My first thought: the nerdy one went to Caltech!!! As should all super nerdy book characters, it only makes sense.
So funny that I find it fun when Caltech (my alma mater) is referenced in literature/shows/movies but in reality I had a miserable time there and wouldn’t encourage anyone to go! MOVING ON.
I definitely picked this book up, way out of season, after a NYT article about the trend of mainstream LGBTQ romance novels. This one, in particular, is by a Harlequin imprint that isn’t like, “teh gays and lezzies this way plz.” So yes, it’s a Christmas book that I read in early spring, and not one that I would have picked up in general but I felt like it was good to support.
So it’s a fine book, nothing to write home about. And I suppose that’s the point? Not all books about LGBTQ characters need to be about their LGBTQ-ness, in so much that they will be LGBTQ in their desire to bone people whose gender identity matches their preferences. This book is mostly about a single dad trying to trust again after an acrimonious divorce, and a single dude trying to come out of his introverted shell. The stakes are UBER love, my friends. This is a small town without a lick of homophobia, a Schitt’s Creek without the sparkly character, so to speak.
We definitely do need more books like this–a romance novel version of, say, Heartstoppers, which isn’t the first but is probably the biggest show in recent memory to treat being gay as a fact in the pursuit of a crush as opposed to being the main plot. Adam Mills is bisexual, as a matter of point. Wes is queer, in some way (as in I can’t remember how he identifies, other than Tired of Society and Prefers Snakes to Humans, Except for This Tiny Human).
Would make a great Hallmark movie!