Review: Andy Squared by Jennifer Lavoie

Andy Squared by Jennifer Lavoie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I would like to thank Net Galley and Bella Distribution for providing me with an ecopy ARC for an honest review.
Blurb from Goodreads:
Seventeen-year-old twins, Andrew and Andrea Morris, have always been close. They share everything—from their friends to a room—and they both enjoy star positions on their high school’s soccer teams. All’s right with the twins...or is it?
When new student Ryder Coltrane moves from Texas to their small New York town, he spins Andrew’s world upside down. All of Andrew’s past relationship troubles begin to make sense and his true feelings start to click into place after Ryder comes out to him. His friendship with Ryder turns secretively romantic, but secrets, they soon find out, are hard to keep. Once rumors start to fly, so-called friends turn on them, and the boys’ relationship turns into a bomb about to explode. But Andrew never expected it would be his own twin, Andrea, holding a lighter to ignite it.

I found this to be an easy, fast and delightful contemporary read. A look at what it means to come into yourself and realize that you are not at all what you thought you were. The characters are endearing and easily relatable. It was interesting to watch Andy as he realized he didn't like the girls he was dating and that it had nothing to do with him getting bored easily as he always thought. You see the relationship between Ryder and Andrew slowly blossom, as the relationship between Andrew and his sister slowly grow apart. You also see Andrew's priorities change: soccer becomes less important as his academic future lies ahead.

I was surprised at how easily Andrew fell into his role as a gay man. I understand the author wanting to show that he was suddenly comfortable with himself, but it seemed too easy. Although, I see that he had difficulty with allowing others into his "new" world. Ryder helps this transition immensely.

I was happy to see how Andrew's father and Ryder's aunt and uncle easily accepted the relationship between Ryder and Andrew, while others reacted in a more angry and upset manner. The different reactions of the characters made helped me understand what Andrew was going through, made it reality.

The author's writing style flows easily. The dialogue between the characters is natural. I have to say that I didn't find the male voices to be genuine. I could tell that the author was female. I felt as if the male voices were feminine and it led me to feel like they were being stereotyped because they are gay men.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Lavoie has a terrific writing style and I can see her going great places in the future. I look forward to her future works.

3 stars out of 5.

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