Afterglow

Golden Boys #2

by Phil Stamper

Bestselling author Phil Stamper takes the Golden Boys from summer fun to senior year in the next installment of his charming duology.

After a life-changing summer, these four friends are finally ready for senior year.

Gabriel is thrilled to create his school's first LGBTQ+ advocacy group, but his long-distance relationship is fading from summer love to something else. . .
Heath feels secure for the first time in years, but with his future riding on a baseball scholarship each pitch triggers his anxiety. . .
Reese is set on pursuing a career in fashion design, but his creativity takes him in an unexpected direction, he isn't yet ready to share. . .
Sal wants to be in politics, specifically local politics. After a chat with his aunt, he is ready for an unlikely path . . .

As graduation nears and the boys prepare to enter the real world, it feels like everything is changing so fast--including their friendships. Can they find a way to make the most of their senior year even as they eagerly look ahead to the future

Genres: Young Adult, LGBT, Contemporary, Queer, Romance, Fiction, Gay

394 pages, Paperback

First published February 7, 2023

About the author

Phil Stamper grew up in a rural village near Dayton, Ohio. While it could be seen as a boring lifestyle to some, he kept himself entertained by playing the piano and writing stories that stretched his imagination. He has a B.A. in Music from the University of Dayton and an M.A. in Publishing with Creative Writing from Kingston University.

When he first left his home state, he landed in Washington, DC with no job prospects, $800 in graduation money, and the promise of a walk-in closet to live in. Not long after—and he’s not totally sure how—he was jumping headfirst into a career in non-profit PR and sleeping in a real bed. He loved writing for a living, even if he was writing press releases and news stories... and hundreds of emails to annoyed journalists. But after a while, the dry writing started to get to him, so he thought he’d finally work on that book he always wanted to write.

Years later, Phil is now the bestselling author of The Gravity of Us, As Far As You’ll Take Me, and other queer books for kids and teens. He works in author development for a major book publisher in New York City, where he lives with his husband and their dog. Golden Boys, the first book in his upcoming young adult rom-com duology, comes out in February 2022. Small Town Pride, his debut middle grade novel, publishes in Summer 2022.

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Reviews

[Marieke (mariekes_mesmerizing_books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always have an anxiety-love relationship with highly anticipated books. I’m impatient, and when I have a book that I long to read, I can’t control myself and want to dive into it immediately. And at the same time, starting to read such a book scares the death out of me.
 
Golden Boys was, in my opinion, Phils Stamper’s best so far. Diving into its sequel with no other reviews on GR yet gave me shivers. What if I wouldn’t like it? What if it wouldn’t be as good as Golden Boys? And then the first chapters felt like a bumpy road. Too much telling instead of showing. Too much repetition. My chest tightened, and I got a little restless. But at the same time, I flew through the pages. And suddenly, I felt that warm feeling in my chest again—the longing to be with those four boys again, to follow their journey into adulthood.

Golden Boys was about personal growth and finding yourself, and Afterglow is about exactly the same topics. Because, as human beings, we can always grow and learn more about ourselves. All four boys are anxious, Gabriel about his long-distance relationship with Matt, Sal about his plans for the future, Reese about the secrets he has for Heath, and Heath about getting injured and ruining his one chance to get into college. And just like in Golden Boys, they all have to step outside their comfort zones and overcome hurdles.

So, while I had to overcome some hurdles at the beginning of this story, I ended up loving Afterglow as much as I loved Golden Boys. And because my review is the first one on GR, I round my rating up to five beautiful stars.

I received an ARC from Bloomsbury YA and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

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[give me books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dawno nie odczuwałam takiego wewnętrznego szczęścia czytając jakąś książkę.


„Ale tak sobie myślę, że wszyscy narzucamy sobie niekiedy zbyt duże wymagania z myślą, że mamy tylko jedną szansę. Że możemy sobie zaplanować czy wynegocjować
idealne życie. Ale to tak nie działa. Pogoń za lepszym życiem wymaga codziennego poświęcenia i elastyczności. A my żądamy wszystkiego od razu. Bo kto chciałby czekać w nieskończoność na nagrodę, prawda?”

