Reviewed by Jess

TITLE: When Everything Is Blue

AUTHOR: Laura Lascarso

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 216 pages

RELEASE DATE:  March 6, 2018

BLURB:

When they were kids, Chris Mitcham rescued Theo from the neighborhood bullies and taught him how to “be cool.” Now, years later, Theo’s developed feelings for his best friend that arise at the most inopportune times. Theo hates lying to Chris, but in coming out, he might lose the one person who understands him best, a risk he’s not willing to take.

When a relationship with another young man goes south, Theo is forced to confront his own sexuality along with his growing attraction to Chris and his stunted, tenuous relationship with his father. Will Chris abandon Theo when he learns the truth, or will he stand by him in this tumultuous season of self-discovery?

In this quirky coming-of-age romance, Theo’s path to manhood is fraught with awkward firsts and a few haters, but also the unexpected comfort of a friend turned lover.

REVIEW:

Laura Lascarso is a new-to-me author who will definitely remain on my reading list. I haven’t read a coming-of-age, first love romance like this in a long time, and it is a breath of fresh air. It’s a story that always comes through with the honesty, sweetness, and awkwardness we all remember from when we were teenagers.

This is one of those books that takes a relationship that already exists and blossoms it into something even more beautiful. Theo and Chris already have amazing chemistry as inseparable best friends, and Lascarso does a good job of writing their relationship as something so precious and sacred to them both that we’re rooting for them no matter what. And Theo’s own character arc outside of his romance with Chris as also excellent. It feels very similar to the one portrayed in works like Love, Simon—Theo’s coming-out is taken from him in a horrifying fashion, and his fight to reclaim that part of his life is just as important as the romance.

I don’t want to spoil any of the story, but since this is a romance, you know Theo and Chris get their happy ending. It seems there’s a trend in LGBT romance, especially YA, for the best friends to never develop into lovers despite the story teasing that direction, so seeing Theo and Chris slowly work their way towards being something more is absolutely heart-warming. Being a kid is hard, being a gay kid is even harder, and not knowing where you stand with your favorite person in the whole world is torture. Theo’s quiet pining is enough to make any reader want to give him a big hug.

I’d be hesitant to categorize this as completely young adult, because it does get pretty steamy, and the characters sometimes slip into a self-awareness more common in adult characters than teens. It is very easy to forget that Theo and Chris are barely sixteen because they often come across as much older. They’re awesome characters, but I felt they could’ve been sharpened a little bit more to sound and act like real kids sometimes.

If you’re looking for a great story about two young people falling in love for the first time, this is your next read. It’s charming, earnest, and balances teenage angst with plenty of hope.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon