Tim Te Maro attends Fox Glacier High School in the Sth Island of NZ. It isn’t any ordinary school, but is secretly run deep underground, below a frozen river. This school is a school for the magically inclined among us.

Tim has grown up with his magical powers, unlike another boy wizard we all know, and has mastered some of the skills he needs with the help of his supportive parents. They both work at the school Tim attends, at least they did until Tim’s dad left.

Left reeling by this over the past few months, Tim has just broken up with his girlfriend too. It wouldn’t be quite so awful if her new guy Blake wasn’t such an idiot.

Also stinging from this rejection is Blake’s ex who just happens to be Elliott Parker, someone who Tim has always disliked. With all the fallout, Tim had pushed other things from his mind, like the fact that one of the final assignments of his senior year is Life Skills – which would mean pairing up with his class assignment partner – his ex.

A solution to this mega awkward problem presents itself in the form of Elliott. He doesn’t want to be partnered with his ex as already arranged either. With their teacher’s permission, Tim suddenly finds himself teamed with Elliott on a project of parenting a baby. It’s not a real baby, but a magicked being.

Tim is surprised at Elliott’s behaviour with their ‘baby’, transforming his low opinion. Maybe this won’t be so terrible after all? The first night of trying to settle this ‘baby’ is the first night of Tim’s own transformation into his real self – an incredibly tumultuous journey at first on his own, then with a few confidences and when everything has spiralled completely out of control, someone he thought he’d lost.

This young adult novel is definitely for 16+ as it contains sexual content throughout. The authentic banter between this group of 17 year olds made me laugh out loud and the overflowing teenage angst, splinter my heart.

Tim is a typical teen, struggling with his sexuality and then suddenly everything he’d wondered, longed for and dreamed about, drops right in his lap. An agreement has been made, which only brings more angst as Tim increasingly realises he may not be able to keep his end of the deal.

The magic component of this story is minor, except for the result of a very drunken night in a stranger’s house. Winner of the Ampersand Prize, I really enjoyed this novel for anyone over 16, but particularly for LGBTQ+ teen boys.

Author – H S Valley

Age – 16+

(2021, Hardie Grant, Love, Romance, Magic, School, Relationships, School assignment, Friendships, Loyalty, LGBTQ+, Award Winner, Ampersand Prize, Spell, Incantation, Divorce, Marriage, Funny, Humour, Banter, Sass, Sarcasm, NZ, Fox Glacier, South Island, New Zealand, Aotearoa, Teen angst, Indecision, Fantasy, Family, Growing Up, Secret)