The last thing Ryan expected to be doing was looking after the guy he’d been compared to his entire life. Cody is terribly drunk at a party and something Ryan never expected to see either. Torn between doing the right thing for Cody and watching him embarrass himself, Ryan chooses to get Cody home safely.

The thing is, even though they’re not related, they do have close family connections, and the opposite scenario would’ve been much clearer in his family’s mind. Ryan is the king of the come back, full of jokes, never serious and the bane of many of his teacher’s lives. All he wants to do is surf, without any thoughts or plans of what he wants to do when he leaves school.

Cody however, masters anything he touches. He’s a gifted tennis player, popular at school with his peers and teachers and a talented classical musician. He even writes his own music, planning to have a career in classical piano.

The family connection has seen Ryan and Cody grow up apart, but pulled together at family gatherings. They’ve seen each other mature and have family tales of their achievements or failures of each other through the backdrop of their lives. Cody achieving and Ryan failing of course.

But when they end up in the same beach house for a summer, their opinions of each other shift. Maybe what their parents have been saying isn’t the whole story?

Cody sees Ryan’s skills in the surf and begins to appreciate his laid back personality and humour. Ryan realises there is more to the way Cody pushes himself to do better. They make a deal. Ryan will teach Cody to surf, and Cody will teach Ryan to play the guitar.

The reason they know each other is also the reason they shouldn’t start something. But this same reason is why it becomes impossible not to fall for each other. It’s gradual but they know they can’t deny it. The war between certain family members can’t be ignored either. Will the fallout be survivable?

When their secret is out, Ryan is reminded how he’s never been serious about anything in his life. Is he sure this is any different? Ryan knows what he feels though, and he is becoming a different person. After a shocking event on the beach, Ryan begins to reevaluate his life. Could it really work, or are they headed for disaster?

Meanwhile, the family tension underlying their entire lives is rising even further, until it finally must be faced by all, and so must Ryan’s love for Cody.

A blistering read of first love, family tensions, parental expectations, and a secret that shredded a family. This secret is the underbelly of this love story, lying in the backdrop of two boy’s lives. They only know each other through this connection, but it has also kept them apart. Now both 17, they begin to know their true selves, without family interference.

This discovery is brilliantly written, authentic, funny, full of love, pain, indecision, passion and finally courage. Settings are well set out – on the waves, in bedrooms with locked doors or at awkward family get togethers. Relationships between siblings are full of jibes and jokes, and tensions between an ex-wife and ex-husband positively toxic.

I personally enjoyed the use of similie throughout the story, as part of Ryan’s first person point of view. 

The way the characters bloom into young men who finally say what they think is beautiful to read as it not only brings solutions to terrible hurt and memory, but lays the foundations for their own futures. 

A stunning read. Dive in. You’ll love it!

Author – Jax Calder

Age – 15+

(2023, OneTree House, Sisters, Siblings, Half Sisters, Surfing, Music, Expectation, Blended Family, Family, Secrets, Growing Up, Grief, Attraction, LGBTQ+, Bi, Queer, Beach, Piano, Tension, New Baby, NZ, New Zealand, Aotearoa)