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Swell
1970s. Southern California.
Gabriel’s life is good, uncomplicated just the way he likes it. He spends most of his days at the beach, surfing and hanging out with friends.
Then he meets Will.
Will, who’s older, more confident, and who makes Gabriel feel things he’s never felt before.
Can he keep his feelings a secret? Does he want to?
Swell is the story of an all consuming first love and what happens when you’re willing to take a risk.
Gabriel’s life is good, uncomplicated just the way he likes it. He spends most of his days at the beach, surfing and hanging out with friends.
Then he meets Will.
Will, who’s older, more confident, and who makes Gabriel feel things he’s never felt before.
Can he keep his feelings a secret? Does he want to?
Swell is the story of an all consuming first love and what happens when you’re willing to take a risk.
- GenresFiction
219 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 16, 2020
3 people are currently reading
466 people want to read
About the author
Grace Williams
94 books10 followersMy greatest desire is to create meaningful stories that connect people. I've published one novel and am working on polishing my second one. If you'd like to connect, please check out my site.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 31, 2020
I picked this book because I thought it was a romance book. I’m a bit disappointed at the ending. Actually I’m very disappointed at the ending. It felt unfinished. The story was going so well and then that happened. So I am left with an okay story with a yucky ending. That’s pretty much how I felt.
I received this ARC from the publisher and Netgalley for in exchange for my honest review.
I received this ARC from the publisher and Netgalley for in exchange for my honest review.
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October 21, 2020Swell, set in 1970's California, follows Gabriel and Will during a transformative summer. This is a story about first love. Gabriel finds himself strongly attracted to Will and longing for him.
Would recommend this book to fans of Call Me By Your Name. Though this was not as melancholy and heartbreaking, it reminded me a lot of the all consuming love that Elio feels for Oliver in that book.
It was a fast and easy read for me. I found myself getting lost within the story, maybe because it was only about ~200 pages. The story flowed well and very quickly. Although a lot of the plot points were predictable and could possibly be developed further, I still enjoyed reading.
*The author had contacted me to review her novel in exchange for a free copy.
Would recommend this book to fans of Call Me By Your Name. Though this was not as melancholy and heartbreaking, it reminded me a lot of the all consuming love that Elio feels for Oliver in that book.
It was a fast and easy read for me. I found myself getting lost within the story, maybe because it was only about ~200 pages. The story flowed well and very quickly. Although a lot of the plot points were predictable and could possibly be developed further, I still enjoyed reading.
*The author had contacted me to review her novel in exchange for a free copy.
June 3, 2021
3.5 stars
California 1970s
During the summer before he leaves for college, 18 year old surfer Gabriel falls in love for the first time with the new boy in the neighborhood, Will Artino. This is great for a lazy read with strong feelings of nostalgia and summer vibes.
Beach bonfires, roller skating, burger shops, surfing, skateboarding, cruising in the Jeep, hot summer nights on the roof, stargazing, naps on rainy days, the 70s music references, all consuming crushes. Felt like I was right there with them hanging out with the group of friends at the beach and having dinner around the table with Gabriel’s family. I could practically smell the brown shag carpeting in his house. Definitely recommend just for the mood alone and the sweet romance.
Standout characters: Natalie Artino, for being the best sister ever.
Thank you to NetGalley for accepting my request!
California 1970s
During the summer before he leaves for college, 18 year old surfer Gabriel falls in love for the first time with the new boy in the neighborhood, Will Artino. This is great for a lazy read with strong feelings of nostalgia and summer vibes.
Beach bonfires, roller skating, burger shops, surfing, skateboarding, cruising in the Jeep, hot summer nights on the roof, stargazing, naps on rainy days, the 70s music references, all consuming crushes. Felt like I was right there with them hanging out with the group of friends at the beach and having dinner around the table with Gabriel’s family. I could practically smell the brown shag carpeting in his house. Definitely recommend just for the mood alone and the sweet romance.
