I saw this book on Netgalley and had to request it immediately because it seemed really up my street. Thank you very much to Macmillan for granting me access to it. I was provided with an electronic copy of the book for review purposes, but was not otherwise compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This book is very much in the vein of Simon James Green which I really liked. It reminded me of Noah Can't Even. I loved it, I loved Patch and found the storyline both funny and sweet. That's my favourite kind of YA fiction.
So Patch is just going into the sixth form. He is called Patrick but he's trying Patch out now as a cool new thing. He lives with his mum and older sister, Kath, who he bickers with constantly. His best friend is Jean. They are kind of outcasts at school and are in the drama club. Patch is gay and Jean is a firm ally. Patch is determined to get a boyfriend by Prom, at the end of term.
They go to drama club in preparation for the new play, and two very exciting things happen. Firstly, Tessa comes. She uses to be friends with Patch and Jean, but then she started hanging out with the popular crew and they haven't spoken since. So why is she back?! But more excitingly there are two new boys. Peter and Sam. Peter is American and living with Sam's family for a bit due to some family stuff going on. Patch is entirely certain one of them will be his new boyfriend.
There are many shenanigans and so on, and it's fun and funny, but there are points of pathos too. I liked the growth that nearly everyone showed in the book. I would have liked a little bit more of Patch's mum and sister, but generally I just can't really complain. I'm giving this four out of five as I just really liked it.
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