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Thanks to @netgalley for an advance copy of this book for review (although the review is somewhat belated in this case 🤣) I really enjoyed One Day by David Nicholls, so when I heard Sweet Sorrows was coming out, I was immediately interested (doubly so because of the title, an allusion to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet). Much like Romeo and Juliet, Sweet Sorrows viscerally captures the experience of being young, swinging from hilarious to endearing to heartbreaking and back again in a single chapter. It follows lost boy Charlie as he becomes inexplicably entwined in a theatrical production of Romeo and Juliet in order to win over his crush, Fran. I adored this story, which sees Charlie navigating not just first love, but also the dissolution of his parents’ marriage, his father’s depression (and his own), friendships both deep and shallow, and his future. I think this quote, from the end of the novel, captures it best: “This is a love story, though now that it’s over it occurs to me that it’s actually four or five, perhaps more: familial and paternal love; the slow burning, reviving love of friends; the brief, blinding explosion of first love that can only be looked at directly once it has burnt out [...] and married love, too.” TW: depression, suicidal thoughts, alcohol abuse via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/CKT4NjXgQ2r/