There are no spoilers in this review.
Only Mostly Devastated, Sophie Gonzales
Publishing on March 3rd, 2020 by Wednesday Books.
Buy Only Mostly Devastated on Amazon – Book Depository – Wordery – Indiebound.
Summer love…gone so fast.
Ollie and Will were meant to be a summer fling—casual, fun, and done. But when Ollie’s aunt’s health takes a turn for the worse and his family decides to stay in North Carolina to take care of her, Ollie lets himself hope this fling can grow to something more. Dreams that are crushed when he sees Will at a school party and finds that the sweet and affectionate (and comfortably queer) guy he knew from summer isn’t the same one attending Collinswood High.
Will is more than a little shocked to see Ollie the evening of that first day of school. While his summer was spent being very much himself, back at school he’s simply known as one of the varsity basketball guys. Now Will is faced with the biggest challenge of his life: follow his heart and risk his friendships, or stay firmly in the closet and lose what he loves most.
I ENJOYED…
☂️
- Only Mostly Devastated is one of these feel-good, wonderful contemporaries I’ll still think about fondly in a couple months and years, I think. This story perfectly juggled with all the emotions I’m looking for in a contemporary: endearing, heartwarming, swoony moments, friendships and romance, family and heartbreaking moments, too.
- This story has been blurbed as a sort of Grease-inspired YA and I could get the overall feeling of that, with the group of “Pink Ladies” and the group of Basketball Players, a.k.a the T-Birds. Still, if I got the overall feels, Only Mostly Devastated felt fresh and new, maybe because my memories of Grease are fuzzy, but well, I appreciated it all the more for it.
- I loved the characters in this story so much.
- Ollie, our main character, is one of these characters I want to protect and hug and just wonderful. He’s kind and yet socially awkward a tiny little bit, he’s caring and just so relatable in the way he views things and life. He makes mistakes and assumptions and is really far from perfect, but despite his flaws, you just want him to be okay and happy. I really wanted him to be happy.
- I really appreciated the cast of characters overall, too. I loved the little group of friends Ollie finds his place in, each of them with their own goals and dreams and issues, they felt three dimensional and I really liked them all. Well, almost.
- The romance was really interesting to follow, just as well, with its confusing moments, misunderstandings and growth. If sometimes, I was frustrated by the way things were going, it was just because I wanted them to be okay and together and happy, because I KNEW THEY COULD BE.
- I think one of the most wonderful things about Only Mostly Devastated is the way it discusses the complexities of relationships, romance and sexuality, both with the main character’ story and a side character’s story. Each of them deals with complex feelings, some characters are still questioning their sexuality and coming out, some characters still closeted and others just in the middle of it all feeling confused about everything.
I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…
☂️
- What makes me put off one star in my rating is one particular character in the story. I felt like she was, at first, very toxic and didn’t really apologize for it all, which made me a little frustrated. I liked this character’s growth thorough the story and I liked understanding where her behaviour came from, for sure, but I didn’t feel like her behaviour was completely and rightfully made … okay, by the end of the story.
OVERALL
☂️
Only Mostly Devastated is a contemporary I remember fondly and will definitely recommend. Entertaining, heartwarming and emotional, with a lovely cast of characters, this is a book I hope you’ll end up picking up and loving, too!
Final rating: 4 drops!
A million thanks to Macmillan International & Wednesday Books for sending me an advance review copy of this book. This did not, in any way, influence my thoughts and rating.
Trigger warnings: family member with cancer, chemotherapy, mentions of homophobia (called out), biphobia (called out), fatphobia (called out), death and grief, polycystic ovary syndrom.
Diversity: queer main characters (gay, bisexual), POC characters.
Did you read Only Mostly Devastated? Do you want to?
What was the last contemporary book you’ve read and loved? Let me know in comments!
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Wonderful review Marie! Honestly that’s the first I see for that book but I will add it to my TBR!
ohhh thank you, Sophie, this makes me so happy! I hope you’ll enjoy it 🙂
Lovely review, Marie ?! Gotta love and protect kind, socially awkward characters ?! Also, I can understand how you feel about that one character. There’s quite a number of YA contemporaries where I haven’t jived with characters because I didn’t believe their toxic behavior was necessarily justified by their backstory ?. It’s especially difficult to see past it when they’ve had character development, but they’re still not conscious of or apologetic for their demeanor ?.
Oh thank you Belle, so happy you enjoyed it! <3 <3
I think that was the one thing that really bothered me about this book. Despite this, I really liked the other characters and I'd still recommend it 😀
I loved reading this one! Will put up the review on release day. I know which character you are talking about here … the toxic one. Hee hee, seems like a secret…
Ahh I’m happy you liked it too!! 😀
I loved it ! I found the characters super easy to like, and the romance was really cute ! You made some very good points in your review ?
Ahh I’m so happy you liked this one as well! I loved the characters so much <3
Thank you so much, Maude! 🙂
I liked this book very much. Ollie was a great character, and I thought Gonzales created and used the ensemble well in this story. The family focus also won me over.
Ahh so happy you enjoyed it as well! I loved the cast of characters overall just as well, they were wonderful <3
I NEED to get my hands on this book! I heard about it a while ago, and your amazing review just makes me want to read it even more. <3
AHH YEs! I hope you can read it soon and will love it, it was such a lovely read 😀
Great review Marie!! This book was *so good*, overall such an enjoyable read!!
I also ended up dropping a star rating in part because of the same character and also in part because of other characters that were toxic/homophobic at the beginning of the book. I just wasn’t the biggest fan of how at the end all of Will’s friends sort of brushed off the fact that they were openly homophobic/making fun of Ollie at the beginning of the book. I think maybe it’s written that way as a way to tie up the whole story in a nice bow, but it didn’t sit well with me that their actions were just being excused like that.
Thank you so much Chana, I’m so happy you liked it as well 😀
I get what you mean and I agree with you! I feel like some actions were brushed off a little too easily towards the end and, while I appreciate a neat and happy ending, I would have loved for some more… well, realization of their toxic and bad behaviour overall, too.
I can’t wait to start this. Wonderful review, Marie 🙂
ahhh I can’t wait to hear your thoughts about it, Sim, I hope you’ll love it 😀
I haven’t heard of this book but it really sounds like a great YA contemporary read. Great review!
It was a really really good read overall, I hope you can get around to reading it sometime 🙂 thank you so much!! 🙂
I have an ARC of this but I am so behind on reading it, but your review has made me all the more excited to read it! Lovely post!
AHH yay! I hope you can read it soon and will love it 😀
Thank you! <3
I loved this one with all my heart. I WAS NOT READY FOR THAT EMOTIONAL GUT PUNCH THOUGH. Nevertheless, lovely review as always, Marie. Only Mostly Devastated will definitely be a comfort read for me, especially when I am in the mood for something cute and heartwarming.
RIGHT? Me neither, these emotions, ahh. I’m happy you enjoyed it! 🙂