Review: The Temperature of Me and You by Brian Zepka
SYNOPSIS:
Sixteen-year-old Dylan Highmark thought his winter was going to be full of boring shifts at the Dairy Queen, until he finds himself in love with a boy who’s literally too hot to handle.
Dylan has always wanted a boyfriend, but the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia do not have a lot in the way of options. Then, in walks Jordan, a completely normal (and undeniably cute) boy who also happens to run at a cool 110 degrees Fahrenheit. When the boys start spending time together, Dylan begins feeling all kinds of ways, and when he spikes a fever for two weeks and is suddenly coughing flames, he thinks he might be suffering from something more than just a crush. Jordan forces Dylan to keep his symptoms a secret. But as the pressure mounts and Dylan becomes distant with his closest friends and family, he pushes Jordan for answers. Jordan’s revelations of why he’s like this, where he came from, and who’s after him leaves Dylan realizing how much first love is truly out of this world. And if Earth supports life that breathes oxygen, then love can only keep Jordan and Dylan together for so long.
REVIEW:
*Book Received in Exchange for Honest Opinion/Review*
I saw this cover and new immediately I NEEDED this book and what a delightful, intriguing story it was. The story is filled with teenage drama and angst, young love, hidden dangers, and a really weird special powers. It was a fun journey, filled with plenty of twists and turns and the mysterious powers and evil scientists had me wanting to turn the page and know what happened next.
Dylan was the perfect teenage, I loved how his life went from predictable to chaotic as soon as Jordan enters the picture. And not just because of Jordan’s powers but also because that is what young love does, it turns everything upside down. Jordan is a loner but Dylan also doesn’t have a large friend circle, so I adored how these two found solace in each other, first as a friendship and then as something more. And while Jordan is shrouded in mystery, Dylan’s life seems to be sucked into that mystery. He starts distancing himself from his family and friends as everything starts to unravel.
I liked the powers and how that all played out. It was very much a we aren’t trying to save the world type of dynamic but a we just want to live and be left alone dynamic. But I have two issues with the story, first being the unnecessarily mean girl, Savanna, who relentlessly and ruthlessly bullies Dylan. Her entire drama with Dylan completely took away from the main storyline and honestly I didn’t feel like she contributed to the story at all until 80% and by then there was no way I was forgiving her for her behavior.
My second issue is that things wrapped up far too quickly. I had several lingering questions left as the story ended. How did Jordan end up this way, how did he escape XXX, is there any transparency on how they go about living their lives? For all the harping Dylan’s parents did about his elusive boyfriend, do they ever meet? I have few more regarding Dylan as well but those would be spoilers so basically, things concluded too quickly. If we could have cut out Savanna and added more Jordan backstory/ending…the story would have been nearly perfect.
LINKS:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
