And They Lived... by Steven Salvatore

I loved Steven Salvatore’s first book, Can’t Take That Away, and had really high expectations for this one as well, especially after reading the synopsis. But unfortunately, I had so many issues with And They Lived. I understand that this is a very personal book for the author, almost like a memoir (or a wishful remake of the author’s own college time), which makes it very hard to criticize it. But nevertheless, I can’t give it more than a two star rating for the triggering content and the annoying or stereotype characters.

One of the things I loved most in Steven Salvatore’s first book was the wonderful, unique and loveable characters, which is why I was so surprised and disappointed by the characters in this book. The main character, Chase Arthur is starting his first year at college. He’s a hopeless romantic obsessed with finding his true love, but believes that he’s not enough for anyone, due to his body and gender dysmorphia. But when he meets Jack Reid, a writer student looking for a fresh start away from his hometown while struggling with his own sexuality, it might just be Chase’s time to finally live in a fairytale of his own.

At first, I loved Chase’s quirkiness and rooted for his struggles with gender-identity and body dysmorphia. But the further I read, the more annoyed I got with his selfishness, his inability to realize what his friends were going through and how he pushed Jack to come out when he clearly wasn’t ready. Jack was a sweetheart, but I felt like we never got to know him more than the stereotype closeted jock, and I never felt any real chemistry between him and Chase, sadly. Most of the other characters were either horrible (like Chase’s dad) or not fleshed out enough to make you fully root for them.

I really want to give Steven Salvatore kudos for addressing a lot of difficult issues, like eating disorders and fatphobia, depression and suicidal thoughts, homophobic parents, outings and gender identity struggles, but I wished it had been executed in a way that hadn’t made them feel as triggering. Sadly, the story now came across as fatphobic and queerphobic in itself. Additionally, there were some really cringy sex scenes. I usually love sex positivity, but here the sex scenes felt way too explicit for a YA book.

The best part was the note by Steven Salvatore at the end, which brought tears to my eyes when reading about their own struggles growing up. I wish so much that the actual book had made me feel the same way.

Rating:
2 stars

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​Author info:
Steven Salvatore