And They Lived...

And They Lived... 
By: Steven Salvatore
Release Date: March 8th, 2022
NetGalley Digital ARC Review
Author Website

Why I Love this book: ​I’m not sure I have the words to adequately explain how much I loved ​

this book. I will try, but it will likely be a mess. You have been warned.

***Also- there will be spoilers. Consider yourself warned***

Ok. So. This book hit really close to home. I was not prepared to see myself so clearly in Chase, even though I knew that he and I had a lot on common. It is no secret that I struggle with body dysmorphia and disordered eating. My relationship with food has been notoriously damaging. Seeing Chase struggle in similar ways with using food and exercise as a control mechanism, watching him deal with body dysmorphia is ways wildly similar to my own, and seeing how he feels the sting of the same sort of comments I received was hard. It’s good though, because it’s reality, and there is no reason why we can’t read about it and talk about it. We should, because often times the shame of it compounds the issue. Add in the gender conversation and Chase was basically batting 1000 for me.

Now… the story. It’s everything. It’s everything college age me probably needed to read and see. The accuracy of that moment in time when everything is finally coming together only to fall apart again- I think we’ve all been there and Salvatore opens that door and let’s us see every beautiful, messy moment of it. We want Chase and Jack to figure their shit out, but we also know life isn’t always that easy. In the end what we want more is for them both to be okay, no matter what that looks like.

I already know that this will be a book I reread. I can’t wait to hear whatever thinks about And They Lived...