Into the Blue

Starred review from May 23, 2016
In this warmhearted Hawaii-based contemporary romance, pro surfer Ollie makes his grand return two years after an injury, and his best friend, Tai, is right where he’s always been: at Ollie’s side, pushing him to do his best. When a wildcard tournament held on their home turf leads to a spot in the Surfing World Championship Tour, Ollie knows exactly whom he wants for his support crew. As the two travel together, their feelings for each other become deeper and more complicated, but both worry what their burgeoning physical intimacy might mean for the family of housemates that they have cobbled together. When they return home from the tour, their individual lives blossom in unexpected and rewarding ways, but fear and uncertainty keep them from asking for what they want the most. The plausibility of the miscommunications and the realism of the young men’s relationship and personalities are exceptional. Readers eager for more diversity in romance will appreciate the nuanced portrayals of the leads (one gay, one demisexual) and the women they live with (one bisexual, one asexual) but may wish that Tai’s Samoan heritage and its meaning for him had been explored, rather than just repeatedly referred to in passing.