5/5
First of all thanks to the publisher for the ARC!
Wow, I really loved this.
A historical, at least to me since it's before my time. 1986, Apparently when AIDS was sweeping through the gay community and people didn't have the info to be safe and not judge.
Nate just moved to this dying little town in Wyoming from Austin, Texas with his cop dad after his parents split and he's not happy. There's no tennis team here, no swim team only a bunch of small minded red necks and Cody. Cody whom he connects with immediately after meeting him behind a gas station.
Cody is from the worst part of town, living with his mother in a crappy old trailer, they barely have enough money to eat and definitely not enough for new school clothes. His impoverished looks and rumors that follow him about keep him an outcast.
Two kids from completely different worlds have no chance of staying friends but despite having their rough patches they somehow manage to keep what they have alive.
I loved both boys; I love how despite having all the attributes needed to be besties with the "cool" kids Nate rejected their stupid and went with the outcast who is one of the few actually good things in this town. Cody, well i'm rather surprised he's still alive honestly, coming from such depression with his poor mother doing whatever it took to keep them from the street, with everyone looking at him with disdain that's enough to bring most people to drugs or the barrel of a gun.
This book is way more than two boys from opposite sides of the track coming together. Crazy full of feeling, honestly made me tear up a time or three.
