Thank you to NetGalley and Evernight Teen for the electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Noah Stone and Evan Santiago meet anonymously in 6th grade, as part of a school pen pal assignment. They are only introduced by initials, NOS, meet XES. They stay in touch throughout the rest of their school years without giving their real names, but when they are in high school, Evan’s family moves, and he inadvertently learns that Noah is NOS. On the surface, they have little in common. Noah is a musician—on his way to becoming a rock star, under his father’s management—as well as a gamer, and newly out of the closet. Evan is an athlete, on the football team as well as being a competitive swimmer, and a bit of a player. Their worlds begin overlapping—a stray football hits Noah, giving Evan a reason to interact with him directly. Noah is mentoring one of Evan’s brothers. As the book alternates between their points of view, it becomes clear that they are definitely interested in each other. This is a book about secrets—how they affect our lives and relationships, and the way others see us. It’s a book about family, and the roles we play in our families, whether by choice or necessity. It’s about figuring out who we are, and how that fits into others’ expectations. It’s about father-son relationships. And it’s about first love. I raced through this book—it was an easy read, and I really cared about what happened to the characters. The only thing I struggled with was remembering that they were teenagers. Their experiences sometimes made them seem much older—and then the story would jump right back into high school to remind me that they were seniors. I really appreciated how the book addressed mental health issues, and how this tied into the father-son relationships. I will be keeping an eye out for more by this author.

Noah is a weeb growing into his rock star image while Evan hides in his own secrets, trying to keep his brothers safe. They come together and sparks fly. I was rooting for them at the end.

“Noah believed in love everlasting. Love trumps all. Love is enough. I loved him with all my soul, but the inevitable still had us separate. And in truth, I just had no clue.” I LOVE this book! I love the characters, I love their growth and how they took on the challenges they faced and came out on top. I loved the way Evan and Noah’s relationship grew and how even in the moments that they were tested - both personally and as a couple - and made decisions that would normally make me as a reader want to scream and shake them, I just loved them every more. There was a great balance of lighthearted and serious moments that kept the story from becoming boring or predictable! It was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. 100% recommend! Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this beautiful novel!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of "My Not So Anonymous Best Friend" by Elizabeth Arroyo. Noah and Evan have known each other for years but only Evan is aware of this fact. He has moved and met Noah at school one day and found out that Noah is NOS, his old pen pal from elementary school. Now that two are dancing around each other as the attraction between them is there but neither feels like they can confess it to each other. Evan is posing as straight not only because of his football credit but to keep himself alive at home wit an abusive father. Noah has only recently come out at school and has left his first boyfriend, he also thinks that Evan hates him and so is afraid of acting on his feelings. When the two of them finally do get together the chemistry explodes. I really enjoyed this book, as an older reader I have found myself starting to get frustrated with YA reads (expectedly and not as a problem with the writing in any way at all) because of the characters. Noah and Evan only mildly hit that problem area for me and their character building and background more than compensated for that. While I adored this story I do struggle with the idea that it is categorized as YA, for me it reads almost as adult or as very late YA for 16 and 17 year olds at the earliest. The talk of sex, abuse, drugs and more that happens in this story made this book read as older for me. Things that I loved about this book was the chemistry between Noah and Evan. They really did seem drawn to each other even when they were fighting. I also appreciated that Noah wasn't the conventional rock star type and nobody, except for his father, is trying to change anything like that about him. Noah has great friends who support him but also call him on his bullshit. The same can be said for Evan his friend is there for him through everything (though really what senior has parents that are never home and just leave you this house?). I loved Evan's siblings and how they were catalysts in this story and not just background players. There were some things that I struggled with in this story. The references to Evan's dominant character were awkward, unexplained, and tried to be used to explain away his controlling nature. I would have liked to see Noah stand up to him a bit and seen some growth with that. Noah and his father's relationship is very fraught and the ending really didn't give me any of the closure that I wanted, Noah just gives in even though in the middle of the story it seems like he really doesn't want to pursue music at the end he just goes with it. The last real problem I had with the story was Noah being SO forgiving. He couldn't hold a grudge at all, which is great as a character trait and allowed for some of the story to move on much more quickly than it would have otherwise but his forgiveness toward Sasha after she betrays him with the fan site (I apologized and she apologized and we had ice cream and coffee seems a little trite) and his constant forgiveness of Evan grated on me just a little. Despite those challenges this was compelling, I didn't want to put it down almost from the first page and I was rooting for Evan and Noah the whole way through. I gave this story 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

