Actual rating 3.5 stars.

I started reading Endless Sky on a rainy Sunday, and it was the perfect distraction. A cute love story between two boys that turned into a darker mystery.

Even though I believe Endless Sky could have been tighter edited, I really enjoyed the overall story. Josh and Matt are two great guys, and I d that the author approached their romance differently by letting them be a couple from the start of the book. Matt was almost too perfect, but he was so sweet, and I really loved him. Alyssa and Chase were wonderful best friends, and Josh, well, it was difficult not to him.

While the first part of the story is cute (although there’s bullying!), the second part is harsher. I’m a sucker for darker (romance) stories, so I devoured that part.

What I d less were the COVID references. It made the story very dated (even now already), and I think that’s a shame for such a lovable book.

Thank you so much, Christopher Renna, for offering me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Follow me on Instagramarc-netgalley-edelweiss lgbtqia mystery-thriller ...more18 s Drakoulis255 24

The book is out now!

Endless Sky is a wholesome coming-of-age/first-love book that will make you feel warm and fuzzy!

Josh is hiding in the shadows since he came out at his school in a small town of Indiana, and is content to avoid unwanted attention. But when he starts secretly dating Matt, the star of the school wrestling team, he finds himself in a spotlight he never wanted.

The plot's foundation is basic, but don't let this discourage you: this book is about Josh and Matt and their journey to fully understand themselves, face their insecurities and savor their feelings for each other.

As the blurb hints you, Eric is a pain for Josh, he keeps harassing him every chance he gets, crossing many red lines. And then he turns up dead, because life is a bitch Eric. The mystery subplot was interesting without altering the book's atmosphere.

I really loved Matt, he gave strong golden retriever vibes, and the two boys' best friends, Alyssa and Chase. We also saw the different ways parents love and care about their kids, and how past bullying can affect teenagers and their self-confidence for a very long time.

I have one big complain (I'm not deducting a star for it but it's really starting to get on my nerves): constant Covid references. I don't the idea of Covid related terms and scenes becoming a trend in contemporary fiction books. The plot would be the same without it - you just wouldn't know that the author wrote the book in 2020. It took magic out of some scenes for me.

Overall, this book exceeded my expectations and I recommend it to every fan of YA gay coming-of-age/romance stories!

Thank you BookSirens for the ARC! contemporary gay m-m-romance ...more6 s Gordon AmbosAuthor 3 books71

I rarely feel this conflicted after finishing a book. If this book would've been about Josh and Matt's relationship and them falling in love - 5 stars. I loved them together. But this whole mystery aspect about the murder? Not very well executed.
The synopsis spoils the biggest plot-twist, which happens at 70%. The conclusion was super obvious and I did not get why Josh wants to investigate his bully's murder so bad. Be glad the fucker is dead for god's sake.
The bullying is also immensely down-played by Josh himself, which rubbed me the wrong way. He literally gets sexually assualted and calls it "just normal high school BS". Um, no.
There were also some name inconsistencies. "Cooper" was sometimes called "Copper", same with "Schiller"/"Shiller". This book needed some extra editing.

CW: bullying, sexual assualt, violence, homophobia, murder, drug abuse

EDIT: The author left a comment under this review (which is kind of intrusive, as are meant for readers, not the author) thanking me for pointing out "three" typos. This came off to me as rather passive-aggressive (I might be wrong though), so I won't pick up anything else by him. To clarify: this book had more than three typos in it. I don't really care about typos and wouldn't point those out. Spelling names differently througout the whole book on the other hand, is not a typo. It's a continuity error that should've been caught by the editor.
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