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.
So I have talked about gut punches when reading books before, but Silvera took it to a different level with this one—and this was his freakin’ debut novel!
After finishing 
I’m slowly coming to expect great things from Roan Parrish. Every time I pick up a novel by her I know there’s going to be a decent chunk of it dedicated to emotional turmoil of some sort and another good chunk of it dedicated to really making you feel the setting of the novel. And she did not disappoint with this one.
I think I saw this on some bookstagram post and liked the cover and blurb enough to request it from the library. I had no expectations going into it, but I can tell you I was NOT expecting to have the air pulled out of my lungs constantly through the last half of the book.