This book was a mix of cuteness, sadness and LGBT representation ! So, I loved it ! First of all, the representation of gay people was nicely written and the characters were very endearing. The story is a bit basic but it really works, a gay man who plays an instrument and the quaterback guy. I found the combination of the two really sweet. Then we have the background of Evan, made me sob a few times, not gonna lie. No spoilers but him blaming himself was so well put it made the story really sad and i just wanted to hug the boy. All in all, the book was a really nice read for me and i put it 4 stars. I really recommend it to anyone who loves a boy/boy romance with angst :)

I absolutely loved this book! It was such an adorable and sweet, but also so heart-wrenching and gripping, story with amazing fleshed-out characters with flaws and secrets that completely stole my heart. I read it feverishly in one sitting, hoping for the HEA the main characters so deserved, but fearing that the evil persons in their lives or the characters themselves would cause a train wreck hindering that. (Just be aware of the trigger warnings - parental abuse, violence and grief – before picking it up.) In sixth grade Noah Stone is assigned an anonymous pen pal for a school assignment. Little did he know, when reluctantly writing his first letter, that the anonymous pen pal would become his closest confidant for the next years, nor that the anonymous pen pal would move to his school and find out who Noah was in real life. Neither could he ever suspect that the annoying but intriguing superjock Evan Santiago would be that pen pal, nor that he would be the one encouraging Noah to come out of the closet and make a move on a boy he fancies, even though the thought of Noah with someone else breaks Evan’s heart. Nor could he guess why Evan has all the bruises, why he’s so aggressive or why he’s so protective of his little brothers. Evan keeps a devastating secret that he can’t confide in anyone, believing he doesn’t deserve to be loved, that he deserves the hell he’s living in. His life is full of fear and responsibilities, knowing he has to protect his little brothers from his abusive dad at all costs. The only positive thing going on in his life are his chats with the anonymous pen pal. But when he learns his identity by mistake, he no longer wants to stay trapped in his lie, and when he learns that Noah is interested too, he takes a chance at love, risking everyone he’s tried to protect, including himself. This might seem like a light and funny YA gay romance, but it had such depths and sadness in addition to the sweet and heartwarming parts. Evan’s situation was absolutely devastating and I rooted so much for him. He was such a complex character, with his tough attitude to try to cover his insecurity and vulnerability, and with his loneliness, his compassion and his love for his little brothers. My heart ached for him, even when he made the most stupid choices. But also Noah had demons to struggle with and a father pushing him into things that were not his own choice. They were both such wonderful characters, with depth and flaws, and their chemistry was just amazing! I loved the way Elizabeth Arroyo captured the suppressed feelings, their love and fear, and how she made us readers come along on Evan’s and Noah’s journey to finding themselves and coming to a decision what’s really worth living for. My only minor complaint is that some parts of their relationship felt a bit too toxic. They were fully understandable knowing what Evan had had to deal with, but I still would have preferred if Evan wasn’t as dominant and over protective of Noah all the time and that he hadn’t been so opposed to bottom, that part felt a bit problematic to be honest. But all in all, My NOT So Anonymous Best Friend was such an addictive, emotional, poignant and sweet story about first loves and finding your forever that was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. I can’t recommend this book enough! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

When Noah , using the handle NOS2321, began messaging his pen pal, known by his handle XES6969, neither realized the would continue messaging for years. Little did they know that fate had so much more in store for them. Through heartbreaks, dad-agers, high school life, budding music careers, sports, and some serious family drama. They share their lives, at least some of it. They stay anonymous, but XES6969, or Evan, has a secret. He knows who NOS2321 is. BEYOND THIS POINT MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS I am mentally freaking out over how much I freaking loved this book!!!! Noah and Evan are both such amazing characters. They have developed backstories and real life stuff that drives or hinders them. I really expected this to be a fluffy rom/com, but what I got was an amazing story that should be up there with Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli. I am so excited for this to be released so that you can all read it. I’m going to go pre-order it now because I need a physical copy!

Thanks NetGalley and Evernight Teen for this eARC, these opinions are my own. When I read the description of this book I had to read it! Anonymous pen pals, where one of them knows who the other is, sounds so good especially when you add a possible love connection! Noah and Evan were given a school assignment in eighth grade to write to pen pals, they ended up being long term friends but they decided to stay anonymous! That is until Evan moves to Noah’s town, going to his school, and learns who Noah is. But he decides not to tell Noah, complicated things as the two grow closer! Add in Noah’s growing musical career and Evan’s family complications and it makes for one heck of a ride! There were times in this book where things seemed slightly weird but overall everything came together quite nicely! I enjoyed the build up to Noah and Evan, I liked that there was complications to their relationship and that things weren’t easy! I liked that there wasn’t just one event they had to overcome but rather multiple events! I felt for Evan and the difficulties he was dealing with, there’s some tuff family situations in this book so pay attention to trigger warnings or content warnings before reading! Overall this was a pretty good story and I’ll be excited to read it again when it comes out!