Right Where I Left You: 07/24/22

Right Where I Left You by Julian Winters (2022) is a young/new adult romance set during the summer after high school graduation. Isaac Martin has been best friends with Diego for ever. Isaac is gay and his family supports him; Diego is bi but they're just friends. Isaac wants desperately to fall in love and has his eyes and heart set on Davi.

All of this is set against Isaac's obsession with a particular comic book series and his desire to attend Legends Con. Unfortunately he fails to get tickets to the Con, thus upsetting his final summer's plans.

Meanwhile, Diego is obsessed with online gaming. His desire to take a gap year to work on game development puts more of a wedge between him and his family, and to a lesser degree between him and Isaac.

Isaac works through his anxiety and social awkwardness through relating to the characters in his favorite comic. In this regard he's similar to Cath in Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (2013). The difference is that he doesn't write fanfic (though he does read it) and his obsession hasn't gotten in the way of his academics.

The bulk of this novel, though, is set in the time where best friends start to drift apart. Diego is a more social person than Isaac. He brings in a group of friends meaning that he and Isaac don't have the alone time like they used to.

For the most part I enjoyed the novel. I liked Isaac's immediate family and could relate to the falling out he'd had with his absent father. I loved the relationship he had with his abuelo and their mutual love of The Princess Bride. Although Isaac wasn't thrilled with the expanded friend group, I loved the six and their separate personalities.

Despite the melodrama in the middle of the novel, it does come around to a satisfying HEA.

Four stars

Comments (0)