When his ex-boyfriend Pearson\u2019s text messages make him late for his college scholarship interview and he\u2019s turned away, 18-year-old Tyriq Howell pledges to stop letting his love life get in the way of his future. Tyriq receives another chance at the scholarship when mysterious and \u201cstunningly handsome\u201d student worker Desmond, 19, offers to wield his influence to get him another interview\u2014if Tyriq will be his fake date to a fundraising event. Tyriq\u2019s promise to himself (and his uber-competent twin brother, Troy) to stay focused and not fall in love becomes harder and harder to keep in the face of Desmond\u2019s charm. But Desmond\u2019s secret might be enough to keep them apart, especially when paparazzi attention reveals that Tyriq\u2019s crush is the prince of Catalina, a fictional North Sea island kingdom located near England. The teens, who are both Black and gay, face challenges that stem from homophobia and racism as well as Desmond\u2019s familial obligations, fame, and fortune. The leads are well-developed and complex, yet the story\u2019s timeline sometimes skips over what feel like crucial moments of connection; this inconsistent focus may leave readers wanting more depth. Nevertheless, this romance tackles larger themes of choice and self-love while also portraying an enchanting, flirtatious relationship.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When his ex-boyfriend Pearson\u2019s text messages make him late for his college scholarship interview and he\u2019s turned away, 18-year-old Tyriq Howell pledges to stop letting his love life get in the way of his future. Tyriq receives another chance at the scholarship when mysterious and \u201cstunningly handsome\u201d student worker Desmond, 19, offers to wield his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}