Book 754: The Friend Scheme – Cale Dietrich

I’ve honestly stopped keeping track of where I see books. I just add them to a list or request them at the library and then when they come in I read them and spend 10-15 minutes trying to find out where I found them. In essence, I have no clue where I saw this, but thank you to whoever put it on my radar.

If I’m honest, the cover art drew me to the book, I like the graphic identity and the clean lines and with both their eyes closed it just made it that much more pleasing to the eye. You can sort of read the stress in Matt’s posture (right) and Jason kind of looks above it all.

There were parts of this I really enjoyed and parts I didn’t. I honestly thought this was a debut novel with the some of the issues, but I found out it’s actually Dietrich’s second published novel. It makes me a little hesitant to go back and read the first, but it has a similar graphic identity that draws me to it so I probably will.

His smile makes my heart beat faster. This boy, whoever he is, has a great freaking smile. It feels almost dangerous. He should warn a guy before smiling at him like that. (Loc. 186)

The biggest challenge of the book was getting into it. The first few chapters were super slow and had to do a lot of legwork to get the reader up to speed with Matt and his family. A lot of this took place in internal dialogue that was hard to read. If I weren’t a completionist I might have abandoned the story as this was supposed to be a “quick read” between two nonfiction works.

I really liked the two protagonists and Matt’s internal dialogue grew on me as I made my way through the book, but it could’ve been dialed back a bit more. It probably didn’t hurt that both Matt and Jason were obsessed with sci-fi/fantasy and video games. I mean hello nerd-life, right? Both of these characters could easily slip into one of Albert’s nerd-ivrse novels when they got a little older.

Whenever something catches my fancy, I latch on to it. I do it with movies and gaming, too. When I like something, I like it hard. I dive deep into theory threads on Reddit and watch analysis videos on YouTube, just generally obsess, until I find something else that draws my focus. (Loc. 382)

The plot was a bit meh overall. The twist and double twist that come from the title weren’t that shocking and both the reader (and Matt) have to spend way too much time thinking about it when it could’ve been dealt with a lot earlier in the book and the resulting fall out could’ve been a lot more interesting. The epilogue actually did make up for it, which is a bit rare, and it left me with a big ass smile which is all you can ask for from a book like this.

I wish Jason and I were ordinary guys. If that were the case, we could just hang out at each other’s places, and it wouldn’t be weird. It’d maybe be awkward to transition into something more romantic, but it’d be cute awkward. Rom-com awkward. Our parents might even be nosy, and get too involved, and it’d be a little embarrassing, but I’d secretly love it. I want a Love, Simon life, basically. Not this. Not a dad who I frustrate. And a boy I can never truly have because of our last names. (Loc. 2,771)

The one scene I’m not sure was necessary was the murder scene that occurs. I get why it’s there, but it took something from the purity of the book. The actual violence takes place off page and I 100% get why it’s in the novel, but I really feel Dietrich could’ve done the book without it and still had a strong character. It just turned my stomach for some reason, and I’ve read a lot of more gratuitously violent books than this. Maybe that was the intention of the scene to break the reader and Matt down, but it detracted from the story for me.

Recommendation: Overall, I enjoyed it. It’s a great teen MM romance novel that keeps the sex scenes off the page, but doesn’t ignore that they happen (it’s like a PG-13). We all know I’ve waxed poetic about sweet or clean romances and honestly the sex happening off the page bumped this one up a little bit when I would’ve probably downgraded it because of the super slow opening and the one scene I write about. I’ll definitely keep an eye on Dietrich moving forward to see how he evolves as a writer.

Opening Line: “I never wanted to be a criminal.”

Closing Line: “‘So, boyfriends?’ he asks. ‘Boyfriends.'” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from The Friend Scheme
“Because really, oh my God. This boy. He’s bananas hot. He’s got this sort of military vibe about him, with his strong jawline and short haircut, and well-built body. Also, his eyes are fascinating. At a distance, they look light brown, but up close, they’re almost green. Plus, he’s clean-shaven, and his skin is blemish-free. He’s a perfect, all-American boy.” (Loc. 235)

“There are the rumors about me. I don’t know what Jason’s deal is, and what he likes, but I feel hanging out one-on-one with a boy like him might add some fuel to that particular fire. I don’t feel bad about being gay, I don’t even really care about it. It’s just what I am; boys have always done it for me. I like deep voices and short haircuts and big arms.” (Loc. 284)

“I hope you appreciate the irony of this. I come out to you, and then you shove me right back in a closet.” (Loc. 1,030)

“He also has a rainbow section of books, including ones by Adam Silvera, David Levithan, and Benjamin Alire Sáenz.” (Loc. 1,369)

“‘Besides,’ he says. ‘You’re forgetting that I’ve already seen you, remember? I know I like how you look, so you have nothing at all to worry about. Trust me. Your beach body is whatever your body looks like right now.'” (Loc. 1,522)