Week Twenty-Five- June 18th - June 24th

Title: Boys of West Denton

Author: Olivaughn

Genre: Teen Fiction

Number of Chapters: 21 (as of reading)

Completed? No

Link (Added as an in-line comment):

Blurb:

Initially looking for nothing more than a feelings-free summer fling before college, reckless Harris McCammon and anxious Seb Krause might have discovered more than they bargained for.

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When a graduation party takes a risky turn, Harrison McCammon finds himself in the passenger seat of Sebastian Krause's truck. When the two of them decide to engage in a friends with benefits kind of situation, neither expect anything more than maybe a fun situationship before they leave for college. But as their casual entanglement turns into something slightly more, the two of them are forced to push down their real thoughts on this non-relationship. Add in sketchy ex-boyfriends, concerned parents, and a small dash of existential dread, there's no such thing as no strings attached.

Goose's Thoughts:

We've reached Week 25, it's still pride month, and we are once again settling in with a cute little couple and a seriously bad-ass grandma.

Olivia has created an absolutely masterful story full of so many twists, emotions, and bad-ass female characters. She has added so much depth to Harris and Seb's characters that they all but leap off the screen right before our eyes. Each chapter and POV adds so much to them and it is clear that a lot of love has gone into them both. They're both very deep, complex characters with such rich backgrounds and emotional states.

Harris and Seb are two very different characters with Seb being the anxious little bean and Harris the more outgoing one, but they both have their problems. These two as a couple makes so much sense. They care for one another from the get go, have a lot of love for the other, and are willing to do something as stupid as diving off a cliff to help the other. For two seemingly very different people, they just fit as a couple.

The emotions in this story are so real, so incredible that you feel along with Harris and Seb. You feel Seb's anxiousness and Harris' sadness from the very beginning. Oliva has such a way with these characters that they feel like real people, as though you are really inside someone's head. It takes a special skill to get this heartless little goose to feel something.

Not only are Seb and Harris awesome characters, but we love ourselves a badass Grandma. Granny Mac is the real hero of this story and I will take that to my grave. We don't get enough cool Grandma's who can see right through their grandchild's lies and isn't above getting into a bar fight to prove a point. Her and Saanvi are the true MVP's of this story.

Away from the characters, the descriptions throughout this story are amazing. Olivia is able to weave in small details about their little town and the world around them within each description. She captures the life in a small town perfectly and I love the descriptions about each individual place in the town.

If you're looking for a cute, but also very sad and heart-breaking story about two very adorable boys, then I would recommend this story. Harris and Seb are characters worth getting to know and you will not be disappointed when you open this story. I cannot recommend it enough.

Thank you for writing such an amazing story, Olivia!

-Goose