She said she'd send someone to help him escape. But escape what?
Since the day Sage's mother died, he was left with nothing more than the nagging feeling that there was something right in front of his eyes. Student Council President, perfect marks and attendance, Sage's picturesque life shatters the night he meets Drew.
An endearing young man, Drew lands in his life and claims it's all a lie.
Every moment scripted, every movement monitored, Sage finds himself at the heart of a conspiracy. Trusted allies become potential enemies and he starts to sense that everyone is keeping a bigger secret from him, even Drew.
He must use his wit to discern friend from foe and to read between the lines of his scripted world before the people in control realize he knows in order to break free in The 15th of Finality.
This book made me feel so many emotions!!!!!! I was having physical!! reactions!!! This shit was an emotional ROLLERCOASTER I was gasping kicking my feet screaming giggling squealing and RECOILING at times and bawling my EYES OUTTTTT at the winter ball shopping scene, it was queer joy and gender euphoria at its absolute finest. And all of these things were like?? So balanced? Like how do u juggle that many things at once and do it WELL??? Idk but DeBudge did it.
The characters were so dimensional and I was so invested in every one of their stories. The way I was taken from liking to hating to liking to loving to HATING these characters was CRAZYYYY like??? DeBudge said “strap in” and then started flying the plane before I was even SAT bitch I was NOT ready
I’ve never read a book before with polyamory, it was unexpected but honestly I didn’t hate it?? It was actually super cutie??? So thank u for that
This book had a bit of everything; mystery, tension, LOTS of twists, plotting and planning and gore and nastiness, but my fav part (of every book actually) is the found family like OMFG, the main character never having anyone to lean on and then finding other people where he finally is like omfg?? I’m not alone anymore???? PLEASE god PLEASE PLEASE like I love this book and i’m so mad it’s not big bc I am going to ACHE until I find someone to talk about it with
Hey another thing??? There’s is NOTHING ELSE in this WORLD that does it for me like a character who’s been restraining themself and just trying to be good for the entire book finally being able to unleash the CRAZY that plagues them. Sage’s double cross at the end and him losing his SHIT and finally just fuckin SNAPPING like SAGE IS MY BABY AND AND I WILL ALWAYS SUPPORT HIM IDC HOW MANY PEOPLE HE’S KILLED
I hope there is a second book. I have to see student council domestic life. I need to see them actually owning cats and going to college and having happy ending (obvi some shit is gonna go down but hey that’s just the traumatized gay agenda at work baby)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I'm a little late to review this, but I really, really need to. You won't find many books like this. It's a conspiracy-type thriller that heavily leans into queer characters, but the characters are represented in a way that feels real. It doesn't hide behind subtlety or queerbait, it is upfront with it's gay and trans characters. I think that's an unappreciated aspect of many good queer books now- you can have gay characters and never say it. I WANT it to be in my face. I want to know these characters are queer and not ashamed of it. I really, genuinely enjoyed this book. I picked it up and immediately loved it. I felt for the characters. This book is so out-there, it is different and I'm sure the author knows it. If you are questioning reading this one, do it. If you can look past the occasional spelling or grammatical error, that is. Queerness is a big part in this story, I believe. It's by a queer person FOR queer people, not some big, cishet author who has never met a queer person in real life. I assume most people don't read books just for their spelling- this story has great characters, a great, solid story and gay romance. Go for it.
I loved this book, at every turn I couldn't help but be invested and immersed into the story. Rarely can a story make me cry or laugh as much as this one did. I loved the romance in the story too. I will be reading every book (future and present) this author produces, these books are enthralling. - - - - - - Although, as much as I enjoyed the story, I couldn't help but feel the author was just checking off boxes when it came to Trans people. When it came to the trans characters it felt like there was nothing leading up to characters coming out, simply it felt like nothing was organic and entirely rushed through. Not only this but every time we find out a character is trans (and they come out) it's because the main author told the character that they might be. As a trans guy myself, it's disappointing to know the author could do this so much better and failed to. It would have been amazing to see even small details that would have allowed to draw our own conclusion about a character being trans before it's all revealed in one breath.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I had... So much fun reading this. All of the characters felt so alive and they were so easy to visualize while reading it.
The imagery, symbolism, and everything else was fun to analyze and pick apart, too. I genuinely wanted to pick it right back up after finishing it and reread it, which isn't something that happens super often? I literally just finish one book, log it in my phone, and move on to the next. Also, it had me crying just a little throughout multiple times, and then just flat-out sobbing at the end (in a good way, I mean). I think, by the end of the book, my favorite characters were probably Sheldon and Alex.
I really loved the story line, romance, EVERYTHING. And seeing Alex embrace himself, really stuck a cord within me.
I almost cried, and did cry, several times, some tears of joy, some tears of anger. This book was a rollercoaster of emotions, and I overall loved it. Keep up the good work
Ate this book up! Thought the writing was fantastic and I loved this found family! Good for reading on an iPad but the format was not compatible with my kindle. The story line was pretty dark honestly but all the characters had good depth to them making it hard not to root for them; Sage is the epitome of morally gray. I am interested to see where this world goes!
There’s a cheeky / playful style to the writing, and I think I benefited from listening to this via the audiobook.
I was fairly confused as to what was going on for the majority of the reading experience, and it gave me similar feelings to when I read More Than This by Patrick Ness. I think this is a book that I will find re-reading to be a very different experience.
I loved the diversity of this, especially when it came to LGBT+ reveals. Characters discovering things about themselves, or each other felt very organic and never came across as a plot twist for the sake of it. The friendship was very diverse and I’m pretty sure there was gay, bi, pan, trans, poly, and non-binary rep in here.