Cover Image: Only Mostly Devastated

Only Mostly Devastated

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Member Reviews

This is a book that I would have in my classroom without question if I was still teaching high school. I have see others compare this to Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and I can completely understand why. There are aspects that are similar for sure, but this also offers a new perspective, specifically how hard it can be when you are so sure of your identity and being involved with someone that just isn't there yet.

As a person that that grew up in a small town in North Carolina, as a member of the LGBT community, The fear of what others will think when living in such a conservative area is real. The jokes are real. There was also a great representation of bisexual characters and an introduction into the idea that just because some that is bisexual dates a member of the same gender or opposite gender at any given time that does not invalidate their sexuality. This is a major issue that very much exists and it was refreshing to see it addressed in an intelligent and thoughtful way.

I cannot put into words how much I love this book and I would recommend it to everyone.

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I am so happy to see more and more books out there that focus on the LGBT community. This is one of the best coming of age, novels I have ever read. Thank you, Wednesday Books for this gifted copy.

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One of the most beautiful books I've ever read, it is simply wonderful, fun, full of love and friendship. I was deeply invested with all the characters and their lives, making me wonder what is going to happen next, how will the problem will be solved. The reader just engages with the story from the very first page. I loved it.

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Clueless meets Grease?! YES PLEASE! I was so excited reading about this one, and eagerly applied to snag an early copy on Netgalley. I've been trying to make a goal of reading more diversely with authors and characters both, so a LGBTQIA+ book is right up my alley.

This was very cute, and I loved the nods to the original Grease throughout - retellings are my favorite, especially when done creatively! I don't read a whole lot of romance, but this was a treat and I loved it.

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Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. I am sure there are people who will enjoy it but it was not for me,

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This book is--and I don't use this term lightly--un-put-downable! The characters are authentic and relatable, the drama believable, and the world rich and lively. Some books are a struggle to understand the characters, but ONLY MOSTLY DEVASTATED felt more like reading about my own high school friends rather than two-dimensional characters. Highly recommended for reluctant readers, even those that shy away from traditional teen romance.

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I did not enjoy this book very much, but I do like that it is LGBTQ+ and set in high school. I like that we get an in-depth look at his thoughts and mind.

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This was a super cute story! I really loved all the different characters and how real and honest they are felt. However, I do wish there was more of Ollie and Will’s relationship. But either way I really enjoyed this, it was super cute, honest and funny.

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The love interest in the book really annoyed me which affected my enjoyment of the book. But I loved the representation and look forward to reading what this author writes in the future.

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The following is the review I left on Goodreads, so it is more oriented towards perspective readers than to the publisher:

"I think I am just getting to the point where YA queer romances where coming-out is a big part of the plot are just exausting to me. And the Sturm Und Drang of teen romance combined with that is getting old. Those stories are valid, and I hope that people that need to read those stories are able to find and enjoy them. But honestly I'm over it. I want silly romance novels, just queer-er.
This was pitched as Grease, but gay, and while I can see the inspiration, I don't agree. Look, Grease is a terrible musical, and the message is bad, but the reason the two lovers can't be together is because of social status, not because one is closeted. It changes the whole dynamic. Instead of the impediments to their love being silly and nonexistant, it is a real thing that happens to queer teens and causes actual trauma. Instead of pining from afar while singning incongrous songs about cars-but-also-sex? the lovers are together but hiding it, and then broken up and hurting, and both are real and valid situations and choices that queer teens deal with. And then the looming illness of his aunt! So yeah, not even close to Grease.

I wanted to like this, and I will continue to try teen queer romances because I am Sisyphus and I will find some queer teen romances that I am willing to reccomend one day. Today just isn't that day."

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A cute story, positive LGBTQ+ representation, and a perfect addition to classroom libraries for 8th-grade and up!

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Mild spoiler in this review!

For some reason I had this on my shelf for ages before finally reading it, and I wish I hadn't waited so long. This book was really cute. I loved that it was a bit of a spin on "Grease" without being a straight-up retelling, such that it was still a little unpredictable, but in the end, just really sweet. Bonus points for the tight family relationship Ollie has with his parents, aunt and uncle, and cousins, and (mild spoiler) for the heart-wrenching depiction of grief.

