to his friends, for this fucking man.

I just really, really don’t like Ollie whatsoever. The more I write this review and go over my Kindle notes, the more I feel irritated. I think at some point I got so mad because he was being all pissy with Will for not defending him when Will’s friends were making fun of him, and then in the next scene Lara is making fun of Niamh and Ollie literally has the opportunity to defend her HANDED TO HIM and says nothing. He’s a damn hypocritical, whiny, creepy, tries-too-hard-to-be-funny with no damn loyalties MC.

This story is also riddled with cliches. I started a cliche count, if you’d like to see my collection:
Cliche count 1: move to a new city senior year and have to deal with a new school full of people already friends with each other.
Cliche count 2: late for the first day of school at said new school
Cliche count 3: this is supposedly a small town, but the high school is described as huge.
Cliche count 4: it’s been a week, and yet Ollie still doesn’t know his way to his classes. I don’t know why it is authors seem to assume that new students are perpetually lost.
Cliche count 5: teacher allows five minutes to (and I quote) “catch up on goss.” I think that’s all I need to say about that one.
Cliche count 6: music room is in the basement of the school. Seen that, done that.
Cliche count 7: small town high school has a bunch of instruments just sitting around. I think at one point the kid Sayid literally grabs the school Bass guitar for Ollie to play. Also, let’s do 2 cliches with one stone: of course the MC is into music.
Cliche count 8 (or 9 i guess??): the sports teams stick together like a fucking cult. I don’t why authors have it in their head that all the players follow around their captain all over the schools like ducks with their lettermen jackets at all points of time. ALSO, why are teen authors fucking obsessed with lettermen jackets???

Alright, alright, I’m sick of cliche counting and having to do all that html formatting for it, you guys get the point, so I’m going to move on.

I know you’re wondering at this point, why the fuck I am debating the rating when it seems I obviously hated this story. And I truly did hate this story, but it’s a different kind of hate--to tie everything back together, it’s the same way you hate a Hallmark movie. You hate it because you know what’s going to happen and there seems to be no common sense for miles, but you also can’t hate it because its intentions were pure and it’s just an all around warm movie.

Was this book spectacular? Absolutely not. Would I ever read it again? No thank you. But, do I feel like I completely wasted my time reading it? Well, no. Because at the end of the day, all's well that ends well. The final chapter has that self-reflection bullshit that makes you feel fuzzy, all the characters get what they want, and it’s just hard to one-star-hate a story that never did anything atrocious with itself.

Also, there were some pretty witty one liners that I have to credit the author for:

“Sure, he hadn’t done the one thing I wanted him to do most of all--declare his love for me publicly on the bleachers in a grand musical number--but that didn’t mean I had to knock the baby steps, did it?”

“At this rate, with a little positive manifestation and a sprinkle of mindfulness, we’d be making friendship bracelets and inventing handshakes by New Year’s.”

“‘He’s going to the dance with Jessica,’ he said in a teasing, singsong way. Well, if that wasn’t the worst song I’d ever heard.”

And at least Ollie had enough self-awareness to know that his love for Will was ridiculous, so there's some brownie points:

“Part of me would’ve called it quick, but then I was still moping around after Will like he was my prophesized, meant-to-be true love and not just a summer fling that wasn’t evergreen, so maybe I had no grasp on how long it was supposed to take to move on after heartbreak.”

This was absolutely incredible! Within the first few chapters I was enthralled and I ended up finishing this book in such a short amount of time, even reading on lunch breaks at work!

We follow Ollie as he moves to a new school following a summer romance with a boy he never thought he’d see again...until he sits a few seats down from him in class. But Will pretends like the summer never happened, surrounded by a close-minded town and friends who make gay jokes at lunch. This grease inspired teen rom-com perfectly adapts the classic into a modern, queer story that deals perfectly with the dynamic between two queer characters with completely different upbringings and in different stages of the coming out process. This book also touches on biphobia as well as grief, as Ollie’s family move to help care for his sick aunt in the last stages of cancer.

Despite sad moments, the narration is witty and engaging and pop culture references are subtle and relevant in a genre where they can often feel overwhelming.

I laughed and cried, and overall thoroughly enjoyed my experience reading this book and I will recommend it to anyone and everyone.

This book made my emotions go on a freaking rollercoaster! I laughed, cried, got so mad, and then so happy! I can't put into words how much this book put me through! Definitely, definitely a must read!

Review will be posted on my blog on November 10, 2019. I will post to goodreads...I will review on amazon after publication.

-1-1-1-1-

Oddly enough, I somehow managed not to read that this was inspired by Grease until I was finished the book! I picked up on it for certain! There were some scenes in the story that reminded me of the movie immediately. And let's face it, that's not a bad comparison. The Story of Grease is pretty much engrained in some generations. Time for this story to belong to a new generation!

In this novel, Ollie has fallen in love over the summer break.  He's met the guy of his dreams... even though he probably didn't realize that. He met Will at the summer house at the lake They were immediately drawn together and could hardly tear themselves apart at the end of the summer. 

As reality slams back down onto Ollie, he is told by his par3ents that theif family is needed near his Aunt who is battling cancer. he'll be moving... awaing from his friends, his school, his band... but closer to Will. The problem? Since Ollie and Will parted ways at the end of the summer, Will has gone radio silent. No texts, no calls... nothing.

When Ollie starts at his new school, he discovers that Will is a student there. The problem is that this Will isn't at all like the Will that he fell for over the summer. Will is a sports jock, laughs at gay jokes and basically ignores Ollie.

Let's break this down a bit. Will is one person when he's away from the pressure of school and family... he's another when he meets up with Ollie again. He's in a difficult world. As a jock and coming from a family where machismo is at a peak... Will feels trapped. How do you come out to a family and friends who equate being gay or bisexual with not being "manly enough"?

This story probably depicts the reality of life for some people when they find themselves stuck between who they are and who they want to be. We all struggle with that a bit when we are in our teens and Will and Ollie are no exception. 

One of the things I really appreciated is that Gonzales gently explores both sides of the issue of coming out. Yes, it's important to be who you are if you're going to have any kind of emotional attachment to someone else. It's equally important to come out when you're ready, under your own terms and in a safe way. Gonzales takes care to demonstrate that "outting" is never a good thing... although it can happen unintentionally. I felt like the story was well-rounded... presenting both sides of a relationship that has a lot of challenges to surmount.

In addition to being about coming out and falling for someone... there's a difficult subplot in that Ollie's Aunt is dying of cancer. I lost my Mum to cancer a few years ago and the storyline read as authentic to me. I found it really emotional, bringing me to tears more than once.

This is a great YA novel about summer love and what becomes of it, coming out, allowing people the space to make their own choices, and figuring out how to truly support a friend. It's beautiful, fun and emotional all at the same time. Really enjoyed it.