Author: Sophie Gonzales
Narrator: Mark Sanderlin
Will Tavares is the dream summer fling ― he’s fun, affectionate, kind ― but just when Ollie thinks he’s found his Happily Ever After, summer vacation ends and Will stops texting Ollie back. Now Ollie is one prince short of his fairy tale ending, and to complicate the fairy tale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country. Which he minds a little less when he realizes it’s the same school Will goes to… except Ollie finds that the sweet, comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn’t the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted ― and, to be honest, a bit of a jerk.
Ollie has no intention of pining after a guy who clearly isn’t ready for a relationship, especially since this new, bro-y jock version of Will seems to go from hot to cold every other week. But then Will starts “coincidentally” popping up in every area of Ollie’s life, from music class to the lunch table, and Ollie finds his resolve weakening.
The last time he gave Will his heart, Will handed it back to him trampled and battered. Ollie would have to be an idiot to trust him with it again.
Right? Right.
Only Mostly Devastated is my second read by Sophie Gonzales after enjoying Never Ever Getting Back Together. After spending the summer at the lake in North Carolina, high school senior Ollie Di Fiore has been told he is not returning to his hometown of San Jose, California and instead temporarily moving to Collinswood, North Carolina as his family will care for his aunt who is dealing with cancer. The story follows Ollie as he begins his new school year. It resembles Grease as Ollie is the new kid in school who gets adopted by a group of kids (Juliet and her friends in this case) and has been ghosted after a summer romance (Will Tavares in this story). As expected, Ollie runs into Will, and they must address the ghosting incident.
Ollie is an openly gay kid who is attending school in a small-town in the Bible Belt, so it was a little difficult to understand how he was immediately accepted. While not everyone in that area is closed-minded, homophobia exists a lot there. Even just Ollie being from California would have gotten a reaction of some kind. When Ollie runs into Will, he is upset that Will won’t step up and declare his feelings openly without considering that Will may have reasons for not wanting his friends and family to know.
The writing in this story is intriguing. The character of Ollie reads two different ways at the same exact time. On one hand, he is blinded by his heartbreak and is emotionally manipulative. On the other, he truly believes that he wants others to be happy and has good intentions. This makes his character both terrible and likable at the same time, so I must give Gonzales a lot of credit for it. For me, unfortunately, I finished the novel with a negative opinion of Ollie whereas I can see many readers having the exact opposite reaction to him. While Ollie felt fleshed out, at least, I feel there should have been more done with Will. The characters all interacted well, and I enjoyed the emotions included in the story. The pacing was nice, and the concept was interesting. Overall, this was a good story and I look forward to reading more from the author in the future.
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