I really liked the cover of this book, I'm all about original art on covers. Sadly, I didn't feel the same. about the book. The writing was a bit stilted for me; often reading more like a list of actions than a novel. It did improve a bit as the novel went on.

I didn't mind the story at first, but it became clear to me that everyone in the book who was LGBTQIA was being bullied or pressured in some way. I recognize that some people have challenging lives but it was really depressing to read soul about negative experiences.

Bullying is a very difficult subject to cover. I may not be the intended audience for this book because this subject certainly wasn't covered in a way that worked for me. To begin with, there was a lot of bullying going on for poor Elliot and yet no one around - in particular the adults - seemed to have anything constructive to say or provided any assistance. For the most part, he was on his own. I also don't think the resolution was good in terms of - let's get "revenge' on the bullies. It's a personal opinion but I don't think that's the way to deal with anything.

I was also uncomfortable about the way Jordan was "convincing" Elliot to be gay. That felt a bit too much like pressure and coercion to me.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

TW: Book contains bullying and homophobia

This is the most average book I have ever read. From the over-explained scenes about making spaghetti. How much water is needed. How much boiling the water needed. I got the impression that a specific word count was the goal and because this was a bare bones story that had a lot of filler before it started lab partnering.

Elliot is a young man battling depression, denial and bullying... lmao no. This book didn't have the guts to explore that. Elliot is just a young man. He thinks he is boring. He can cook, he has a badass best friend, a twin sister wunderkind and soon, a lab partner that he falls in love with. Elliot does have three bullies that torment him but they also were cardboard cutout stereotypical bullies from every generic American high school movie ever made. Jordan wasn't special either.

The one character that I was intrigued by is Cole. He is one of Elliot's bullies but he had "a secret". He seemed more complex and more meaty as a story than Elliot. This is only the second Wattpad book I've ever read and I won't lie, it will be the last.

2.5/5

I really thought this book was going to be cute, touching and comforting. And it was not. Some parts did though. 

Let me explain. 

I felt really connected to the main character, Elliott Goldman, and I dove into his world and his head quite easily. I loved the set up especially this quite little country town. Members of his family were really enjoyable especially his twin-sister Eleanor who has a special place in my heart for all her thoughtful and clever lines about sexuality. And of course Jordan Hughes was the ultimate perfect boyfriend material with his brain, his humor and his kindness.

That plus all the « fall-in-love » parts were utterly enjoyable and cute and I really liked it.

Elliott is struggling a lot about his identity and he has to face the bullying. It’s real, it’s a real issue today all over the world, and I liked that the author wanted to point out the blindness of the teachers and the school in general. She was not afraid to show that when you close your eyes to that - whether you’re an adult or a student - you ultimately become a complice of the bullying. On one hand, those scenes were violent and can hurt a numerous number of people who has suffered from it. But in other hand, it is necessary to show what’s bullying like and how school has the tendency to be part of the problem by not taking any measure.

In the end, the writing was pleasant, the relationship absolutely adorable and the message quite necessary.

In other notes, I think it would be great to put some trigger warnings at the beginning of the book.

Oh! I loved the book from start to finish. i didn't like the comments Eli made about some people, but his character grew within the book. So this was a mix of adorable, cute -grin ear to ear type of book. It was some drama and we see alot what Eli go through, bullying, homophobia and more. But i'm glad i got to read this!

DNF'ed at 30%. Skimmed further, and I agree with previous reviewers about how the issue of bullying is handled, ie poorly.

It's written as if it were a list instead of a story - conversations with Jordan are given the same weight as Elliot searching for the other end of his phone charger to plug it in, or looking for the right size lid to put on a pan of pasta.

I had high hopes for this as the synopsis and cover were cute, but the execution left me disappointed.

Thanks to netgalley and Wattpad books for giving me the opportunity to review this e-arc

What happened here? There is barely anything about being lab partners or science class. Almost all of the book takes place elsewhere. Why are Elliot's parents so oblivious to his violent bullies. The story was supposed to be realistic and required too much suspension of disbelief. sorry. I wanted to like it.

