I would like to start this review by saying this: I love Simon James Green and my favourite book of his is Noah Can’t Even.
Now, Heartbreak Boys is about Jack and Nate who find out that their respective boyfriends have been seeing each other behind their backs. It gets even worse, when their exes start up an Instagram account to flaunt their perfect relationship in everyone’s faces. And now, that the summer holidays have begun, Jack and Nate are determined to out-do them on Instagram. They go on a roadtrip across England with Nate’s family in a camper van and end up in places where they have to put their creativity to work to make them look insta-worthy. Caught up in their revenge plan, the two boys start getting along better and better themselves…
This former friends to acquaintances, to annoyed at each other friends and then to lovers story is everything. The roadtrip across England is mostly a mess. They keep landing in places that shouldn’t be able to compete with the sun and beach pictures of their exes, but somehow do. They go from camping to a talent show in a run-down pub to a festival that turns out to be all veggie (which honestly, as a vegan, I thought was the perfect place to be but somehow the boys disagreed) and many more wonderfully odd adventures. It also deals with themes such as coming out, falling in love, accidentally hurting people and being hurt, and most important of all: to always be your most authentic self. As a reader, I constantly felt like I was on this trip with them. As in, I was actually on the trip, not just observing but actually part of the action, which made this book deliciously exciting for my summer stuck in decidedly not England and in quarantine.
There is nothing I didn’t love about this story. The characters are so wonderfully rounded that you can always tell whose voice you are reading in (Nate or Jack’s). It is very easy to tell them apart on the page, even without their name being mentioned, which is not easy to achieve. Nate’s family, especially his sister, are absolute gems you never want to stop reading about and these fantastic people being all stuck together in random situations is a true joy to experience.
Heartbreak Boys is hilarious, it is sad, and it is so romantic that you will swoon and gasp and sigh. Simon James Green is truly a master of writing awkward, funny and endearing love stories. This is a must-read for your 2020 summer.
I would like to end this review by saying this: I love Simon James Green. And I can’t believe I am saying this (someone cover the ears of my Noah copy), but Heartbreak Boys is now my favourite book of his.
Heartbreak Boys is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Faking the best summer ever is a lot harder than it looks…
At the start of summer, Jack and Nate find themselves dumped as their respective exes, Dylan and Tariq, start up a new relationship together. Not only that, their exes start posting pics on social media, showing the whole world how fabulous their new life together is!
Jack and Nate are reeling. Not to be outdone, they decide to create their own ‘highlights reel’ and show their exes that they’re having an even better time.
But between the depressing motorway service station motels, damp campsites, and an ultimate showdown with the exes, something epic really is happening: Jack and Nate are learning to get over their heartache and open themselves up to new possibilities for love.
A hilarious story of heartbreaks and hijinks from award-winning author Simon James Green.