[fer bañuelos · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5*

Chale.

Siempre es triste cuando una secuela no te gusta tanto como su antecesor, y más cuando anticipabas harto el segundo libro.

Afterglow fue, en una sola palabra, innecesario. De hecho, la primera vez que leí Golden Boys yo sentí que podía haber sido un autoconclusivo perfecto, y ahora que leí este confirmo esa teoría. Siento que el primer libro hace el trabajo perfecto en presentar a los personajes, darles su coming of age y su desarrollo, y dejarlos en un momento -perfecto- para ti como lector. Este libro siento que intento muchas cosas y no logró tantas.

Llegó un punto donde sentí que mucho del crecimiento que vivieron los personajes se pierde en este libro. Además, había veces donde aunque las cosas que pasaban me parecían "realistas" considerando lo sucedido en el primer libro no me gustaban. O sea, como tal, la trama de este libro no fue mi favorita, para nada comparandola con la del primer libro.

Phil Stamper metió tantos temas y tantos argumentos en este libro que siento llegaba a perder el enfoque en lo más importante. Tenías tramas de drag, de elecciones, de la nada un pleito con la directora, un club de alumnos, una lesión gravísima, problemas en el paraíso, etc. Eran DEMASIADAS cosas, y siento que mejor pudo haber reducido el listado y haber desarrollado correctamente unas cuantas en vez de tener todo por el hecho de tener. It was giving jack of all trades but master of none.

El final me gustó porque los golden boys si tienen una parte de mi corazón y si los quiero mucho, pero este segundo libro como tal no fue mi favorito. Sin duda me veo relyendo varias veces el primero en el futuro, pero esta secuela pasa sin pena ni gloria.

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CALLENSEEE ESTE LIBRO TIENE UNA PORTADA INCREÍBLE, EL TÍTULO IS GIVING LOVER ERA Y EXTRAÑO MUCHO A MIS 4 GOLDEN BOYS YA LO QUIERO LEER.

[Wyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Physical Arc received! Thanks so much Bloomsbury!

This book is so adorable and so amazing! Thank you again for arc bloomsbury!!

Wyatt

[Anniek · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a kid/young teen I was OBSESSED with the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants books, and these books absolutely hit the same spot. I'm impressed at how fleshed out all four of these main characters and their storylines are. I really hope there will be another sequel following these boys through the next year of their lives, starting college and stuff.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this duology. Following these four from their summer in the last book and then their last year of high school was such an adventure and I loved seeing all their character development and goals and ups and downs.

[Noah de Campos Neto · Rating 2 out of 5]

I already predicted how this book was going to end after the first chapter and I was right, sadly.

Although the book isn’t as violently stereotypical as the first it still fell flat for me. The drag storyline also felt really random and sudden.

Overall 2,5 stars for me. Had to push myself to finish it.

[hannah! (lowkey gone) · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was somehow even better than the first one i love these boys <3

[Daniel Pojda ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 ⭐

[Siren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sal is my son. I will protect him with my life.

I left this on just a few pages at the end because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the boys. After the first book, Golden Boys, I really felt like I needed more time to get to know any of them better, and in this one I got exactly what I asked for. Though now of course I wish it was a trilogy rather than a duology because I am invested. Considering the current political climate in Ohio it would actually be extremely interesting to read a take on how they react/live with this in college/post High School.

[its.mandolin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these four boys and while I have book 1 an easy 5 stars, this one is harder because the end left me feeling so uneasy about all of their relationships with no resolutions or follow up conversations that had real hope. There were some ambiguous actions that could be interpreted as potential resolutions/confirmations but honestly they weren’t enough and left me confused. I’m wondering if this is intentional for another sequel.

However, I did still enjoy this book and spend my time reading rooting for each of the Golden Boys and having nothing but high hopes for their bright futures.

