Only Mostly Devastated

CW: secondary character death due to cancerWhat starts as a goofy M/M YA tribute to Grease turns out to be much more. Okay, Ollie and Will have a summer fling and then surprisingly encounter each other at their senior year of high school when Ollie's family decides to stay in North Carolina to help care for a sick family member. And yes Ollie is befriended by three girls who bear a passing resemblance to the Pink Ladies (one's an aspiring model instead of a beauty school dropout like Frenchie, one is the bitter sarcastic Rizzo equivalent and one is just nice). But the issues that arise when Ollie and Will come face to face are more complicated than nice girl meets bad boy. Will isn't out to his friends or family, and his cool behavior towards Ollie is both understandable and heartbreaking. What ensues is an exploration of how two teens navigate a relationship when they are in very different points in their sexuality journey, and whether they can be together in some way without either one being seriously hurt. I spent most of the book furious at Will for stringing Ollie along while outwardly clinging to his jock-bro personality (even taking a girl to the big high school dance) and rooting for Ollie to stand up for himself. Towards the end Will redeems himself a bit, and Ollie has a few epiphanies about their relationship that helped me to see Will in a slightly different light. Still, I wouldn't call this a sweet adorable romance like [b:Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda 19547856 Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Creekwood, #1) Becky Albertalli https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1402915678l/19547856.SY75.jpg 27679579]; it's more bittersweet and complicated, albeit with a happy ending.Ollie is a lot like many YA first person narrators - smart, snarky and confused. But he distinguishes himself by his nurturing, caring side that is apparent when he babysits his young cousins. The secondary characters, especially the three girls who befriend Ollie, are well-developed, arguably more so than Will. There is a fair amount of sadness in the book's subplots which give it greater depth than a typical YA rom-com. Grease is only the starting point for this extremely strong novel. I hope it gets the recognition it deserves.ARC provided by Net Galley in exchange for honest review.