The Ridge

I absolutely adored this book! What a wonderful, enthralling debut that captures teen angst and the weight and confusion of romantic inclinations and identity.

Amanzimtoti: The Ridge follows Wayne du Preez, as he starts his last year of high school with his best friend Travis and his girlfriend Jess, and is confronted by the sudden and unexpected reappearance of his childhood best friend, which leaves him with him exploring an unhealthy inner turmoil of feelings.

Once I got a few chapters into this book, I found it incredibly hard to put down. I was completely sucked in by Wayne's internal conflict vs. Kyle's persistence of a relationship of any form vs. Jessica's unwavering dedication and kindness. I honestly loved every single character and the relationships and dynamic built between all of them.

I loved that this book used South African slang. This, coupled with the luscious descriptions of the landscape, made me truly picture the surroundings and the lives that these teens led. I also really appreciated that there was a glossary of these terms at the back of the book, so even if you had no knowledge of South African slang, you could still understand what these characters were saying, and be further immersed in the authenticity that Carmen-Shea Hepburn was trying to create. The use of this slang also added to the character of these teenagers, and helped greatly in truly believing that there were actually teenagers, and added to the honesty and realism of all of them.

One of the most important parts of the books was of course the budding, and oftentimes fraught, relationship between Wayne & Kyle. I loved the slow burn of the relationship, and the longing and meaningful glances between them, however I equally couldn't wait for them to get together. It is a hard task to create a love triangle and have readers care about both relationships involved (in this case, Wayne-Jessica and Wayne-Kyle) however I believe Carmen-Shea Hepburn has mostly achieved this (I'm still rooting more for Wayne & Kyle but Jessica is so incredibly sweet that I want the best for her too). It is also a testament to how good of a writer Hepburn is, that she was able to make me understand both Wayne's and Kyle's viewpoints. Both of them have experienced homophobia due to the nature of their relationship, but still this doesn't want to fully stop them.
Yes, Wayne blames Kyle for the kisses.
Yes, that definitely isn't nice of him.
But yes, I can completely understand it. This is a boy who is incredibly scared of allowing himself to have feelings for Kyle. It could jeopardise everything for him, and from the glimpses we've seen of his family, they'd make his life absolutely miserable if they thought anything was going on. He's trying to protect himself and those around him, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want Kyle. The struggle that Wayne has between his heart and his head is nice to see, and it's going to be interesting to see this further explored in the second book. Again, the fact I feel for Wayne, who's just trying to protect people, and for Kyle, who knows what he wants (and knows that Wayne wants it too) and is unwilling to settle for anything else, is an indicator of how excellently Hepburn has built this universe with these characters in this setting.

Kyle, to me, never seemed like a bad guy, even though it was obvious that he was actively pursuing Wayne. I did feel bad for Jessica, but I also felt as though the relationship between Wayne and Kyle was unstoppable. Even though we did see Wayne blame Kyle for the kisses, and act like he was just reacting to anything Kyle did, and though he was almost an unwilling participant, he did invite these things. Again, Wayne wants Kyle but is just afraid of what it could mean, and it is wonderful to see this intense struggle of wants explored.

I do love that Wayne is essentially what people may class as a jock, but he's also incredibly sensitive, finds it hard to make friends, and has deep secrets – he's absolutely not a two-dimensional character.
In fact, none of the characters in this book are two-dimensional, especially Travis and his conflict between loyalty to his sister and loyalty to his best friend, and how he struggles to handle this later on in the book. Even the side characters that we see, such as members of the rugby team, and the popular girls, are all shown to be different to the main characters. Even though this book very much centers on four people, there is a definite change in dialogue and personality of every single character, even when there is minimal dialogue for side characters compared to Wayne, Jessica, Travis, and Kyle.

Personally, probably the only downside of this book is that for me, too much time was dedicated to Wayne's internalised homophobia and self-harm and anxiety issues. I understand that this is incredibly important, and I loved that it was in the book, but I believe we saw one too many instances of it, and as a reader it made me slightly uncomfortable. I did not count the number of instances this happened in the book, however it starts in one of the first few chapters, when Wayne sees Kyle again for the first time in eight years, and near the very end of the book too, and is a major theme throughout. Intentional self-harm (plus a case of accidental self-harm) happens a lot, and is the most important coping mechanism in this book for Wayne. When you consider that this book is full of angst, you can imagine that he will turn to this a lot, however I do still think that the amount of times we did this happen was a little too much, and some of the cases could have gone unspoken but implied. This would have still achieved the exact same message, but again, it is incredibly important to see these issues discussed and described, especially in the case of teenage boys.

Another minor point that I didn't really enjoy was when Kyle insinuated that Wayne was only in a relationship with Jess because he wanted to be with Travis. That kind of threw me as I had never seen that kind of relationship between Wayne and Travis, and it seemed a left-field comment for Kyle to make, and then for Wayne to seriously consider. I'm glad that Wayne came to the conclusion that Kyle was wrong, but it still seemed like a weird almost sub-plot to me.

The ending frustrated me beyond belief, but only because I wanted to know what happened next. The abrupt ending offered me no satisfaction, but knowing that there is a second book coming, that is going to hopefully further explore the relationship between Wayne and Kyle, is comforting.

Overall, this book left me feeling ecstatic in places, angry in others, and incredibly dejected too. This book is slightly rife with angst, so of course there are going to be down moments, but there is also light and comedy in it too.

I am truly excited to read the second book and how this story develops, and I couldn't recommend this book highly enough. Please, if you enjoy LGBTQ+ romance, meaningful teen drama, or simply want to immerse yourself in a different culture, read this book!