3.5 stars!

Main Thoughts/Things I Loved
Overall, I enjoyed this book! It was a short read that followed a well-loved story queer story arc ... one character thinks they're straight, meets a queer person, falls in love with said person, discovers their sexuality, etc. Not the most original storyline - but one which I love - and one which is so popular for a reason! Montgomery also did a great job of creating a strong setting - the book only takes place in a few different environments (school, home, etc.) and I felt like I could very clearly envision all of the character's environments.

Things I Didn't Love
There were moments when I questioned some of the book's choices. I didn't love the way that Jordan came on to Elliott about his sexuality - he was a bit forceful. The bullying scenes were also painful to read - and even more painful were the ways in which the other characters reacted. That being said - I completely understand that both of these things happen in real life and need to be discussed (and written about). I felt, however, that the author didn't always address the issues in a way which truly denounced them. In other words, sometimes it felt like the author was normalizing these painful situations as a "part' of being queer - but failed to make it clear that none of the situations which happened in the book should be a part of the queer experience.

I was provided with an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

The cover and synopsis initially attracted me to this story but unfortunately, Lab Partners was a struggle for me to finish (I did, because I wanted so badly to like this book, but... Oof.) and I had a few key issues with it.

Firstly, the writing style through this novel, while very easy to read, is extremely tedious and filled with descriptions and lists of mundane actions and objects. For example, during a lab that Elliot and Jordan do, every single step of their experiment is listed and described. This made the book extremely difficult to get through and I ended up skimming over large portions at a time just to get to the next part. Additionally, although this could have been a formatting issue in my digital copy (a lot of the spacing was messed up), it was hard to tell at times who was talking, and I often lost track of the plot due to the rambling nature of the writing.

Next, the romance between Elliot and Jordan seemed to come out of nowhere - perhaps to mirror Elliot's confusion over discovering his sexuality? Although I was expecting it given the summary, it was still surprising when Jordan kissed Elliot seemingly out of the blue. Jordan's character is one that I found rather sweet and charming at the beginning of the book, but I felt a little uncomfortable at how he was "convincing" Elliot of their relationship. <spoiler>One other minor thing: At the end of the book, he starts calling Elliot 'kitten', and personally, this pet name just made me want to cringe.</spoiler>

Finally, as several other reviewers have mentioned, the resolution of the bullying in this story was extremely uncomfortable to me. <spoiler>After an incident in which Elliot is cornered in the school bathroom and violently beaten by three bullies, his childhood friend Holly comes to his defense by revealing the bullies' darkest secrets and publicly shaming them. One bully, Cole, is forced out in front of the entire school, while Holly reveals that another bully is struggling with his step-father's alcoholism. The message here that "bullying, as long as it's done to the bullies, is ok" is extremely problematic.</spoiler> Additionally, throughout the book, Elliot is constantly tormented and physically assaulted by the bullies, but other than one teacher pulling him aside for the "you're safe here, you can tell me anything" talk, absolutely nothing is done about it. Ultimately, this issue is what brought the overall rating down to 1* and will also keep me back from recommending this book.

A few things I enjoyed: Elliot's character is very sweet and his parents seemed like nice, if not extremely oblivious, characters as well. <spoiler>I also have an issue with parents betting on their kids' sexuality, so that part was a little 'oof' for me.</spoiler> Holly was a great side character until the incident mentioned above. For the most part, Jordan and Elliot's relationship was cute and innocent, and Elliot's struggles with his sexuality were relatable.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a fast read, I don't know what the real page count would be on a printed version because reading an eBook doesn't show in this way; so it may have read quickly because of length or the flow of the story. I enjoyed a majority of this but found few flaws along the way, but would still recommend it to friends if they were looking for a light hearted contemporary.

TW: homophobia, assault, bullying

I was a little skeptical about this one but I ended up honestly really enjoying it. We follow a high school senior, Elliot, as he navigates a small town high school. Elliot is bullied relentlessly and is physically assaulted more than once throughout the course of the story. He gets paired with the new kid, Jordan, as his lab partner and a really lovely friendship (and more) follows from there.

