Waiting Room

by Kate Spofford, Spoffyumi (pseudonym)

Everyone at school knows Andrew Jennings. Missing an arm. Openly gay. But when he meets star athlete Ryan Sullivan in therapy, can friendship lead to more?

*****

When Andrew 'Jacky' Jennings ends up in therapy after an English assignment gone wrong, he doesn't expect to find his high school's star athlete, Ryan Sullivan, sitting in the same waiting room. After all, he and Ryan couldn't be more different: football captain, future valedictorian, and all-around nice guy, Ryan is the school's golden boy, while Andrew is known for his permanent snarl, being openly gay, and losing his left arm (along with his father and sister) in a car accident. But when Andrew learns they actually have a lot in common, he's surprised to see past the enigma that is Ryan Sullivan and his seemingly perfect life. And as the two boys begin to connect over their shared grief, depression, and teenage angst, they might just discover a little pocket of happiness for themselves -- if they're willing to fight for it.

Genres: Romance

ebook

First published June 21, 2019

About the author

Kate Spofford grew up in Massachusetts and is currently a librarian in New Hampshire. She is the author of the young adult contemporary companion novels Bethany Caleb and The Art Kids, as well as the paranormal / urban fantasy series Wolf Point.

Reviews

[⋆꣑ৎ˙⋆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

this story was cute and i unintentionally stumbled across it when i was checking my wattpad notifications. of course there were flaws like in the writing or development of characters but that's kind of to be expected. not to mention haylee and nina completely ditching cody for each other was a sapphic serve.

i found myself really aware of how similar i was to jacky in how i handle my negative emotions and having a bad attitude while also finding myself relating to how ryan deals with his sexuality and coming out to friends which was slightly confronting lol.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5 stars*

[dumplin’ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t want to sound evil and mean, but like. Sometimes you can tell something was a Wattpad original by the writing style and story elements alone, and this was one of those times. Which isn’t to say this is BAD it’s just… not good?

Like, I think part of what made it as jarring to me was this being SOOO 2019 coded. Representation for the sake of representation, lesbians that aren’t lesbians thrown in at the end for shock factor, toxic yaoi that should have clearly broken up like six chapters ago…

However. I have to give this book its sixes because Ryan was incredibly Eddie Diaz coded TO ME. And the author kept throwing in that he was blond and I was taken aback every time. That is a brown eyed brown haired princess I DON’T CARE!

[⋆ Honey ⋆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slight spoilers

This was a great book to read, I don’t regret watching all those ads to buy the whole book lol. It’s very angsty and talks a lot about mental health, we also see a lot of characters have some sort of character development.

The only thing I didn’t really enjoy was that it felt too much like a HFN instead of a HEA, and that’s confirmed when I realized there was a sequel 😭 I’m not that upset though lol, I feel like a second book will help their relationship grow into something better. Because right now it feels very fragile, and filled with grief and insecurities.

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The angst and realistic character growth was very compelling. The story was cute, devastating, and overall amazing.

[Sabrina Voerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a while back, but I remember really enjoying the journey of these two boys! It was a story that captured so many elements of being a teenager. A lovely slow-burn kind of story, but at the same time it never did feel like it was slow. The development and growth of the characters, particularly Jacky, was really heart-warming.

[Yola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it