This was such a cute book! I have always had a sweet spot for fairy tale retellings and this book now has a special place in my heart. I loved how it ended up not being a normal fairytale retelling. It was modern, and the prince charming was in disguise which i loved. This was a different approach to retellings and i loved it. The book was very tender and sweet, and hit a bullseye on a queer fantasy many queer kids may dream of. I also loved that this book took the heteronormativity out of a Cinderella because queer people deserve to find their royalty Aswell! In this book it just gives me such warm and fuzzies. While i normally don't love modern terms being said in books, i really enjoyed them here, so much so it made me laugh at times. This book made me feel all the feels and i would highly recommend to anyone wanting a sweet and quick read :)

The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers follows Micah who runs a popular instagram page where he posts drawings of his imaginary boyfriends. So far he has posted 99 of them. Micah has never had a boyfriend before. He wants his 100th post to be special and will not post until he has found his prince charming. One day on the train he meets this boy and they really hit it off. Micah wants to ask for this guy's number and hopefully ask him out. Right when he is about to do that the guy jumps off the train and just when Micah thinks all hope is lost he sees that the guy has left his jacket on the train. Micah is determined to give the guy his jacket back and ask him out. Along this way Micah will learn that relationships are not fairytales. But will also realize that true love might have been in front of him the whole time.

This was a really cute pride month read. Overall, I thought this was a really cute story about a boy finding love and finding himself. However, I did have a few things that I did not like. I did not like how the main character and his boyfriend got together so fast. I wish there was a little more character development between the two of them before they got together. I also felt like there were some parts of this book that felt a little childish to me. I know that if I was the target age for YA books that wouldn't have bothered me. But since I am 27, that bothered me a little bit. However, I did really enjoy the story overall. I did predict the ending when I was reading it, and I was so happy that the ending turned out the way it did. Because Micah deserved love. I think I would suggest this book, but if you are an adult reading it just know it does have some younger themes. But I do think this is a really good book for YA readers. I am happy I read this one, I love a cute LGBTQ+ romance. Thank you so much NetGalley, Adam Sass, and Viking Books for the ARC of this book. This book comes out September 20th!

A very sweet, loveable romance between young artists, Deals with the struggles of fame, emotional security, and honesty. And it's also the kind of Gay story that needs to be told, because there is no extra angst about it being a romance between two young men with a male best friend. Kids deserve to know there is a future for them with a happily ever after, gilded pumpkin coach and all, and that love wins.

4.5 stars! This book is a super cute fairytale inspired romcom. The characters are lovable and funny, the situations they go through span from swoon-worthy to frustration-inducing to train wreck you-can't-look-away disasters, and it was great fun! As this is YA we do have the classic poor communication trope, which is really not my personal favorite, but it kind of make sense in this case because Micah doe shave some social anxiety and seems to dislike confrontation. So I can give it a partial pass here, but it is still frustrating as Micah was given direct advice to talk it out and didn't act on it.

[Kinda spoilery here down, be warned}
I suppose this isn't really a spoiler, but I was a little disappointed with the ending because I had kind of hoped for Micah, Elliot, and Grant to end up in a polycule. There were some odd lines that kind of made it lean that way and I would have loved to see it done in a YA book because polyamory in YA is very unrepresented. But in hindsight, those lines were all just Micah putting himself in a love triangle of course and I'm just personally tired of love triangles apparently. I would provide the exact lines that provided my brain with enough evidence to even consider poly for them, but as this is an ARC it is not for citation. Also, I don't think Grant and Micah's relationship was that bad, I think if Micah tried to talk and explain his feelings about having so much promo on his art account sooner, or while not literally in a moving truck days before the fashion showcase, they could have worked things out because I did feel bad for Grant. Anyway, this is just a long form way for me to say that I was personally disappointed by the ending, but that is entirely my fault and the story the book tells is cute.
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This book was queer, heartwarming, gay drama, love, fairy tales and all the dirty chai’s. I laughed, I was on the verge of tears, and I loved every minute of it! Highly recommend if you’re looking for something to get lost in

The gay YA rom-com to read this summer!! 🏳️‍🌈

This was so cute OMG. I read the book in one sitting even though I started it at 2am (I was going to read “just one chapter” before falling asleep, oops). Micah is such an adorable, messy, Prince Charming and his quest for true love was so endearing that I immediately want to re-read this book —which never happens with YA rom-com/contemporary for me! I loved the colorful cast of characters and the earnest, effortless writing and the perfect pacing. I also really appreciated the fact that even though it’s a classic rom-com, it’s not too predictable. It’s set in Chicago, a city I’m very familiar with for obvious reasons, so it was even more enjoyable reading about Micah running around the loop and catching the L like a headless chicken!

Micah’s family is super rich and I’ve read several books that describe wealth/privilege in really cringy ways or use it against the character, but Micah and his family were never depicted like that nor were they unfairly juxtaposed to Elliot’s financial struggles (perfect balance). Friendship and family dynamics were written really well, too! Plus, the author did such a good job of portraying anxiety and imposter syndrome and insecure attachment in relationships!!

This book gave me all the warm, fuzzy feels and now I just want to drink chai at Millennium Park, people-watch, and count down the days to Taste of Chicago! 💖