I kept going down the Eli Easton rabbit hole after completing the Nerds vs. Jocks series and stumbled across this in the Kindle Unlimited library. The blurb drew me in because childhood best friends to lovers is usually a really good trope, that’s usually with a gap in between after one comes out, but this one was different.
The protagonists of this novel are Jordan, a nerdy kid who loves to draw, and Owen, the big jock who becomes a state-wide wrestling star and has protected Jordan ever since he came out. It wasn’t until after I finished the novel that I realized some of the scenes may have happened when they were under age and that made me feel a little squidgy.
Where Easton excelled in this book was the emotions and the connection of the protagonists. She balanced the stress each of them faced at different times with humor and fun and boyish idiocy.
‘No,’ I insisted.
‘It’s physically impossible to be both a dork and gay. It’s like saying you’re color-blind and blind. The universe will only allow so much disadvantage in any one given life-form.’ (29)
The most intense moment, AKA the crisis that made Owen finally realize he was in love with Jordan, was well done and harrowing. Looking back though it is a little creepy. Owen follows Jordan to his first gay club to make sure he gets home safe, thankfully he does this because he saves Jordan from being taken advantage of. Thankfully, it’s not as creepy as other novels where it’s done in a controlling way, this was a genuine “I want to protect you” type move and it’s a good thing he was there no matter what Jordan says.
I’d told Owen that I loved him before, but at that moment, I couldn’t say it. Because what I meant by it and what he meant by it were two different things. And right now the gulf between them was so big and so awful that I couldn’t stand it. (55)
I absolutely adored that Owen stuck with Jordan after Jordan realized he couldn’t live in the closet anymore. So many times these novels turn into second-chance romances because the “straight” friend of the two pushes the gay one away and they only reconnect much later in life. This is after the “straight” one realized they did love their friend in that way and that they pushed them away out of internalized homophobia or self-preservation.
The ending felt a little rushed with their senior year and first year of college taking one chapter when the first 10-12 years took the entire first 4/5ths of the book. For a novella that had quite a few crises (the near sexual assault, the near loss of a scholarship, disappointed/somewhat homophobic parents, loss of friends, and bullying) it was pretty low angst.
Recommendation: This was an enjoyable read. It wasn’t perfect, but that was from my perspective. Easton wrote two sweet protagonists in Jordan and Owen and their friendship shone through the entire novel. The ending felt a bit rushed, but it was a happy-for-now/happy-ever-after that most readers want so you can’t really complain about that. After these last couple of series, Easton is definitely in that will-read category for me, especially as she’s self-published and appears to do a decent job editing. I’m sure we’ll see more from her on this blog in the future.
Opening Line: “My name is Jordan Carson and this story is about Pin Man, my superhero.”
Closing Line: “I hugged her back. ‘Mine too, Mom. Mine too.'” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)
Additional Quotes from Superhero
“He told me in a hundred ways without ever saying a word, It’s okay, Jordy. I get who you are, and I don’t have a problem with it. We’re still Sam and Frodo, Pin Man and Pencil Boy.” (16)
“What you are to me is the guy that I’ve been madly in love with since sixth grade. You’re the guy I think about every night when I’m in bed by myself. You’re the one who doesn’t want me but insists on keeping me tied so close that I can’t have anyone else, who keeps one hand on my collar and the other hand up his girlfriend’s skirt. And I can’t do it anymore!” (86)
“Maybe I was a really picky gay guy? Maybe I was bi. Maybe I was Jordan-sexual. Maybe I just thought Jordan was sexy because I loved him so much. The point is, I probably wouldn’t have even thought about being gay if it weren’t for him. Maybe I never would have been happy in a normal marriage. Maybe I’d have met some guy when I was forty and had a midlife crisis. Or maybe I would have met the girl that made me crazy about breasts and vaginas. I’d never know.” (91)
No matter what you do with your life during the day, there’s always that moment when you have to wake up with yourself, with yourself and with the person that’s sleeping beside you. That’s the person that you make a home with, discuss life’s big decisions with, share your finances, eat, shop, maybe parent with. That’s the person you share your body with forever, kiss, touch, the one you sit on the couch with and watch movies, the one who gives you a hug when you’ve had a rough day. That’s the person you put up a Christmas tree with and arrive home with for the holidays, the person you watch grow old and who still loves you when you’re not as nice to look at, the one who holds your hand when you’re dying. And none of that had anything to do with wrestling. (92)