Only Mostly Devastated: A Novel

Sophie Gonzales

Mar 2020 · Macmillan Young Listeners · Narrated by Mark Sanderlin

About this audiobook

"[Narrator Mark] Sanderlin convincingly shares this LGBTQ romance, with emotions ranging from snark to sweet and everything in between, and serving up a satisfying conclusion...A fun listen on a variety of levels, but make no mistake: it packs some great messaging without any nasty aftertaste. Yum!" -- Booklist

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets Clueless in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

“Only Mostly Devastated is the kind of book I wish existed when my kids were younger—a charming, funny, laugh-out-loud teen romance that reminds all readers love comes in a multitude of flavors, and they are ALL sweet.” —Jodi Picoult, New York Times–bestselling author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light

“A delightful, heartwarming, heartrending story about family, love, friendship, and living your most authentic life. I couldn't put it down.” —New York Times–bestselling author Sandhya Menon

Will Tavares is the dream summer fling—he’s fun, affectionate, kind—but just when Ollie thinks he’s found his Happily Ever After, summer vacation ends and Will stops texting Ollie back. Now Ollie is one prince short of his fairytale ending, and to complicate the fairytale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country. Which he minds a little less when he realizes it’s the same school Will goes to...except Ollie finds that the sweet, comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn’t the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted—and, to be honest, a bit of a jerk.

Ollie has no intention of pining after a guy who clearly isn’t ready for a relationship, especially since this new, bro-y jock version of Will seems to go from hot to cold every other week. But then Will starts “coincidentally” popping up in every area of Ollie’s life, from music class to the lunch table, and Ollie finds his resolve weakening.

The last time he gave Will his heart, Will handed it back to him trampled and battered. Ollie would have to be an idiot to trust him with it again.

Right? Right.

A Macmillan Audio production from Wednesday Books

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"Only Mostly Devastated [is] an instant hit and Sophie Gonzales one YA author to watch.” —Julia Lynn Rubin, author of Burro Hills

Ratings and reviews

4 stars — I’ve had ups and downs with retellings, but this one was totally solid! Mr. Sanderlin was a solid narrator. He wasn’t my favourite, but it’s probably just a personal taste thing, not because of his talent. In general his different voices were fairly easy to tell apart, I mostly only had a problem because there seemed to be a lot of internal dialogue that was hard to tell from actual dialogue (Ollie really liked to think up different responses). His emotions were solid too, though again, maybe just not my favourite. As a retelling, this one was actually pretty fantastic. I could pick out a lot of subtle bits from the Grease movie, from pinpointing characters to scenes, even the occasional sentence could be a nod to a song. It definitely stands alone as a great YA story, but for fans, I think it brings that something extra…staying true to the heart of the story, but giving it enough of its own twist. I loved that Ollie was simultaneously so easy to love, but aggravating in his flaws at the same time. In general he was a sweet kid, and I totally got his frustrations with the way Will was treating him. But I’m also glad that he figured some shiznit out by the end of the story, realizing where he wasn’t meeting halfway. I loved how great he was with his cousins, and doing things for his family. My heart ached for how he dealt with loss. I found some of his dynamics with his parents to be a bit odd on occasion, but on the other hand it showed how even adults don’t know how to deal with grief. I felt basically the same about Will. I totally got what he was doing, and why he was afraid, but man…you just wanted to smack him you know? I couldn’t imagine how alone he must feel so much of the time, unsure of how he would be received if he came out. But I rooted for him in the end, even with his brainos. The “pinkies” (or in this case rose gold girls) were pretty fun and each so unique. I could definitely tell which character Juliette and Lara represented, and I thought they played their roles perfectly. Juliette was easy to love, and so earnest. Lara was a lot harder, but I loved that we got to see depth and growth with her. Even Neve had a larger role than I was expecting, and brought some different things to the table. Will’s friends were as I expected, but I appreciated seeing them learn some lessons along the way themselves. All in all, this was a solid YA story. It had ups and downs, but we got to see our characters learn and grow.

About the author

SOPHIE GONZALES is a YA contemporary author. She graduated from the University of Adelaide and lives in Melbourne, Australia, where she currently works as a psychologist. When she isn’t writing, she can be found ice skating, performing in musical theatre, and practicing the piano. She is also the author of The Law of Inertia.