Title: You First
Author: J.C. Lillis
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 273 Pages
Category: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Rating: 5 Stars
At a Glance: This is a gorgeous book, insightful and exceedingly romantic, though in an untraditional way. The fact that the story happens to take place in a world where superheroes and villains exist offers its stark truths and bare emotions a unique place to exist.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: When sort-of-superhero Levon Ludlow meets Jay Jantzen on a bench beside their college quad, he knows he’s met a kindred spirit. Levon can talk to animals, but only pests and nuisances no one wants to talk to. Jay can manipulate and freeze water, but only thirty-two ounces at a time. They fall in love fast and hard, bonding over their mundane powers and pledging to be content with a small and safe life in Levon’s beloved hometown.
But thirteen years in, Levon knows that small and safe are no longer enough for his partner. Jay’s been on a self-improvement kick, honing and expanding his powers on the sly. And when Jay gets recruited by a super headhunter for a job three thousand miles away, their long-term relationship is tested like never before.
With the dubious advice of some irksome animals—and the help of an unexpected new mentor—Levon tries his hardest to boost his own powers, catch up to Jay, and salvage their bond. But the more he learns about himself, the less clear-cut his choices seem. Can they save their relationship—and if they want different things, should they even try?
An adult comedy-drama from the author of YA novel HOW TO REPAIR A MECHANICAL HEART, this is a bittersweet story about finding love, finding yourself, and fighting for the future you deserve.
Review: Bittersweet is such an inadequate word to describe this novel. Think of it more as a series of little papercuts: not so bad, your brain says…until you start pouring lemon juice on them for a hundred pages or so. Then you’ll be closer to the emotional truth of You First and what it’s like to watch two people who grew up together, now grow apart from each other after thirteen years. Author J.C. Lillis addresses the challenges that Levon Ludlow and Jay Jantzen face when evolution meets stagnation, and the impact those two incompatible forces have on their relationship. Their story questions the desire to change—not for oneself but for someone else—and the effect of lying to yourself and everyone else in the process. The entirety of this story is about coming to terms with the idea of loving someone, yourself included, enough to let them grow, realizing you can either be their anchor or their wings, but you can’t be both.
The fact that the story happens to take place in a world where superheroes and villains exist offers its stark truths and bare emotions a unique place to exist.
Lillis has a creative way of presenting readers with the persistence of love in the face of diminishing hope, and showing that chronic anxiety, a massive inferiority complex, the fear of being left behind, and the desire to be on equal ground with the person he loves can cause a man to strive to be someone he is not meant to be. That Levon and Jay have reached a turning point, or, perhaps breaking point, in their relationship after more than a decade of love and commitment, hurts in all the best ways. That Levon’s real superpower is the gift of his love and care for the little things that make his life in the small town of Summerhill complete, is a hard-earned but ultimately fulfilling lesson. And where things go from here is as uncertain as tomorrow.
Parts of this book wrecked me. The end left me in a crying place, but not in an overwrought and hopeless way. More so in a way that left me with the understanding that two people can love each other so much that they only want the best for each other—even if what’s best for them ends up hurting. You can have all the superpowers in the word and still be overcome by the power of an unselfish love.
What is not made clear in the blurb is that You First is only the beginning of Levon and Jay’s story. This is a gorgeous book, insightful and exceedingly romantic, though in an untraditional way. It broke my heart, and now I wait to see if J.C. Lillis can stitch it back together again.
You can buy You First here:
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