Butterflies In the End Zone

I really enjoyed this novel. Getting invested in Alex and Jamie's lives and romance was easy. Seeing their friendship develop into something more was wonderful. The progression of their romance and the spice in the book felt age appropriate. Sometimes YA characters are written like adult characters, but Alex and Jamie embodied the tension and angst of adolescence. Jamie experienced culture shock moving from San Francisco to Jacksonville. Alex is the star quarterback, is also class president, and maintains stellar grades. Alex had always considered himself straight until he befriended Jamie and developed a crush on him. Alex had to battle a lot of internalized homophobia throughout the novel, and it caused arguments with Jamie, and even their breakup stemmed from that. I love how they got their HFN. My only wish is that we got an epilogue to see a bit of Alex and Jamie's future. Overall I loved this romance!

I received a free copy of this book via Gay Book Promotions and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Thank you to the author for sending me an early copy for my honest review!

I don't even know where to begin. I enjoyed this, but I wish I enjoyed it more. There were points were I felt like the story dragged. There are points where great thoughts and plot points are placed, but I felt they weren't fulfilled completely.

I do really hope the author does some kind of novella so we can see what happens next. It's a pretty solid debut. Give it a read and make an informed decisions.

Butterflies in the End Zone by Jacob Gelman releases June 15, 2023!