Standout characters: Natalie Artino, for being the best sister ever.
Thank you to NetGalley for accepting my request!
March 9, 2024
First off, I have to give an INCREDIBLY LONG overdue thank you to Goodreads Giveaways for this book!! I won it back in October 2020 and it’s been on my Kindle ever since! I tried to start it a long while back but life got busy and in the way. I’m so happy I read it at this point in my life. Sometimes you find that book or piece of media that seemingly falls into your life at just the right time. Even if you got a hold of it at another time, when you DO finally give it 100% of your attention it’s amazing what feelings it will conjure up for you.
All in all, I fucking loved this book. Everything was PERFECT. Half the time I kept waiting for the shoe to drop and for a little dose of conflict to be injected into the story but the way everything unfolded with these two main characters happened in a way that anyone would hope for in real life.
The story starts off with Gabriel Hawthorn returning home to his childhood neighborhood filled with houses of various colors, hence their go-to names. Green, yellow, coral. It helped paint the picture of this neighborhood landscape in my imagination and I loved the imagery. Close to the ocean with a path to a nearby beach where the neighborhood has bonfires and hangs out.
Gabriel loves to surf and is in the water just about every single day. After returning home from a start of summer trip up the California coast with his best friends he meets some new neighbors who moved in while he was away. Will is introduced soon thereafter and just from the way Gabriel begins noticing things about Will, about this guy who is suddenly grabbing all of his attention, really hit home for me. This is one of those stories where you start wishing you had a summer like this, say even a summer crush, when enjoying your last summer before going off to college.
Gabriel and Will start getting to know one another in their friend group on the beach and enjoy their time together by going out to eat and going to the movies. Classic summer vacation vibes! The others in Gabriel’s friend group were brought to life really well and it got to where I began recognizing each name that was popping up time and again, particularly Natalie, Will’s sister, who was an awesome addition to the story and came to be a sort of best friend and, in a way, a confidant. Before long Gabriel and Will start doing things where it’s just the two of them. The way Gabriel worked through his feelings were spot on and made me feel like I was hovering over his shoulder, trying to help him through it all.
The progression of the story was SO, SO sweet and I have a very strong feeling that this book is going to stick with me for an incredibly long time. The feelings it evoked from me are similar to what I’d feel with other YA LGBT books. The way Gabriel and Will meshed and the way they experienced things together and grew closer made me feel happy, melancholic, hopeful and even filled my eyes to the brim with tears as I got closer to the end. Mainly because of what was happening in the story but also because I WAS reaching the end. I didn’t want this little slice of sweet interactions between two fictional characters to end.
If anything may this act as a kick to start living my own life. Get out of the repetitive rut for once and open my eyes to what’s out there, because you never know when or where you may lay your eyes on someone who will leave you enraptured and feeling things no one has ever made you feel before.
I am SO happy I won this via a giveaway because I honestly don’t think I’d have found out about it otherwise. It’s a story that deserves to be read by anyone looking to fall into a love story between two incredibly sweet characters. Particularly if YA LGBT fiction is your jam. I’m honestly shocked that this book doesn’t have more ratings, reviews, and outright attention! Honestly this is the type of story that deserves to be turned into a mini-series.
I did notice a couple grammatical errors but that did not take away from my reading experience whatsoever. I wanted to keep reading, I wanted to continue diving headfirst into this story with each chapter end. Grace Williams, you knocked this out of the park and I can’t wait to see what you write next!!! THANK YOU!!!
All in all, I fucking loved this book. Everything was PERFECT. Half the time I kept waiting for the shoe to drop and for a little dose of conflict to be injected into the story but the way everything unfolded with these two main characters happened in a way that anyone would hope for in real life.
The story starts off with Gabriel Hawthorn returning home to his childhood neighborhood filled with houses of various colors, hence their go-to names. Green, yellow, coral. It helped paint the picture of this neighborhood landscape in my imagination and I loved the imagery. Close to the ocean with a path to a nearby beach where the neighborhood has bonfires and hangs out.
