Title: Ryan and Avery
Author: David Levithan
Publisher: Random House
Publication date: September 12, 2023
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph
Summary
Ryan and Avery first met at a queer prom, where they felt an almost instant connection. One blue-haired boy (Ryan) and one pink-haired boy (Avery) knew that they had to see each other again outside of the dance. But jumping into their first serious relationship might not be the smooth ride they initially expected.
Told through their first ten dates, Ryan and Avery experience all kinds of things: a snowstorm, being grounded, meeting the parents, cast parties, and everything in between. As they experience these things together, their relationship just grows stronger and stronger.
Review: Ryan and Avery
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced copy of Ryan and Avery by David Levithan to review! David Levithan has always been on my list of top authors. In this book, his poetic prose is on full display. There are just some gorgeous lines scattered throughout this book that, while the story is not told in a linear fashion, you still get relationship growth. It really is an overall gorgeous piece of writing.
Case in point, here’s one of my favorite quotes from the book:
“Queerness is stolen moments and stolen victories. It is stolen time and stolen glances. It is the thrill of the theft, for sure, but also the knowledge deep in your heart that none of this stealing is wrong. It is, in fact, the most honest thing you can do.”
There are just these gut-punch quotes throughout the book, about identity, about queerness, and about relationships. Overall, this is very much a quiet, character-driven novel, and I appreciated that about it. Some of those novels end up being favorites.
David Levithan is definitely one of the pioneers of queer YA lit; he was writing about happy gay teens before a lot of people were. While this book isn’t quite the utopia presented in Boy Meets Boy, there is such an element of hope to the overall story. Yes, there are darker parts, but they are outweighed by Ryan and Avery’s love for each other.
If you’re a fan of quieter, more character focused stories, I’d definitely recommend picking this one up when it comes out this September!
4.5/5 stars
Bonus Quotes
Here are some other quotes I marked while reading, which are also just so poetic:
“When someone stares at you, you can feel so much like a body, with all your flaws obnoxiously blaring. But when someone is next to you, when someone is as much of a body as you are to them, it becomes more comfortable, more valuable.”
“When you have to fight for your identity and win your identity, there is always a part of you that thinks there has to be a trade-off, that by stepping away from the norm you have been sentenced, you risk stepping away from happiness as well. You feel you will have to fight harder for someone to love you. You feel you will have to bear the risk of more loneliness in order to be who you need to be.”
“When you’ve never seen the ocean, this is what it feels like to see the ocean. You can only observe what’s in front of you, which is impressive. But what alters your life, what leaves you at a loss for words, is knowing what’s beyond. Standing there, seeing just a fraction of a fraction of its face, you know it can only lead to something enormous.”