As a contemporary romance with low action/adventure stakes, this is honestly a genre I rarely ever read. That being said, I truly and utterly adored this book. This book is truly wonderful if your whole nervous system just needs a rest and a reset. The pain that Sal is going through is so real and his friendship/relationship with Pax is so wonderful that this whole book was like healing your body by taking a perfectly warm bath. Ironic, of course, considering the spooky elements, but rather than being supernatural, they're linked far more to the psyche and healing of those internal wounds.



Knowing what I know now about this book, would I still read it if I went back in time?
Yes!


 See below for the four criteria I use to decide whether and when to read a book



CHARACTERS: This is one of the best grumpy/sunshine duos I've read, mostly because it actually took me most of the book to realize that that's exactly the trope I was reading! They truly felt so natural. I utterly adore Pax and honestly would love to be like him. He has the most wholesome acceptance of himself that is just...incredible and something to live up to. And Sal's first reaction to everything being to simply stay silent or not talk? It's part of both who he is and his trauma. Watching him grow through it and merge the two together is a truly profound experience in all of it's gentleness.



PLOT: Life. It's honestly not a genre I normally read. There isn't a grand quest. It is simply, living and learning and experiencing as a high school student. Learning that you belong and being yourself and working through stages of grief and family trauma as well as new love. It's a coming of age in its own way. Sal in many ways doesn't even have a bi/gay-awakening. It is simply what happens. I can't explain it only that it's truly beautiful. Not only for Sal and Pax to come together, but for the four of them, "The Other Ones" to come together fully into a beautiful found family even as Sal literally 'finds' his family in another way.



EMOTIONAL INTENSITY: There is no good/bad here. Sometimes I just want a low-investment entertainment read whereas other times a high-stakes 'I need a therapist to recover' is what I need.

3/5: medium. I think the author did a fantastic job of hitting on themes that can hurt so deeply but offering such a beautiful balm to sit with that pain and feel through it and finish the book true to Pax's name: at peace.


CATHARTIC FULFILLMENT: Is the emotional journey worth it? Do I finish this book feeling that I've crested the wave of the climactic moment and everything has been settled, leaving me settled and fulfilled? 

100%. I truly wasn't expecting this book to be anything wild in terms of my usual wild rides. But it did exactly what I needed it to do. I honestly ended up feeling as though I'd just been soaking in a warm tub for the hours I read it and I finished with a grateful sigh.