Gabriel loves to surf and is in the water just about every single day. After returning home from a start of summer trip up the California coast with his best friends he meets some new neighbors who moved in while he was away. Will is introduced soon thereafter and just from the way Gabriel begins noticing things about Will, about this guy who is suddenly grabbing all of his attention, really hit home for me. This is one of those stories where you start wishing you had a summer like this, say even a summer crush, when enjoying your last summer before going off to college.
Gabriel and Will start getting to know one another in their friend group on the beach and enjoy their time together by going out to eat and going to the movies. Classic summer vacation vibes! The others in Gabriel’s friend group were brought to life really well and it got to where I began recognizing each name that was popping up time and again, particularly Natalie, Will’s sister, who was an awesome addition to the story and came to be a sort of best friend and, in a way, a confidant. Before long Gabriel and Will start doing things where it’s just the two of them. The way Gabriel worked through his feelings were spot on and made me feel like I was hovering over his shoulder, trying to help him through it all.
The progression of the story was SO, SO sweet and I have a very strong feeling that this book is going to stick with me for an incredibly long time. The feelings it evoked from me are similar to what I’d feel with other YA LGBT books. The way Gabriel and Will meshed and the way they experienced things together and grew closer made me feel happy, melancholic, hopeful and even filled my eyes to the brim with tears as I got closer to the end. Mainly because of what was happening in the story but also because I WAS reaching the end. I didn’t want this little slice of sweet interactions between two fictional characters to end.
If anything may this act as a kick to start living my own life. Get out of the repetitive rut for once and open my eyes to what’s out there, because you never know when or where you may lay your eyes on someone who will leave you enraptured and feeling things no one has ever made you feel before.
I am SO happy I won this via a giveaway because I honestly don’t think I’d have found out about it otherwise. It’s a story that deserves to be read by anyone looking to fall into a love story between two incredibly sweet characters. Particularly if YA LGBT fiction is your jam. I’m honestly shocked that this book doesn’t have more ratings, reviews, and outright attention! Honestly this is the type of story that deserves to be turned into a mini-series.
I did notice a couple grammatical errors but that did not take away from my reading experience whatsoever. I wanted to keep reading, I wanted to continue diving headfirst into this story with each chapter end. Grace Williams, you knocked this out of the park and I can’t wait to see what you write next!!! THANK YOU!!!
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November 27, 2020I won a copy in a Goodreads giveaway.
This is more of a young adult/bildungsroman than strictly romance because it does not have an HEA. The worldbuilding shares equal footing with the MC and his love interest. A small village on the southern California coast sometime between maybe 1970 and 1992 (I think the blurb says 1970s?) is richly described with an emphasis on colors (houses, clothing, drinks, etc) and realistic dialogue (did you see that movie? how's the surf?) are there to pull you into place more than narrative.
If you like sweet romances where the get together is very low angst (the angst is in the last 5% of the story and might blind side you) where the love interest checks in with the MC often (are you okay? are you sure you want this?) than this is for you. The focus is on the MC's first time having big sexual and romantic feelings for anyone so it has more of that YA feel. The sudden (blunt) sad ending keeps out of the romance genre for me though the epilogue leaves it open for... something less sad.
It's good! You should try it! It's just not for me.
This is more of a young adult/bildungsroman than strictly romance because it does not have an HEA. The worldbuilding shares equal footing with the MC and his love interest. A small village on the southern California coast sometime between maybe 1970 and 1992 (I think the blurb says 1970s?) is richly described with an emphasis on colors (houses, clothing, drinks, etc) and realistic dialogue (did you see that movie? how's the surf?) are there to pull you into place more than narrative.
