A mysterious person is threatening Wonderland - the local arcade - and this is interesting enough to keep the story interesting, but it definitely does not overshadow the romantic aspects of the story - the pizza moment, the lake...need I go on? (keeping it vague so there's no actual spoilers involved!)
The book is perfect for somebody who has just finished their GCSE's - not that anybody older or younger wouldn't be able to read it, but a 16 year old would be able to relate to the situations the main cast find themselves in more than say a 12 year old or a 21 year old (oops that me! Although I am probably a little bit older than the target audience of this book, it was definitely a lovely "feel good" read, so don't be put off by age!) I absolutely love how Green has written these character too, they seem to be like real teenagers and not the squeaky clean idea of teenagers that sometimes appear in YA stories (that apear in pretty much every John Green book). Alex definitely reminds me of myself when I was sixteen years old and just finished secondary skills, and his awkwardness was definitely realistic! I remember the first time I went out on a coffee date with a girl, and I was just as awkward as Alex was! It made me smile and remember the good times when I was his age (wow I'm just making myself sound like a dinosaur now!)
This book is a very funny book, and what is great about the humor is the fact that it is mostly British Humour! Many of the YA books I have read in my time have all had American style humor, so it was very refreshing to see someone try a different style, even though I love a lot of the YA books I have read. There is just something about British humour that Americans don't understand!
A great thing about this book is that it is a story which follows a gay protagonist that does not involve homophobia! And I do understand, homophobia does exist and it is absolutely terrible - trust me I've been through it - but it is refreshing to see a story where abuse and violence isn't the focus of the story, and for Alex's dad to be constantly asking him about his boyfriend as if it is the most natural thing in the world. So many stories focus on families bad reactions to somebody being gay, so it was incredibly nice for the more accepting families to have some representation. Even Alex's Step mother, whom Alex and her seem to have a mutual hatred of each other, doesn't ever seem to bring Alex's sexuality into the situation, which is brilliant! The characters in this world are living their best gay lives without the fear of persecution, which is definitely something that should be explored more in the YA industry. Not to mention that there is more than just the G in LGBT+ being represented here, with there being many bisexual and non-white characters that aren't listed as a silly stereotype, or there just to get brownie points for having a diverse cast!
The mystery of who is trying to sabotage the Wonderland Arcade is a central part to this book, and added a lot of the fun to the story, not to mention linking the plot points together! The mystery did carry some Scooby-Doo vibes which made the mystery not as serious, which added to the lightheartedness of the novel. I genuinely did not predict who was behind it all, (to be fair, something I disliked about the book was the fact that they didn't really go into the motive behind the sabotaging or anything, it felt a little bit rushed and I would have liked more closure, the author pretty much just said X character was behind it all, and they never saw them again. However, with the character that did it it does sort of make sense that there is not much to explain, but still, I like closure!) but I had read some reviews saying that they could easily guess who was behind everything at the end, so I guess this depends on the reader.
I absolutely loved this book, but I believe that it is perfect as a stand alone. Not saying that Simon James Green shouldn't ever write another book again, since I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would happily read any new material from him! It's just that I believe how it ended was perfect and that there's not really much more that you could add to the story. I would definitely read a sequel if one was written though! This book would also be fantastic as a TV adaption, I believe it would be a hybrid of Pretty Little Liars and Love Simon, and I would definitley watch it if Netflix decides to pick it up!
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