It's lovely. I don't know how Benjamine Alire Saenz manages to say so much in such simple sentences. This is a thoughtful book, heartbreaking and hopeful.

What a beautiful sequel to an already-beautiful book.

At first glance, I had a hard time reconciling with the fact that this book felt unnecessary. The first AriDante book is already widely considered to be a masterpiece, and I don't disagree; Benjamin Alire Sáenz is the metric by which all other queer contemporary novels for the last half decade have been compared, and it's not hard to see why. This book, while also taking all those beautiful pieces from ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE and continuing them, lock step, also felt different in a way that is hard to explain or quantify.

But after sitting on it for a few hours, and after spending the better part of the past two months reading this book at a pace that gave me the breathing room to really digest all this fantastic, layered, spartan prose, I think I understand, now.

The first AriDante book was a book about Dante's life, told from Ari's perspective. This book is a story about Ari's life - but told from Ari's perspective, too. In the first book, you watch Ari learn who Dante is, what kind of place Dante wants to carve out for himself in the world, and what kind of person he is to love. In the second book, I feel like we're watching Dante learn who Ari is, from a faraway place - and coming to terms with the fact that he's his own person that isn't defined by his proximity to Dante. I may have just been imagining it, but there's an undercurrent of Dante's jealousy running throughout this book, and as we watch Ari expand into a greater circle of friends and become a man, we watch Dante struggle to accept the fact that his boyfriend is growing up, too.

There's a lot of change in this book. A lot of it is beautiful, but a lot of it is sad, and that's beautiful in its own way, too. All in all, this novel - much like its predecessor - is a bittersweet glimpse into the life of a gay teenager growing up in the eighties. And I think the most important piece of change about this book, and about the ARISTOTLE AND DANTE series as a whole, is the change between the then and the now. Sometimes, I think about where Aristotle and Dante might be in our current timeline, in their forties, living their lives in quiet companionship. Are they married? Do they have children? And then I think about the Aristotle and Dante of the novels, and I wonder what they would think about the world as we have it today. Is that change enough?

Even if it isn't, we've come a long way. Thank you, Ari and Dante, for reminding me of that.

(Special thanks to Simon & Schuster for the NetGalley ARC!!)

I love this book. I love the words the author used to communicate love between these two boys at a time when the world was not as accepting. The pain Ari feels for those lost to AIDS and apathy is tangible. I felt that same way during those years. The power of the love of family and friends is so real in the pages of this book. Life is not easy, some people get the short end of the stick, it's up to us as individuals to learn how to embrace the hard stuff. High School experiences are hard for all of the types of people there are, and Ari & Dante delivers good examples of this. I have already purchased a copy of this book for myself. I will be rereading it, along with it's predecessor.

I really wanted to love this book. I loved everything about Aristotle and Dante #1 : the family dynamics, the dialogue (though unrealistic...still loved it!), and the love story. However, I found this book far less endearing. In particular, the transphobia and biphobia permeated the pages and the ultimate message. I will not be recommending this book to my students.

It was so wonderful to revisit these beloved characters in this beautifully written coming of age story. I love how realistic the story in terms of its portrayals of all of the obstacles, both internal and external, that Ari and Dante face. They are in love with one another at the height of the AIDS crisis when society was not only homophobic but they flat out wished that AIDS would wipe out gay people altogether. Ari's internal struggles as he is trying to figure out who he is and deal with memories of a brother who has been in prison since he was a small child, are especially powerfully written.. Ari struggles to verbally express everything he's feeling, not only about Dante but about his thoughts and fears about the world they are growing up in. He decides to write a journal, pretending that he's writing to Dante, and the passages he writes are so emotional and moving. Sometimes beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking, Ari and Dante's journey together is unforgettable. Thanks so much to the author for letting us watch these boys grow into men.

It turns out falling in love is nowhere near as hard as actually being in love. That’s what Aristotle “Ari” Mendoza discovers. The way his heart beats a tattoo that is constantly calling for his boyfriend, Dante; the way his body prickles with desire at the mere thought of Dante—it’s almost overwhelming. And perhaps unexpected for a boy who is just learning that he’s not quite as invisible at school or in his community as he once thought. Questions roil through him: Does Dante feel the same? Is there any future for them? Will their friends accept them? Are they doomed to die of AIDS like so many of they gay men they’ve heard about on TV?

