Standing at the foot of my comatose crush’s hospital bed is not how I envisioned becoming Hayden’s partner. First I needed to find out if he’s even into the theys, then hopefully some flirting, a cute date up in the valley or at Taco Bell, a kiss. The normal cutesy stuff, but this? No! Hayden wasn’t supposed to get hurt, especially not a trauma-induced extended nap from slipping on a wet floor at my job. On top of that, one of the nurses told his family we’re dating. Sure, it might have been because that’s what I told her when I was trying to get to his room to see him…but it’s not true.
The wild part is his family believes it! They really think I’m the Hayden Marcus’s short little curly-haired enbyfriend. His partner! With one little lie, now they think he isn’t straight, and I’m terrified he actually is.
So now I’m having Thanksgiving with a family I barely know because, as far as they’re concerned, I’m “dating” their son. I can’t tell if this is a sign my love spell worked, or if I royally messed up and I’m being punished. I mean this family is amazing. It’s everything I wish I had, and honestly more. But it’s all based on a lie.
Oh, and as if all of that wasn’t bad enough, my comatose crush has an even cuter brother who I think I might be falling for…
THE FACTS
📕adorable enby with a crush
📘 diverse
📙 queer YA
📒 quirky and cute
📓 did I mention adorable?
THE GOOD BITS
Kenzie didn’t set out to watch their crush nearly die at the coffee shop nor did they think they would happen to be at said crush’s beside when they woke up from a coma and they certainly didn’t think they would accidentally lead that same crush to believe they were dating.
And yet…
That is what happens and that is the beginning of this adorable YA about expectations, lying (and the consequences), self-confidence (or lack thereof), first love, and just a dash of modern witchcraft tossed in.
I loved the main character Kenzie. If you’re looking for books that have great NB representation, then this one fits. I love it when books seamlessly fit in diversity in a way that feels as though it’s just part of who a character is and not the whole. This is the way forward for writing and I love the way Jordon crafts his characters.
And Kenzie is flawed, and I love a flawed character. Kenzie makes the kind of mistakes that I made when I was their age. My lack of confidence often had me agreeing to things because I didn’t want to have a confrontation with someone. I mean come on… I very clearly remember being tongue-tied and confused. Especially when it came to my crushes.
This book is a unique meet-cute in that Kenzie has a crush on Hayden because he’s all kinds of perfect in their mind. So, when Hayden’s family accidentally thinks that Kenzie is their enby-friend, they can’t seem to find a way out of it. They try to build up the courage to say something on numerous occasions…but just can’t manage it. There’s more than just one enby-friend relationship at stake.
The problem is that Hayden has a brother named Zachary. And Zachary may just be the kind of person that Kenzie was looking for all along without actually knowing it. As Kenzie becomes more familiar with Hayden’s family, they begin to feel a connection to Zachary. And what’s more complicated than conflicting emotions?
In my mind this is exactly the kind of thinking that got me in trouble when I was a teenager. I mean, I thought I knew what I wanted… but sometimes, I was so caught up in the “appearances” of things that I couldn’t see what I really needed in my life.
This story really captures the confusion and decision-paralysis that can happen to people.
Don’t fret, things work out the way they are meant to. I’m just not telling you how that is.
THE LINKS
📘 Goodreads
I received an ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review!
Kinzie Things 