If you like sweet romances where the get together is very low angst (the angst is in the last 5% of the story and might blind side you) where the love interest checks in with the MC often (are you okay? are you sure you want this?) than this is for you. The focus is on the MC's first time having big sexual and romantic feelings for anyone so it has more of that YA feel. The sudden (blunt) sad ending keeps out of the romance genre for me though the epilogue leaves it open for... something less sad.
It's good! You should try it! It's just not for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2021
Wow. This was such a beautiful book.
I went through such a roller coaster of emotions with this one, with happy moments, heartfelt moments, passionate moments, sad moments, exciting moments, but the one emotion that kept rising is my love for this book. It was absolutely perfect, I loved absolutely everything about it. Gabriel and Will are going to be two of my go to characters whenever someone mentions a love story because this book portrayed the ultimate love story for me.
I've read and seen Call Me By Your Name and I loved everything about it, but if you liked that book, you'll love this one. I like Swell more actually!
The story was so beautifully written. It's a story of love and patience and true passion, finding the one, and my heart is so full from reading it. I wanted a reread the instant it was done! It's one of those books that keeps you thinking long after it finishes that you genuinely want to read over and over again and I'm so glad to have discovered it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grace Williams for the earc in return for an honest review.
I went through such a roller coaster of emotions with this one, with happy moments, heartfelt moments, passionate moments, sad moments, exciting moments, but the one emotion that kept rising is my love for this book. It was absolutely perfect, I loved absolutely everything about it. Gabriel and Will are going to be two of my go to characters whenever someone mentions a love story because this book portrayed the ultimate love story for me.
I've read and seen Call Me By Your Name and I loved everything about it, but if you liked that book, you'll love this one. I like Swell more actually!
The story was so beautifully written. It's a story of love and patience and true passion, finding the one, and my heart is so full from reading it. I wanted a reread the instant it was done! It's one of those books that keeps you thinking long after it finishes that you genuinely want to read over and over again and I'm so glad to have discovered it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grace Williams for the earc in return for an honest review.
November 28, 2020
“His forearms!
Sure, they were strong and held him secure and the veins made intriguing lines across his skin, a roadmap that showed how he’d made it to this place, to Gabriel.”
Gabriel is your typical surfing teenager boy. Carefree, young and strong. But the new boy in the block , Will, make him feel things he is not sure of.
One might say it’s a typical young romance , but the beauty of the story is in those little moments of Gabriel’s and Will’s day to day life. Moments full of adventures and secrets bringing the fragrance of one sweet budding romance. But eventually Will has to make a call , is he ready to give up his opportunity to build his dream career or is he ready to let go his newly found love? Because life comes up with its own twists and quite often , choices we face with ,are not easy.
The fun loving families and the surfing community in the neighbourhood adds a another flavour to the story making it loving and refreshing. And it rightfully captures the vibe of a well connected community in late 70s before technology took over their lives.
Swell is an easy read with a heart touching end. It is something you want to read to warm your heart and remind you that what makes life precious is those pretty little moments with the ones we love.
Thank you Grace for sending me this copy and I hope to see what’s next.
Sure, they were strong and held him secure and the veins made intriguing lines across his skin, a roadmap that showed how he’d made it to this place, to Gabriel.”
Gabriel is your typical surfing teenager boy. Carefree, young and strong. But the new boy in the block , Will, make him feel things he is not sure of.
One might say it’s a typical young romance , but the beauty of the story is in those little moments of Gabriel’s and Will’s day to day life. Moments full of adventures and secrets bringing the fragrance of one sweet budding romance. But eventually Will has to make a call , is he ready to give up his opportunity to build his dream career or is he ready to let go his newly found love? Because life comes up with its own twists and quite often , choices we face with ,are not easy.
The fun loving families and the surfing community in the neighbourhood adds a another flavour to the story making it loving and refreshing. And it rightfully captures the vibe of a well connected community in late 70s before technology took over their lives.
Swell is an easy read with a heart touching end. It is something you want to read to warm your heart and remind you that what makes life precious is those pretty little moments with the ones we love.
