Social Intercourse

honestly almost DNFd this book right with the first chapter because beckett is that unlikeable and the language he uses is just so awful.

this book is like the parent trap if the protagonists were assholes and there was a bit of semi pseudo incest thrown in. it wasn't fun and i didn't particularly want anyone other than maybe jojo to have a happy ending.

the lengths that beckett and jax went to in order to get their parents back together were....gross. the plot itself was a little bit convoluted (and again at times gross) such as high school kids getting anal bleaching and brazilians (???) and this being totally cool and fun and beckett trying to lose his virginity on a grindr-esque app where low and behold he's magically catfished by jax and it's just sort of introduced out of nowhere and doesn't really add anything at all to the story.

it has the bones of a story that could have been good, but it just really wasn't

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Warning: There are many mentions of sex in this book, but nothing happens on-page, so to speak.

I give the warning because, the beginning made me feel a little awkward. Although, I will admit to being more of a prude than most. There are also multiple mentions on what is going on with theirs dicks, but I mean... they're guys who are trying to understand their sexuality, so it was more chuckle-worthy or just made me think ‘oh you poor dear....'

This book has gay and bi rep, which I thought was done really well. The boys are brought together by their parents who have started dating which is a huge shock since Jaxon's mom has been married to his other mom since he was young. Their main goal is trying to break up their parents. I don't blame them for trying, but I will say the way Beckett talks/thinks about Jaxon's mother was a problem for me. AND she is really never given a chance to redeem herself from being a clingy, dimwitted tart. He honest to all calls her “Big Titties” for most of the book .... mostly because of how he found out she and his dad were dating, but still.

How Beckett acts about people made me dislike him more. I don't mind the gossiping about people or complaining, so I can't put my finger on why exactly I mostly disliked him. Only mostly, because then he would go do something great like remind his best friend that being fat didn't mean she couldn't be beautiful and fierce. I still think Shelby's character deserved more than to eat/want snacks constantly and then what happened to her at the prom, but how author's treat their bigger characters when they actually are included in a book is a story for a different day.

Jaxon, I did like more. He is still pretty immature, but I understood it. He is struggling with being bi and doesn't want to tell anyone because he is the President of the Student Council and star Quarterback of the football team. He picks his battles, but not always the right ones, which could be annoying or just not make sense. This isn't to say he doesn't do horrible things too. He does something that could TOTALLY emotionally scar one of his mothers and that is not okay.
Side note: Love the football team, Terry is my favorite character!

Now, I did mark this book as a tear-jerker, but I don't want anyone thinking this is a sad book/ one where something irreversible happens to a main character. Mostly, my eyes would begin to tear up because of the support shown to the characters. I think some of these conversations are ones that many young LGBT+ people want/need to hear. There is some awesome dialogue and a few really great emotional moments in this book.

It was hard to like this book because of how horrible the main characters could be in order to get what they wanted: their parents to break up and get back with their original partners. I almost have up 15% into the book and even further in. BUT, I thought the writing was good and if I could ignore the sh*tty things they do, I enjoyed watching them become a couple and, in Jax's case, become more comfortable in his own skin.

Will I recommend this? Honestly, I'm torn. Most likely, just because I feel we still have a lack of LGBT+ books, especially ones that end happily, but I'll be careful with recommending it.