3.5 stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

[Mini (Minireads7) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved the first book, Golden Boys, when I read it last year, but I think I liked this sequel even better. I was so happy to read more about the 4 boys, but while they were all on their separate journeys in the first book, their stories are a lot more connected in this one - and their friendship is what makes these books so great!

Phil Stamper managed to take me right back to my own last year of school (and university actually) as he captures the worries and uncertainties you might have about your future and the decisions you make around that time perfectly.

And while I really like the fact that the ending doesn’t tie everything up neatly and instead leaves quite a few things up in the air, I wouldn’t mind it if Phil Stamper decided to turn this into a trilogy, so we can be reunited with the boys in the future and see where they end up.

Thank you so much @pridebooktours for my gifted copy!

[magda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nie wiem jak to ocenić, może na 2,5 ale nie wiem czy było lepsze niż pierwszy tom. Coś tu ewidentnie nie zagrało, każdy z chłopaków jest kwadratowy, nienaturalny i zachowuje się po prostu głupio, w dalszym ciągu żadnego nie polubiłam, ani trochę mnie nie obchodziło jak im się to życie potoczy. No zero sympatii, mimo że bardzo chciałam. Z resztą, szybko można było też przewidzieć, w którą stronę pójdą ich relacje.
Dodatkowo mam wrażenie że tłumaczenie niestety też nie jest najlepsze, bo w wielu miejscach wypowiedzi brzmią jak z ust stereotypowego czterdziestolatka, który próbuje być młodzieżowy a wychodzi.... wszyscy wiemy jak.
No ale przynajmniej seria skończona. Czy warto było szaleć tak? Chyba nie. Wydaje mi się że jest dużo lepszych coming-of-age queerowych książek, chociażby taki Arystoteles i Dante.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was…disappointing if I’m honest. I lost interest halfway through and had to push myself to continue. It picked up in the second half, which is a testament to caring for the characters. It was the storytelling that was lacking. Each boy had something big happening in his life, but it kept leading up to it, then switching POV, and later recalling what happened in the interim from the perspective of days, weeks, or months past that point. I wanted to see them do the things!

[tia · Rating 5 out of 5]

ruined, i am ruined

[Nadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sequel to the book Golden Boys. You will definitely need to read that first since this picked up where that left off. The four best friends were figuring out their next steps in life, college applications, life goals, proms, long distance relationships, and family goals. This book was read more easily for me since each person had their own story to tell that was clear and was presented well. I liked them all to be honest.

Gabe was growing more independent and strong willed. Reese was looking at branching outside his comfort zones, Heath was balancing his baseball with his relationship and Sal was figuring out his future. I also liked how book banning was a huge topic in this book which I believe is very important during this time in our country.

What I didn't like was Sal's mom that was narrow minded and a total witch for a bit. And the texting between the guys was a bit messy for me.

The ending was left up in the air for me. Which I'm not a big fan of. Otherwise, this was a cute and sweet book that was filled with hope and love. I’m hoping for a third book. Fingers crossed!! I totally recommend this book to anyone that loves a good romance.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my review.

[Abigail Fogt · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! Also what do you MEAN this is the last book in this series!? I could read about these boys forEVER. This book was amazing, everything from the Ohio references I fully got to all the different kinds of representation. I knew from the minute I picked golden boys up that Sal and Gabe were end game. Please go read these books I adore them SM!!!! 🫶

[Kyle Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthy follow-up to the first. While some parts stumbled, I was pleased with the return of the Golden Boys and (mostly) happy with how they continued to change and grow.

[Nati · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 z bólem serca, bo ciężko było przebrnąć przez tłumaczenie. To taka ciepła historia o pierwszych poważnych dorosłych decyzjach. Trochę mi tutaj brakowało większego rozwinięcia, nie zżyłam się jakoś z bohaterami i byli mi raczej obojętni, ale tak czy siak to była miła historia

[╟ ♫ Tima ♪ ╣ ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stand by the same sentiments I had in the first book.
These boys should’ve been aged up by a few years to be even more of a fun meaningful read. Them wrapping college would’ve made more sense IMO based on their trajectories and they way they had them acting.

