i had the audiobook of this one in my @librofm app for ages but seeing the physical book at the library recently sparked my interest in it, and i flew through it (mostly on audio!) last weekend. 🤩

it’s a story of a golden boy, newer actor and a more seasoned bad boy actor, cast as love interests in a queer romance movie, pushed to fake a relationship to boost the ratings and press for the film, when (SHOCKINGLY), they actually start to fall for each other. but! this one also goes SO MUCH DEEPER, really exploring trauma and ab—se, race and sexuality, family dynamics and self-confidence. it didn’t just rely on light and easy tropes, but really took a more nuanced, real, and gritty approach, which i appreciated and found impactful. check trigger warnings here, for sure.