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I mean. It was okay. I didn't necessarily love grease on the first place, and this was too simmilar to that. I wasn't surprised by that but I was hoping it to be a little bit more different. It's a fun but not amazing book about two boys on highschool. I see a lot of people talking about fleshed out and complex characters but I'm not sure I saw it that way. I don't know. All in all, it was okay, but not really memorable.

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DNFed. Maybe it was just the heavy Grease retelling, or the unrealistic dialogue, but I didn't like this at all.

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Catching up on my reviews from my blog: I am a big YA fan, so I was very excited about this read. The perfect blend of romance and laugh out loud funny moments. I really enjoyed reading about Ollie and Will's love story and will definitely keep an eye out for Gonzales's books in the future.

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This Grease-inspired story was such a great read. I really appreciated Gonzales' writing style and found the characters realistic to what high schoolers are like.

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Will Tavares is the dream summer fling―he's fun, affectionate, kind―but just when Ollie thinks he's found his Happily Ever After, summer vacation ends and Will stops texting Ollie back. Now Ollie is one prince short of his fairy tale ending, and to complicate the fairy tale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country. Which he minds a little less when he realizes it's the same school Will goes to...except Ollie finds that the sweet, comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn't the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted―and, to be honest, a bit of a jerk.

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all of my favorite things packed into one delightful book!

i mean, simon vs. the homo sapiens agenda meets grease???? AMAZING. GENIUS. REVOLUTIONARY.

i just couldn't put this down -- it was so fun to read -- and i loved the main couple so much.

more ya contemporaries and rom-coms like this, please!!

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Only Mostly Devastated was such cute read, I enjoyed all of the different aspects of the book. The character of Ollie was so fun to read about and I enjoyed following all the events from his perspective. I wish we had seen more of his love story with Will but I’m still pretty content with everything that was included in the book.

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Only Mostly Devastated is a super cute, Grease inspiring LGBTIA romance that was the exact light-hearted warm read I was looking for. This modern take of one of my favourite movies ever was done really well. It definitely has Grease vibes and elements but it’s not a direct play for play which keeps it interesting and not super predictable.

“And life was too short to play chicken with something as important as the person you loved.”

I read this book for my Popsugar challenge prompt “recommended by your favourite blog”. It was reviewed by Nen and Jen whose review had me putting it on my TBR. You can check out my Popsugar progress here.

Will and Ollie meet over the summer and have a whirlwind fling, the first time Will has let himself be with a man. Everything is great and going well, but with the summer coming to and end and Ollie going back home it looks like a fling is all it will get to be. But in a bittersweet development, Ollie’s family stays in town as his Aunt suffers through cancer and Ollie finds himself at the same school as Will.

When Ollie and Will see each other again things aren’t the same, as deeply closeted ‘cool kid’ Will brushes Ollie off, he is left hurt, confused and left to fend for himself at his new school.

Ollie is a great character, super friendly and caring, he goes out of his way for both the people he loves and the people he’s just meeting if he sees they need help or support. He takes a lot of shit from some people but doesn’t get whiny or annoying, but still sees opportunities to see the best in people. Will is also super cute and going through different struggles, unlike Will, his family and friends are all doing great and on the outside life seems fine. It’s on the inside that Will is hurting, struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, that he had shoved in a box and closed until Ollie helped him open it. It’s a heart warming story to read both these beautiful boys struggle and yet help each other through in true coming-of-age goodness.

“Maybe out Happily Ever After hadn't worked on the first shot. And maybe Happily Ever Afters weren't a singular event. Maybe they were something you had to work at, build, and never give up on, as long as they were something you still wanted.”

The side characters in this novel were also great, they had their own stuff going on that we got glimpses into and it gave the high school story more layers. These groups of friends are reminiscent of the pink ladies and t-birds but are all dealing with very different issues and aren’t a copy and paste of the Grease dramas. Each one shows a different challenge that young adults face and whilst they are probably more insightful and h=understanding than your normal teens, in a book setting I thought they really worked well together.

“It'll get easier. That's the beautiful thing about the universe. It puts you through trials, but it never gives you anything you can't handle. We grow from these things.”

I felt this novel was well paced and pretty realistic, I didn’t have any contrived drama shoved in my face but rather real issues that resolved in realistic, messy ways. It made me nostalgic for high school, even though the American high school dynamic seems wildly different to what it’s like in Australia.

I’d recommend this one if you like Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda or anything like that. It was a fun high school drama that tackled some real issues but was still packed with smiles and sweet moments.

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