Author: Hannah Johnson
Genre: Young Adult, Humor, Romance, Coming-Out
Pages: 317
SYNOPSIS
"Howie gets a job at Artie Kraft's Arts 'N Crafts hoping to score with his lady coworkers. After all, girls love a sensitive guy, and what's more sensitive than dedicating your life to selling yarn and ... stuff? (Okay, so maybe it'd be a good idea to actually learn what one sells at an arts 'n crafts store.) But things don't go exactly according to plan.
Coworker #1 is Cora: tiny, much-pierced, and way too fierce to screw with in any sense. Coworker #2 is Kristy: blonde, bubbly, unattainable perfection.
And Coworker #3 is, well, Arthur. It goes without saying that he’s not an option. Right?
… Right?
Yeah, Howie’s life just got straight up confusing.
Pun intended."
REVIEW
I'm having one of those weeks where I just really need a hug. I really, really needed to read something with no angst, no bitterness, no unnecessary violence; something that's sweet without making me roll my eyes too much and funny enough to keep me entertained. This was it. My literary hug. In a huge way. It was exactly what I needed right now. There's no melodrama, no mystery and very little conflict.
The story is told in the first person by Howie and when we meet him, he's just this twenty- with an awesome sense of humor whose employment in a small-town store actually caused his mother to bake a cake.
"Apparently my ability to get a just-over-minimum-wage job that requires (basically) no skills is about as miraculous as the occasion of my birth."
As the story progresses, though, we see what the story is behind his apparent lack of ambition and while I would have loved for there to be a resolution in that area as well, I was cool with it since the glimpse was enough to let us know that behind jokes and wisecracks, he is actually a pretty cool guy. I loved his voice. He's kind of cool in an obnoxious way. He's very confused about girls. And he's full of funny one-liners and slang that are totally in keeping with his character. His attraction to straight-laced boss Artie is delicious and very romantic. I want to write their names, 'Howie 4 Artie' and draw a big heart around it!
I loved all the characters here -- they were all so distinct from one another. From Howie's ramblingness (this book has one of the best collections of one-liners, EVER!), to Artie's calmness, to Kristy's bubbliness, to Cora's eccentricness, to Amber's sarcasticness, etc. I loved Howie's development from someone in denial into accepting that yes, he did like guys. I loved his 'two' worlds - the best friends, Amber and Mitch, and the people from work.
Second, I love gfy-coming of age stories and this one was ideal.
If there was one thing I would have liked more of, it was the sexy times. Other than a few kisses, all of it was off-page. Which, you know, it doesn't need to be endlessly explicit, but when it's an MC's first time, and first time with a guy, I at least would like to be present for it, even if it's described in a high-level way, because it is rather transformative. But compared to the joy this book gave me, that's a minor nit.
But probably what I loved the most was Howie's personality. Seriously, I died of laughter because of him and his macho 'heterosexual' thoughts (that ended up not being so heterosexual).
"...all of a sudden it's like, here he is, in the flesh, he's still a flesh-type creature that exists, and it's flesh that's been in contact with my flesh, I wish I would stop thinking the word 'flesh,' you know what's a gross, creepy, weird word? 'Flesh.' I think my brain is melting. I think I've having a stroke. Or a coronary. Or porphyria. I KNEW HE WOULD GIVE ME PORPHYRIA."
But overall, I highly enjoyed this.
My favorite line:
My favorite line:
"I don't think it's worth to deny yourself happiness just so you can stay faithful to the person you think you've become".