However, as with my previous review, I am happy to see mediocre slightly boring queer characters getting non-traumatic/non-homophobic families and community supports. It was refreshing to just have a group of gay friends hanging out without any of plot points be hate crimes or being disowned.

[Phil Stamper · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think i did ok!!

[Drakoulis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Afterglow is a sequel to Golden Boys in the truest sense of the word "sequel". I don't know if Phil Stamper wrote them one after another, but the vibe was exactly the same, the structure was similar and the continuity of the plot lines and the character development was so smooth.

The boys are back in Gracemont, Ohio for their senior year, full of excitement and dreams but also stress and melancholy since they know life will lead them to separate places after this year.

This sense of foreboding was particularly strong in the start, then loosened and then came back even stronger. It made for a bittersweet reading experience, you can't really enjoy something truly if you know it has an expiration date, right? And reading about the boys feeling this, was hard.

The book had many optimistic messages as well. Reese rediscovering himself in a bold way, Sal following his calling against the odds, Gabriel finding his voice and standing for himself, Heath realising when he should stop pushing.

The hardest issue tackled by Phil Stamper was long distance relationships. They are hard and don't work for everyone. It hurt to see Gabe's relationship head that way but it also made sense. But they do work for some people and Heath and Reese seem to be these people, so I would like the resolution to be a bit more clearly positive.

It was more of a "maybe" than a "yes" which left me disappointed. I felt that Golden Boys had a more final happy ending than its sequel - I would like a firmer happy ending for all our boys (maybe it is meant to be one and I just didn't read between the lines enough to interpret is as such? Maybe Phil wanted to leave the door open for a potential 3rd book? Feel free to answer me what you think!).

The Golden Boys duology came full circle and I will not forget these boys anytime soon!

[Joseph Treeby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Afterglow, by Phil Stamper was a book I really anticipated and it did not let me down. This book was quite different to the first one as they were more closer together this time (since they were on abroad-summer study) but it still focused on the theme of each of the characters finding their way.

None of the characters felt annoying to read, as they all had their own struggles and aspirations. Though I really liked reading the relationships between Health and Reese because they were so sweet.

I think this book would have been greater if there was more tension, and a bit more at stake for the characters.

I really do hope that this book shows them as adults because that would be so interesting, but if this is the end I am happy. 😁

[Lilibet Bombshell · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my last year of high school, I felt like I was more than ready to blow that popsicle stand. It was almost a physical itch to get out of that school and out of my small town. In my mind, I was already gone and it was only my physical body that was stuck with these small minds and forked tongues. I always knew I was somehow mistakenly born in a small town when I was meant to live in big cities. I was not born to live in the small dairy town I was born and raised in. I hated every moment spent there.

So I completely identified with all of our four boys as we rejoin them in Afterglow after the events of Golden Boys (which was also a brilliant novel). After a summer away from one another, each of our main characters comes back to their hometown to find they feel even more out of place than they felt before the previous summer. Not only that, but their best laid plans may not be the best of plans after all, and isn’t senior year hard enough without having to worry about changing your life plan, too?

Just like Golden Boys, Stamper writes Afterglow as a bittersweet ode to those formative friendships that build and hold as fast as Urban Decay’s All Nighter Setting Spray (Ha! Makeup joke!). No matter how circumstances change, no matter how mad they get at one another, no matter how many times relationships form and then break, these four boys are tied together by years of laughing, crying, celebrating, making playlists, throwing parties, supporting each other at events, and comforting one another through yet another breakup.

See, I seem to have liked the first book better than Afterglow, but that’s because I have a great affection for yearning. Golden Boys had acres and acres of yearning. For home, for friendship, for love, for connection, for inspiration, for motivation, and more. Afterglow feels more like a combination of disillusionment, pressure, discovery, drifting, and time sneaking up on you.

