Release Review: XOXO: Christina Lee
XOXO
Christina Lee
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Release Date: July 20th, 2023
Lark Levitt doesn’t belong at Roosevelt College, at least in theory. Most students who attend the private university come from wealthy families, and Lark is only a scholarship and a bus ride away from the trailer park where he lives. It’s also a dream come true because dance is his life, and their program is one of the most prestigious in the country. But there are bumps in the road, like running into someone from a difficult time in his childhood. Someone who now pretends he doesn’t exist.
They decide the best course of action is to keep their distance. Easier said than done. Their renewed connection brings solace, clarity, and a raw intensity that awakens a spark between them. But hiding their history is exhausting, and soon enough their secret meetups are in danger of being exposed. Henry will need to face his fears—and his father—or lose the only person who’s ever understood the real him.
*CW: discussions of cancer treatments and mental health struggles
teaser graphics from Author's Facebook page
They’re opposites in just about every way. Henry is from a wealthy and affluent family. He’s the star football quarterback, an intelligent engineering student, popular, outgoing, and deeply closeted and inexperienced. But despite living a charmed life now, he still has a lot of pressure and expectations put upon him.
Lark is a scholarship student and ballet dancer from a trailer park. He is anxious, introverted, self-conscious, and a bit awkward. He struggles a bit in school, does not like attention, and he’s used to being picked on. He has accepted and owned the fact he is gay for a long time.
But despite the years, and their social standings, these two still share a connection and it makes it easier to trust the other one at this point in their life. And there is this attraction that keeps building as well. They both have secrets and fears and need support. And there are also social expectations and this secret they’re supposed to be keeping, so it also makes it hard for them to spend time together out in the open.
This is a heartfelt, inspiring, hurt/comfort, opposites-attract, childhood friends-to-lovers, college romance. I loved Henners and Lark togehter. Their connection, their first times, their friendship, and their understanding of each other. They survived similar trauma but come from families and circumstances that could not be more different. I really felt for Henners because he might be the rich boy but he struggled to be able to be his authentic self and live his own life. He lived under such stress and anxiety. And Lark's life was not really his own either due to his own obligations. I think the author did a good job regarding mental health and anxiety issues and the lasting repercussions of chronic illness on the survivor as well as their families.
Mother, wife, reader, dreamer. Christina lives in the Midwest with her husband and son–her two favorite guys. She’s addicted to lip balm, coffee, and kissing. Because everything is better with kissing.
She writes mostly MM Contemporary as well as Adult and New Adult Romance. She believes in happily-ever-afters for all, so reading and writing romance for everybody under the rainbow helps quench her soul.
If you’d like to keep up with her on a daily basis, join her reader group on Facebook called The Swoon Room. Or join her newsletter to be notified of sales and/or new releases.
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