I can not recommend this book enough!! I’m a big fan of the newest YA books that feature LGBTQ characters where the plot doesn’t entirely revolve around that premise. These teenagers simply have relationships and friendships as their hearts lead them. The romance was also not the key plot of the book which I really appreciated. The NASA subplot was fascinating, just enough information to keep the casual reader interested without being overwhelming with details too hard to understand. Each character was developed well, aside from the main characters dad - I do think it fell a little flat to have him so uninterested in the main characters life at the beginning, so dismissive, then suddenly be to happy family father at the end.

Cal dreams of being a journalist and he’s well on his way to a promising career. It’s his senior year, he has half a million followers on his FlashFame app, and has an internship for Buzzfeed lined up. Everything is going as planned. That is until Cal’s dad is accepted into HIS dream job, with NASA, working on a highly-publicized mission to Mars. Now Cal must leave NYC and go to Texas, abandoning his plan, and become part of the image of the “perfect American family” for the cameras that are watching their every move.

Expecting to hate every thing about the move, what Cal doesn’t anticipate, is meeting Leon. His mom is another astronaut on the mission with Cal’s dad. Soon, he finds himself over the moon and falling hard for Leon. When ulterior motives are exposed in the program , Cal has to decide how he’s going to shed light on the truth, and how to avoid hurting those he cares about the most.

This was a very cute book and easy to read. I did see some say they didn’t like Cal’s character and found him selfish. I completely understand that, but I also got his point on a lot of things. I remember being that age and feeling the rebellion and angst against my parents. As you get older you realize all the crap you put your parents through and reading this at 26 it makes me laugh. I think Cal has great character development throughout this book, especially considering everything. It’s nice to see an ambitious character at such a young age. Also, I’m all for the gay love in this book 🌈 I think it’s very important to normalize different sexualities in books and TV shows for the younger generation. It has to feel good to read this and think “hey, these people are like me.”

This book was so sweet and good and all the wonderful things. Space and love and great family dynamics. It was perfect.