And, of course, I want to thank Phil Stamper for writing not one, but two optimistic, lovely, realistic, relatable, non-toxic books about LGBTQ+ youth in middle America. I could just stop at saying, “Thanks for writing great LGBTQ+ books!”, but I think it’s important to acknowledge so many books in this genre are set on the coasts in the major metro cities, and yet Stamper chose to make the hometown setting in these books somewhere in the midwest, where queer representation in literature is not prolific; and, if there are queer characters in books set in the midwest, they usually aren’t shining stars who get the best representation. I may live on the west coast, but I can acknowledge this choice will probably give heart and hope to a lot of LGBTQIA+ folx in the midwest, no matter what the age.

I was provided with a copy of this book by NetGalley and the author. All views and opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: LGBTQ Fiction/LGBTQ Friendly Reads/LGBTQ Romance/YA Romance/Young Adult/YA Book Series/Coming of Age/High School/YA Drama/YA Fiction

[Bethany Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Don’t worry about us. We’re golden.” 🥹😭🥰

BRB, there’s a waterfall on my face. This book was another incredibly stellar audio performance by an amazing cast. Each person plays their part so well and I was SO emotionally invested - especially after recently reading Golden Boys. I’d follow them to college. The characters are just so great and I love them.

I don’t know exactly why YA hits me so hard, but I can guess it’s a combination of desperate longing for those experiences I never had, and the happiness of seeing it happen in books. I wanted to be friends with this amazing group of kids. These kids love each other, support each other, call out each other’s BS, and are just good people. I continued to love the texting interludes (such great chapter transitions).

The love stories paralleled here a little bit and by 70% I was on pins and needles for Gabe and Sal!!! When Matt and Gabe broke up it made my heart sad, but also kinda glad cause my little babes got to actually act on their feelings!!! Reese and Heath trying to do the right thing, and it seems like they are going to try to make it work. I loved Heath’s speech at the end. And the roses and thorns. 🥹

There was a lot of heavy stuff here too, with book banning, LGBTQIA+ discrimination, anxiety and fear, insurance and money worries, surgery… it was done very well. I truly loved this book so much. It was a wonderful YA novel to read. So in love with this group and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time!!

[jenn ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay so this one was definitely better than the first one. i really enjoyed reading about their personal development and i managed to connect more with the characters that i didn’t on the first book (gabe and sal), but the ending was a little hasty for me. i finished the book wanting to know more about what was going to happen to them (especially to heath and reese). idk i guess i was a little disappointed with that, but overall it was a good book!!!

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up.

This was a fun follow up to last years' Golden boys in which we get to see what happens to the four friends after their summer vacation as they finish high school and figure out what they want to do next in their lives. Full of friendship, romance, new experiences and heartbreak. Excellent on audio with a full cast of narrators too!

[Tiril · Rating 4 out of 5]

Den serien her e så søt, æ bare elske den skikkelig. Å les om en vennegjeng som e så god mot hverandre, sjøl om dæm har sine opp- og nedtura, e så fint🥹 Vil si at den va like bra som førsteboka, bare at i den her va mer trist sida det va slutten på videregående (aka alle går sine egne veia).

Æ syns det va litt vanskelig å husk på kæm som va kæm fra forrige bok, sida det e en stund sia æ lest den. Men etter en stund så kom æ fint inni det heldigvis.

[Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not expecting this to be the first book I cried about in months, but that valedictorian speech made me cry some real tears. While there are also some romances in the book, the friendships definitely steal the spotlight and rightfully so. This book (this duology) will warm your heart, make you laugh, maybe make you cry too and it will definitely teach you something about the power of friendship (in a non cringey way) ❤️

[Trianna/Treereads · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

I enjoyed book one more, but this was still a good time! I had some minor qualms, but I enjoyed the audiobook enough to say invested.

I only wish they would stop calling their town a village.