Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: XOXO
SERIES: Roosevelt College
AUTHOR: Christina Lee
NARRATORS: Graham Halstead & Javi Wilder
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
LENGTH: 7 hours and 33 minute
RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2024
BLURB:
Lark Levitt doesn’t belong at Roosevelt College, at least in theory. Most students who attend the university come from wealthy families, and Lark is only a scholarship and a bus ride away from the trailer park where he lives. It’s also a dream come true because dance is his life, and their program is one of the most prestigious in the country. But there are bumps in the road, like running into someone from his childhood.
Henry Albrecht survived childhood cancer and is now a Roosevelt quarterback and model student. His past is something his father insists Henry keep private, and it makes his remission feel like a dirty secret. He has few precious memories from that time in his life, except for a kid from the hospital who made his recovery manageable. A kid who’s now at Roosevelt.
They decide to keep their distance. Easier said than done. Their renewed connection brings solace, clarity, and a raw intensity that awakens a spark between them. But hiding their history is exhausting, and soon enough their secret meetups are in danger of being exposed. Henry will need to face his fears—and his father—or lose the only person who’s ever understood the real him.
Contains mature themes.
REVIEW:
Henry and Lark meet as children in a cancer ward as they are both undergoing lifesaving treatments. Although they are very different – Lark is into music and dance and Henry is into other sports, they develop a friendship. When Henry leaves the hospital before Lark, they share a sort of accidental kiss. Hmmm.
Fast forward 7 years. Lark has grown up with a single mother and a much younger sister in a trailer park. He gets a scholarship to a local exclusive university for dance. His first day, he recognizes a grown up Henry but Henry either doesn’t recognize him or doesn’t want to acknowledge him since Henry’s tablemates make disparaging remarks about Lark being a scholarship kid and making fun of his clothes which are admittedly second hand.
Later Henry catches up with Lark and confirms that he did indeed recognize him. But his father had forced him to keep his past health issues a secret. Henry is the quarterback of the football team and his father is close friends with the coach. Henry’s family is very wealthy and they have “expectation” of Henry’s future and that includes making sure no one knows of his cancer as his family sees it as a potential “weakness” and want it to be a secret.
Lark swears that the won’t say anything. He doesn’t. They continue to cross paths at school and even after school. Henry likes spending time with Lark. He doesn’t have to hide anything. He also has realized that he likes guys, not girls. He particularly likes one guy 😉 He’s never done anything with a guy before, but he feels safe with Lark.
They continue to spend time together and Lark is sort of forced to share his family circumstances with Henry whether he likes it or not. Their backgrounds couldn’t be more different and the more time Henry spends with Lark the harder it is to face his own family dynamic.
Of course you know things can’t remain secret forever. Henry has confided in his best friend about his true connection to Lark after being called out and frankly collapsing under the pressure of his secrets. Henry’s struggle to keep both his health and his sexuality buttoned up are weighing on him. His parents – in particular his father – continue to assign Henry an outsized role in “the family reputation” and not doing anything to give an edge to anyone else. Needless to say things are a bit rocky as these two try to figure out how to be more than hidden “friends”.
All in all this was enjoyable, although I found the pacing a bit slow Henry’s father is super annoying from the get go and for a mature man, he lacked much insight into either his own psyche or this son’s predicament which I found slightly unbelievable. While I didn’t love Henry’s teammates, I am intrigues to see what will happen in future books. My favorite times were when Henry and Lark were together without the pressures of the outside world. There we some sweet and romantic moments that I would have liked to see more. Lark’s little sister and his mother were so supportive which was nice to see. There are quite a few tropes in this and I thought maybe the story tried to take on a bit too much at times. Overall a decent start for this new series and I’m recommending it. It’s actually pretty low angst considering the starting point of life-threatening illnesses for the MCs.
This audio features two new narrators to me (although one sounds EXACTLY like Michael Stellman who is a favorite of mine). I thought they both did a good job of performing the alternating POVs of Lark and Henry. The emotions were well modulated and I found their take on each guy to be believable. I like the dual narration for each character. I am actually looking forward to the next audiobook in this series 😉
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: