This short book pulled quite the punch emotionally. It's very lyrical and jumps around in time but you're following the lives of two high school boys trying to figure out their lives, identities, and each other. Some parts are a little hard to follow and you want to yell at Johnny or Connor or both more than a few times but that shows how well Sydney draws in the reader with their writing.
It takes place in the 1980s in a small town so the open-mindedness of some of their friends seems a little unrealistic but as I've never had to come out, I couldn't say. Johnny's home life is heartbreaking though we don't really see the whole breadth of it here, but it definitely affects his choices and therefore affects Connor as well. This is an enemies-to-lovers story but is infinitely more complicated and there isn't really a happy ending, or one at all. It's like a series of glimpses into these boys' lives. ( )