Despite so many unanswered questions, Ari and Dante manage to spend the summer before their senior year building a relationship. When school starts, their support system grows to include more friends. And Ari, though he long imagined himself an invisible part of the community, learns that his opinion is valued and his friendship wanted. With the support of Dante, their friends, and his family, Ari manages to stand up with and stand up for what he believes in. The same support circle helps Ari weather a devastating loss and gives him the determination to chase his dream halfway across the world.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World picks up like it’s continuing the last chapter of the first book: with Aristotle and Dante snuggling in the back of Ari’s truck. The overall timeline stretches from this (some time during the summer vacation between Ari’s and Dante’s junior and senior years of high school) until they start the next summer vacation. The entire book probably spans about one year of time, but feels like it covers so many eventful aspects of Ari’s life. First is the almost overwhelming strength of his feelings for Dante. This desire is so palpable on page. It starts off so clearly a mix of intense attraction and physical desire that mellows into comfortable intimacy. But Ari and Dante are not always in tune with each other. For example, there are a few times when they take a “breather,” usually because Dante is too upset to see Ari. One such instance comes when they fall down the rabbit hole of who-loves-who-more. Of course they figure it out, but it does remind the reader and the MCs that maybe there is an expiration date built into their relationship.

The story is not always (or necessarily often) driven by the romance between Ari and Dante, however. The spotlight is also shared with intimate explorations of what family and community mean to Ari. One significant development in this book is how much closer Ari gets to his parents. He sees them and tries to understand them outside the familial roles of “mother” and “father.” His parents aren’t just background characters, but actual role models Ari realizes are worthy of emulating. This is especially noticeable in Ari’s father/son relationship; during the course of this book, Ari really discovers his father is not simply a silent and stern disapproving authority figure, but a man who truly loves his family. There is also a whole arc where Ari learns to become friends with several of the girls with whom he’s grown up. This prepares him to open up to the other students in his class.

One of the most consistent themes in this book, to me, was personal growth. It all started with connecting to just one boy who amazed Ari with his vocabulary and his world view. With just that one solid connection to another person, Ari begins a journey that sets him on a path to becoming a thoughtful, intelligent adult. As the story progresses, Ari learns that it’s okay to take risks and to let people in. He slowly builds up his support network and is amazing at knowing that support goes both ways. Sometimes his circle is consoling him, sometimes he is consoling his circle. Perhaps Ari, as a character, shows tremendous emotional maturity and intelligence—indeed, he seems perfect at times. But what makes it work for me is the equally present hardships and sorrows that touch his life. He’s not reaching for his circle of friends because he failed a test or he’s worried about Dante not returning his calls. Ari reaches for friends and family when he wants to confront his incarcerated brother, when the death of a family member overwhelms him, when he learns outspoken bigotry is closer to home than he realized. For me, watching Ari navigate all these experiences made him a stunning narrator.

Overall, I thought Alire Sáenz’s book was beautiful. There was a lovely balance between Ari’s growing pains and youthful indiscretion, culminating in an enviably smart main character. The book’s short chapters and lack of wasted exposition kept everything feeling immediate and interesting. For me, this narrative style helped keep everything tied together well. For readers who enjoyed the first book, I’m sure you’ll find even more to enjoy in this sequel. If you are new to the series, I highly recommend reading book one first…but I think this story still conveys poignant messages about life and learning that also make it acceptable as a standalone. Readers should note there are references to the AIDS pandemic, transphobia, and anti-gay bigotry mentioned on-page.

The first Aristotle and Dante book is one of my favorite books, period. It's lyrical and beautiful, heartfelt and heartbreaking, and every time I read it I find something new. So when the sequel was announced, I was over the moon - nervous, of course, because sequels can sometimes be disappointing. But I preordered it as soon as I could, and jumped on the chance to read an ARC.

And let me tell you ... it was worth the wait.