While the writing in this one isn't the most sophisticated, the author definitely has a clear voice and an important message. This is an LGBTQ+ novel with ace rep and I'm excited to see where the author goes from here. Lots of promise for the future from this author.

This was a cute story of a boy’s self discovery.

Elliot is a young high school senior with no friends. He isn’t the typical “nerd” or characteristically ugly, but because of his loner status, he is bullied relenting this group of three boys. When new kid Jordan arrives at school, he befriends Eli quickly, after being assigned as his new lab partner. Things are starting to look up now that Elliot has a friend, but Jordan blows all of that up with a single kiss. This puts into question Elliot’s sexuality. He must decide what he wants, which is difficult because on one hand, he never even gave any thought to being gay, but on the other hand, he cannot stop thinking about the boy with the greenish-blue eyes.

Not only was this a coming of age (of sorts) story, this was a serious tale of bullying in high school. Even before the rumors of Eli being gay surface, he is bullied to the point of being seriously hurt. This does a good job of representing “why” bullies become bullies. Typically, they have aspects of their own lives in which they have no control over and that causes them to lash out and TAKE that control by lording it over other people. A lot of the times, bullies are bullies because they are afraid of something themselves.

The one thing that I didn’t like about this book was the extremely descriptive parts. The author goes on to tell in detail basic processes. After a while I got used to it and didn’t seem to notice anymore. But in the beginning it was an issue for me.

Elliot and Jordan were cute. They found friendship in one another, which came at a very important time for both of them. The other character I liked was Holly (Holiday). Her revenge at the end was great. I was worried that it would be problematic for me, but ultimately her revenge she served was well deserved.

Lab partners is a short and sweet gay romance which deals with homophobia , bullying , hate crime and harassment.

Lab partners follows Elliot Goldman , the student who gets bullied the most. I saw Lab partners as Elliot's journey for a couple of months where he accepts himself and the help of others while forming bonds.

Elliot doesn't have friends. He is lonely and feels lost most of the time. Once he's paired up with Jordan Hughes , the new kid in high school , Elli's life dramatically changes .

The book is short. And the conversations and the scenes were swoonworthy. (This is coming from a person who has had a rough patch with YA contemps recently)

The side characters weren't much explored , but I loved them nonetheless. Especially Holiday (yes , that's her name) , Elliot's sister's friend. She's badass.

Overall , I would definitely recommend Lab Partners to you ,

If you're looking for
🌟Beach read
🌟Summer romance
🌟Books with small town romance
🌟Fluff with heavy themes.

I thank NetGalley and the publisher for granting me with the e-ARC for my honest opinions.

Really sweet, fun m/m romance. I love LGBTQIA YA fiction and this story did not disappoint. I want a sequel, it was that good!

Lab Partners is a really sweet love story that also addresses homophobia and bullying. The characters are well fleshed out and have chemistry with each other, though the resolution of sexual identity came a bit too quickly in my opinion. The story did take some time to grab my interest in the beginning, and it wasn't until Jordan came onto the scene that I became invested in our main character which makes me wonder if it was intentional to show how full of despair his life had been till that moment. I thought some of the detailed descriptions of cooking were too long and could have been crisper. They would have still conveyed what the author wanted to convey. All in all, a good YA read with a sweet couple at its heart. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

This book was provided as an e-arc to an honest review by Netgalley

Lab Partners follows the last high school year of Eli, a boy who is bullied (a lot) in there and anyone do nothing to stop it in years. He is a very solitary child, his twin sister is in precollege and doesn't has time for him. In this moment, Jordan, a new boy is chosen for be his lab partner and they start a friendship.

