Reviewed by Cheryl
TITLE: For What it’s Worth
SERIES: #lovehim
AUTHOR: S.M. James
PUBLISHER: May Books
LENGTH: 380 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 27, 2020
BLURB:
Rory García is terrible at making choices.
Dating Micah has been the best decision Rory’s ever made. Micah calms his wild side by bringing Rory back down to earth. They’re perfect for each other.
But when Rory’s Australian crush randomly shows up to stay with him, Rory’s torn between the boyfriend he maybe loves, and the guy he thought he was over.
Micah Holtz is the most loyal boyfriend in history.
Since the day Micah first saw Rory, he fell hard. There’s never been a moment where Micah’s doubted his feelings and when they finally start to date, Micah plans to hold on with both hands.
But then Justin arrives from Australia and Micah finds his single-minded attention starting to slip…
Justin Anderson has a plan for everything.
Showing up on Rory’s doorstep is the most adventurous thing Justin’s ever done. He’s lowkey sick with nerves, but knowing Rory’s there makes it all worth it. Until he finds out Rory has a boyfriend. Which was never part of the plan.
Suddenly Justin’s back to his usual game of second guessing everything, including Rory’s flirting and Micah’s lingering looks.
When Micah’s childhood haunt is set to be torn down, the three of them join forces to try to save the historic building. But will the teamwork add cracks to an already unstable friendship, or bring them closer than they ever imagined?
REVIEW:
I’ve said before and I’ll say again Young Adult writing is hard and so many of the YA authors I’ve read get it wrong. Either they pitch the book too low with over-simplistic stories and unsophisticated writing, or too high, with patterns of speech and word usage that just don’t fit the young characters. Once, I wrote “These characters sound like middle aged people who have lived their lives in a library. There are words and phrases young people just don’t use, and words and phrases they do. They’d legit yeet a book that wasn’t dope. Every book I’ve read by this author gets it absolutely right, and this one is no different.
Okay, the characters don’t speak street, but they don’t speak like adult either. They’re immature, make bad choices, pout and posture – just like real teens. They are also warm and open and absolutely unique. Rory, Justin and Micah have very different voices and the author manages to keep them on point. The reader would know who’s speaking even if not specifically told.
These boys are very different. Rory is hot headed and confident, at least on the surface, Micah is slow and steady, bringing stability and sunshine and Justin is so full of social anxiety and self-doubt he second guesses everything and finds it very hard to let go and trust his own feelings let alone everyone else’s.
The book starts with the boys being worlds apart. Rory and Micah are happier than they’ve ever been. Their relationship is strong and they don’t believe anything could rock it. Then Justin appears. A summer fling, he travels half way around the world to go to school near Rory and hopes to rekindle the fire. What he finds is Micah, and much as he wants to hate him, he finds himself liking him more and more. Micah is the steadying influence Justin so badly needs. Rory is just stuck in the middle determined to be faithful to Micah, but unable to let go of Justin.
It’s heartbreaking to see the way that all three, especially Justin begin to spiral, and jealousy, misunderstanding and pettiness threatens the happiness of all three.
The story is set against the background of the threatened closure of a beloved cathedral which has been bought by the dreaded Xenos corporation, known for its disregard for history and highly modern monstrosities. Time and again they come up with good ideas, to have them crushed. However, working together and bonding over their cause brings them closer until the inevitable happens.
Even after the three get together, their worries aren’t over. No relationship is easy, and a polyamorous relationship requires even more work, especially when one of them is Justin, who doesn’t like to be touched and panics when they get intimate. It takes hard work from Micah and Rory to bring him out of his shell – and keep him there.
The background characters are also very much “real” with their own voices and stories. Alexis is my favourite, and I would like to hear more of her story. Another character I would love to find out more about, is Bastian Xenos. There are hints of a very interesting backstory, although it’s never elaborated on. It feels as though this potential villain has way more going on in his life than our three heroes know.
I haven’t really got anything bad to say about this one. The flow is perfect, the use of language spot on, the language is tight and sophisticated and the characters three dimensional and interesting. Above all the story is engaging and keeps you interested from page one. Even though I have never been in a polyamorous relationship, or known anyone who has, I believe the representation is as good as any I’ve read and scaled perfectly to the ages of the boys. Of course, it isn’t perfect, nothing is, but nothing pulled me out of the story and I was enthralled from beginning to end.
I can’t wait to read more.
RATING: 
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