Ari and Dante fell in love in the first book, and now everything is different. Ari is making new friends, learning about his brother, standing up to bullies, and navigating love and desire and the future. Opportunities arise, minefields are navigated, tragedy strikes, and the boys must balance their feelings with all that life is throwing at them.

I don't want to give any spoilers, but suffice it to say, I think this book was worth reading, and it gave me further insight into the boys and their lives. A beautiful story that manages to break your heart and piece it back together again, and the same time.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was my most anticipated read of the year and I wish I could’ve had this ARC in my hands sooner since it already came out.

But, speaking of the actual book I absolutely adored it, this story and their characters takes me back to my eighteen year old self when I first read the previous book in this series and I felt the nostalgia while reading it.

I missed Ari and Dante and it was a pleasure to read from them again.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.

It was SOOOOOO nice to be back with Ari and Dante! As should be expected, this long awaited sequel will warm your heart but also break it. I was not expecting what happened at around 70% of the way through and it ripped my heart out.

I'll be honest and say it took me awhile to get into this one (though I think most of that was due to how horribly the advanced readers' copy was formatted and how much editing/proof reading still needed to be done), but once I found my groove reading this I was fully back in Ari and Dante's world.

Hopefully there will be a third book because I need to know what happens when Ari and Dante go off to college. I'm emotionally invested and need to know they make it into adulthood ok.

After pouring through “Discover the Secrets of the Universe”, I was eager to ‘dive’ into the sequel of Ari and Dante’s lives. First we followed the two of them primarily - trying to figure out being gay, being a teenager and just coming of age.

Now we are continuing the story but with more characters! Enter all the friends! Gina, Susie and surprises!! Both flawed characters who were seemingly so lonely all of a sudden are full of friendships.

And then there’s the parental relationships - with their own parents and each other’s. Relationships we saw beginning to blossom but now are rapidly growing. It makes you wants to call your mom/dad/brother/sister if you have them in your life.

For “Dive into the Waters of the World” I was curious how it would end to be honest. High school relationships and friendships rarely last right?! The ending was sweet but almost too sweet (for my taste) but I’m also curious if this story is going to continue!

once again I am emotional
anyways I thought this was a really good sequel and well worth the wait!
I think that going basically right from where the last book left off was a good idea and it honestly flowed really well. I really like how this felt like a solid sequel and the character development was absolutely amazing. I really enjoyed all of the school characters especially, I feel like in the first book we get Ari's point of view on everyone at school in this kind of negative sense and when we get into this book's point of view it's less biased and kind of shows how he views the world around him.
I also like how it showed that Ari and Dante's relationship is not perfect and they have to go through so much, especially at the end. I do think that the ending was a tad bit unrealistic, though. Although the ending was a bit unrealistic I do prefer that to like a really sad ending like I was honestly expecting though haha

This book is heartbreakingly beautiful. I loved the first time I met Aristotle and Dante, but this time I enjoyed their full relationship, complete with all of the struggles that come with being a gay teen who is afraid of what his life's reality will be. How will friends and family react? Will the world as a whole accept them? Can their love last? I think this book will help a lot of students and young people out there. Books like this are important!

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was really excited to hear there would be a second one. I felt like the story was very slow moving and there wasn’t enough interaction between the two of them. This was very beautifully written but I just didn’t enjoy it as much as the first one.

It's been AGES since we first met Ari and Dante, and boy are they going through it. Although Ari and Dante #1 is not the most perfect book in the world, it does feel realistic. Sáenz brings light to a very important part of queer history, which is that period of time where you both couldn't have online relationships that you can keep hidden from others, but you also couldn't be "out" publicly. The internalized homophobia that Ari feels, while also dealing with the transphobia of his brother, and the ambiguous future leaning before them, is authentic and gorgeous to read.

The book is not plot heavy, so that's not what you can expect. What you can expect from Sáenz is characters that feel achingly human. They are flawed and traumatized, and there is a lot of introspection. These characters dare to feel realistic, and I appreciate that Sáenz doesn't try to make them 100% perfect or relatable, because that's what human beings are like. I also enjoy seeing characters that don't fully understand their sexuality, who they are, and what they want their future and relationship to look like. These stories and characters are so important.