Things I like about this book:
- The aro-ace representation.
There's no gender roles in Eli's family.
- Holly is a badass girl and I loved her almost every time.
- The principal's desicion (very late, but It was good)

Things that I didn't like it
- No one do something about the big bullyng case in years. The teachers (who cares about the students IN the building) easily can see bad actitudes in the corritors in the school. All of them are bad teachers, nurses, administratives?
- Jordan is not my favorite person in the book.
- It was too much shame for the bully boys in the end. No one have the rights to outed a person like that. And I didn't like what Holly does with them and they personal information.

I really hope than this review was helpful for the author and editors. THis is her first book and she can improve. I will keep atent to her future works.

Spanish version

Copia recibida a cambio de una reseña honesta.

Lab Partners sigue el recorrido durante el último año de preparatoria de Eli, un chico que sufre bullyng (mucho) en el colegio y nadie intentó detenerlo durante años, pasa la mayoría del tiempo solo en su casa y se siente menos que su hermana melliza porque ella tiene muchas mejores notas y esta a punto de entrar a la universidad con muchos créditos más que él.
En esta situación entra Jordan, un joven que por coincidencia termina siendo su compañero de laboratorio y se gana su confianza.

¿Que me gustó de este libro?
- La representación aro-ace me pareció convincente.
- La ausencia de los roles de género habituales en la familia de los mellizos me gustó.
- Holly, la amiga de los mellizos, me cayó muy bien la mayor parte del tiempo.
- La resolución de la situación del bullyng (más detalle abajo).

¿Que no me gustó?
- Que nadie haya hecho algo con respecto a los maltratos que sufría Eli. Compañeros, profesores, la enfermera, su hermana y sus padres minimizáron la situación durante años. Un extraño tuvo que venir a hacer algo por el chico.
- Como se resolvió la historia entre los protagonistas. Hay actitudes de Jordan que no me convencen.
- Me pareció demasiado la manera en la que expusieron a los chicos al final del libro. La ley del Talión no corresponde en la resolución de estos casos en un ambito escolar (en ningún caso, de hecho).

Siendo este el primer libro de la autora, espero que continúe escribiendo y que las reseñas le sean de ayuda. Me mantendré al tanto de sus próximas obras.

I ended up DNF this, which I'm so sad about!
Not because it's bad, because it's not... but it just isn't for me.
I found it hard to get through, and I had to force myself to continue reading, which isn't the point of reading at all.
I might give it a try some other time, but as it is right now, it's just not for me.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of #LabPartners

Lab Partners has all the markings of a fun cliche filled romance but with a m/m focus. Elliot Goldman is a bit of an outcast at his school who is only looking forward to graduate his senior year in peace. Enter John Hughes, the cute, athletic new student at school who Elliot is partnered with in AP Chemistry. As more time passes, Elliot’s world starts to shift as he contemplates this huge question about himself: Is he gay?

I’ve been really impressed on the diversity in Young Adult books lately. While the book offered some aro/ace representation that is rarely seen in books, the book also goes onto perpetuate the gay predetor sterotype, as well as used outing a character as a revenge plot. While I was, at first, interested in reading this fun and cute book to make me smile, I was ultimately forcing myself to skim through information dumps and LGBTQ representation. I’ve been really impressed on the diversity in Young Adult books lately. Unfortunately, there are other young adult fiction books who handle the process of realizing your sexuality, as well as bullying, much better. I would not recommend this book to anyone to the future.

I thought this was a very good and cute read. I loved the character of Jordan and wish that I had run into someone like him in high school. I kind of wish that the author had explored Elliot's love of cooking as a way of wrapping up his aimlessness at what to do in college. All in all though, a cute read.

I didn’t enjoy this book. I gave up reading it at 30%. I didn’t like the writing style at all and at several parts of the book, it felt like the author was listing details (some of which were completely irrelevant). I particularly disliked the paragraph about why the door to the changing rooms wasn’t usually propped open.

Wouldn’t recommend.

I was really looking forward to this book. I usually read lesbian romance but the plot sounded interesting so thought why not? It’s very rare that I don’t finish a book but sorry I couldn’t finish this one. It was so unbelievable and I just couldn’t get interested in it.