I have absolutely no words for how perfect this was.
This story made me feel soft and warm inside. I lived for every little element that made up the whole of it: the found family, the caring and supporting group of friends, the amazing, truly amazing, perfectly-paced evolution of the relationship between Ollie and Tai (and how precious their friendship was!)... EVERYTHING. It was damn perfect.
One of the first wins of the story is the writing: it's so alive, and filled with emotion, and each word is perfectly placed to paint just the picture the author is trying to show- I could not only see everything clearly in my head, but it was like an out-of-body experience: while I read, I truly felt like I was there with them, I could smell and see and feel exactly what the characters were experiencing; not going to lie, it got a bit overwhelming, too, since the descriptive skills translate so beautifully when describing emotions as well. Or maybe it was that I could definitely relate to Ollie's character so much that everything he felt hit so close to home and it became almost impossible to bear. I don't know, really.
Speaking of Ollie: sweet, precious Ollie; his character (and I'm sorry for being so biased) was the light that shone the brightest. True, he was the main character, so it was obvious he'd be the most fleshed-out, but you could get a headache thinking about all the ways that could go wrong (I mean, you *could*, if you were like me, inclined to veer a bit too much towards the worst possible scenarios). Thankfully, none of that was an issue here: he was so delightfully complex, and so carefully crafted, and as a human he was so beautifully imperfect that as a character he was nothing shorter than perfect. He was hard not to love, really. On top of everything, I was also really happy to find a character I could relate to so much- and on a broader sense than merely the way in which we experience our sexuality. This was a character that spoke to me on such a deep level, I was on the verge of tears several times whenever there was something on the page that hit the right spot in my soul. I really, really appreciate the care that was obviously put into bringing this character to life; he's become one of my favorite characters ever, for sure.
In connection to Ollie, but in a slightly indirect way, another of the big aspects of this book that I really, really appreciated was the aforementioned found family: the kids from the Blue House were not only friendship goals but also family goals: they were so caring and supportive of one another, and they showed their love in the healthiest, purest, most positive ways, not shying away of calling out on each other's shit. It was glorious. True, the most prominent relationship depicted was between Ollie and Tai, whose bond was so pure and precious it made my heart hurt. I do wish there had been a chance of seeing more of the others, though, but as it is, I enjoyed their presence quite a lot- plus, for such a short on-page presence, they were still characters with considerable depth and a well-defined shape. Found families are an element in fiction that remains fascinating to me, and in this case, I can honestly say I appreciated their presence a great deal.
Last, but not least: I think one of the main reasons it was so easy to get instantly hooked in this story was because of the general setting; ever since I was a child, I had this weird fascination with surfing (thank you, Rocket Power- which also features a found family of sorts), and I even remember being eight years old and having to write an assignment for school where you were supposed to write a short letter to your parents from some place you were on holiday, and I placed myself in Hawaii and I was surfing for some reason (to this day, over 20 years later, I haven't set foot on a surf board, not even practicing on the beach like I've seen beginners do millions of times; my connection to the sport remains purely through watching others have at it merrily while I stew in my envy). So, imagine , having the nostalgia factor inadvertedly thrown in the mix and tug at emotions it has no business touching cause this is not supposed to be that kind of story? Wild.
Anyway. Rambling aside, I hope it has somehow become clear to some extent that I loved this story for more reasons than I'm capable of articulating.