This book feels like an ode to the questioning queer kids, to the ones in rural towns and quiet neighborhoods, living their quiet lives and deciding who they want to be, and where they want to go in their life.

I finished it days ago and am honestly still trying to process how I feel, so there is a good chance this review will be updated soon.

Benjamin Alire Saenz has a very distinctive voice. I have heard him speak once at a conference in Bellingham and I could hear his voice as if he was reading this to me at times. He writes with repetition, almost the way a poet would. His descriptions of places and depth of feelings is terrific.

This book was a bit long for me. Its not like I wanted things to start going wrong, but there seemed to be such a long chunk of the book where things were going great and the characters were in love. There were some major developments in the second half, but I found it a little hard to get into the first half.

There were some really important parts to this book that might not be so easy for young readers to get at first, such as the year it is set in, 1989, being very important. It is during what might have been the worst of the AIDS pandemic. For two young men to be in love and begin being sexually active with each other must have been both thrilling and terrifying and that was one of the big takeaways from this book. It is ultimately a love story between two characters, but the fact that their love story can't be like it would be if they were straight is central as well. This is a well-written book about the nature of love.

I loved Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and the sequel did not disappoint. I enjoyed the continuation of Ari & Dante's story and that it didn't feel forced like a lot of sequels do. I especially loved how the characters grew and learned to not be stagnant in their views but to be empathic and to constantly re-think and re-evaluate.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for allowing me to read a pre-release of this novel. My review is voluntary and all opinions are my own.

I may be biased because I adored Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Benjamin Saenz writes about the southwest border town with such accuracy, I can picture myself being there. The characters were developed in the first book, and they continued struggles for acceptance in the second book. You can feel the struggles, they pull on your heart. Love is love, These are books I will read over and over in my lifetime.

This book seems to be unnecessary. It let me down a bit. Of course I had high expectations having loved the first one so very much. At first, I was along for the ride. Ari and Dante navigate a world that will not accept them in the midst of the AIDS crisis. That was a book. The death of Ari’s father brought nothing to the story and felt added on for shock value. I didn’t need it. I am still a huge fan of the author and eagerly await whatever he does next.

Unsurprisingly, this book was everything I dreamed of. It broke my heart and put it back together again and made me fall in love all over again with not only my two favorite boys, Ari and Dante, but the whole village behind these two.

I'm so happy I re-read the first book before this, as this one picks up immediately after the beautiful conclusion of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Some part of me was expecting this to jump forward a few years, perhaps meet Ari and Dante in college, but I'm so glad that it just kept hurtling forward. Like the first book, Ari is still working on finding himself - making himself more knowable, finding his own path, and taking his own journey. Dante has taught him so much, including how to open himself up to others, how to become friends with his parents, and how to be okay with being less invisible. But his new relationship with Dante has also exposed him to scary, life-changing things: being a young gay man in 1980s Texas is no walk in the park, and Ari constantly sees the impact of AIDS in his town and on the news, sees young gay kids getting beaten up on the street, and struggles to understand how his pure, wholesome love for Dante will constantly be threatened and challenged.

It's beautiful to see these characters, especially Ari, grow so much in such a short amount of time. Between the two books, you go from seeing him be a surly, loner who feels like a stranger to everyone, even his parents, to a full-fledged man, who knows how to be vulnerable, who understands his parents' personal pains and joys, and who learns how to love even when it's terrifying.

Blessedly, much of this book is happy. It's difficult reading gay romances where the characters are in constant pain and denial, and that was my expectation for this one, especially given its time and geographical settings. But for the most part, Ari and Dante find their niche in the world, and yes, have to confront the scary concept of the future, but learn to be themselves while they're at this young, precious moment. There are sad things that happen in this book, and I was full-on sobbing by the last 30% or so. But in the end, you're still left with joy.

As always, highly, highly recommend. Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the ARC via Netgalley!

Wow what a book. This book was everything a sequel needs to be. You can't help but love and feel everything all these characters are experiencing. I absolutely adore Aristotle and Dante - and one can only hope above all hopes that there may be a third in the future.....I'm willing to wait <3