Thank you Grace for sending me this copy and I hope to see what’s next.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2020
A beautiful story of Gabriel coming to terms with his crush. Set in the late 1970s in the beautiful California coast, a recent high school graduate meets the new family on block. Gabriel quickly becomes friends with Natalie and Will, but something is different about Will, and Gabriel can’t quite place his feelings. The summer changed Gabriels life, and opened his eyes to the possibilities of his future.
.
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A really sweet story, if you need a book that will make you smile, this is the book for you. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. I throughly enjoyed reading this and look forward to more from this author. Also, 50% of the proceeds from this book will be directly donated to local and national LGBTQ+ organizations.
Swell
.
.
A really sweet story, if you need a book that will make you smile, this is the book for you. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. I throughly enjoyed reading this and look forward to more from this author. Also, 50% of the proceeds from this book will be directly donated to local and national LGBTQ+ organizations.
Swell
February 14, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
This story left a lot to be desired. While I enjoyed the beach vibes of the romance, it was frustrating that the affair didn’t start until the last half of the book. It also felt pointless because Will and Gabe had a happy-go-lucky relationship for much of the book. Their struggles were being in the closet and distance, which didn’t occur until the very end. This resulted in a fairly boring depiction of their relationship. Add in just a little bit of miscommunication or jealousy and it would have felt like they worked much harder at their relationship/ Alongside being a below average romance, I found the eARC itself frustrating with the amount of typos and text style inconsistencies when I had it set to a black background.
This story left a lot to be desired. While I enjoyed the beach vibes of the romance, it was frustrating that the affair didn’t start until the last half of the book. It also felt pointless because Will and Gabe had a happy-go-lucky relationship for much of the book. Their struggles were being in the closet and distance, which didn’t occur until the very end. This resulted in a fairly boring depiction of their relationship. Add in just a little bit of miscommunication or jealousy and it would have felt like they worked much harder at their relationship/ Alongside being a below average romance, I found the eARC itself frustrating with the amount of typos and text style inconsistencies when I had it set to a black background.
February 6, 2022
Swell by Grace Williams
A story set in California in 1977 . This a coming of age book and a young man coming to grips with his own identity.
A very descriptive book of the time you can almost imagine being on that beach with a surf board .
This is MM romance which I selected accidentally but easy quick summer/ beach read.
A reasonably well written book but two things annoyed me. Firstly the terminology is all wrong for a book supposedly set in the seventies and secondly the story ended very abruptly it seemed very unfinished. I don’t know if the author purposely did this but it felt really Odd.
A story set in California in 1977 . This a coming of age book and a young man coming to grips with his own identity.
A very descriptive book of the time you can almost imagine being on that beach with a surf board .
This is MM romance which I selected accidentally but easy quick summer/ beach read.
A reasonably well written book but two things annoyed me. Firstly the terminology is all wrong for a book supposedly set in the seventies and secondly the story ended very abruptly it seemed very unfinished. I don’t know if the author purposely did this but it felt really Odd.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2021
I kept zoning out while trying to read this. It moves so slowly. You'll probably enjoy it more if you know about surfing ; otherwise it's just another cis white gay dude romance.
July 1, 2021
Emotional
All I can say. I have followed the emotional journey with Gabriel. Great story. Wonderful read. I am on to book 2 now!
All I can say. I have followed the emotional journey with Gabriel. Great story. Wonderful read. I am on to book 2 now!
May 26, 2021
Characters have no depth or development to them.
Nothing special to the story to set it apart from the 1000s of others like it.
Nothing in the book made me what to continue reading it, I had to force myself to finish.
Just another boring book with a flashy cover but nothing in between worth while
Nothing special to the story to set it apart from the 1000s of others like it.
Nothing in the book made me what to continue reading it, I had to force myself to finish.
Just another boring book with a flashy cover but nothing in between worth while
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews