The Flywheel
by Erin Gough
Published on February 1st 2015
by Hardie Grant Egmont
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, LGBT
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
Seventeen-year-old Delilah’s crazy life is about to get crazier. Ever since her father took off overseas, she’s been struggling to run the family’s cafe without him and survive high school. But after a misjudged crush on one of the cool girls, she's become the school punchline as well. With all that’s on her plate she barely has time for her favourite distraction – spying on the beautiful Rosa, who dances flamenco at the tapas bar across the road.
Only her best friend Charlie knows how she feels about Rosa, but he has romantic problems of his own. When his plan to win an older woman’s heart goes horribly wrong, Del is the only one who can help Charlie stay out of jail.
All this leaves Del grappling with some seriously curly questions. Is it okay to break the law to help a friend? How can a girl tell another girl she likes her without it ending in humiliation and heartbreak? And – the big one – is it ever truly possible to dance in public without falling over?
Seriously, what is with contemporary this year? If this keeps up I’ll need to make a separate top 15 for contemporary alone at the end of this year. It wouldn’t be fair for all the other books in non-contemporary genres. This book, The Flywheel, is another great addition to my favorites shelf.
The Flywheel is about Delilah, also called Del. After her father left for a much needed break from running their cafe The Flywheel and a couple of unfortunate incidents, Del is left to do the job alone. As if that’s not enough, school hasn’t been easy either since a misjudged crush on one of the cool girls made her the punchline of every joke. During the course of the story Del has to deal with a lot of bad luck but luckily enough she’s not completely alone. She has her best friend Charlie, who has his own problems to deal with and Rosa, the beautiful flamenco dancer from across the street on who Del has a huge hopeless crush.
This book screams diversity and that’s so awesome. At the surface the story may not seem like anything too original but it actually is. It’s quite new to me and I loved it! The writing was great and I loved all of these characters. Well… Almost all of them. I’m not very fond of Del’s parents and some of the girls at her school, of course. I loved Del’s friends, especially Charlie. He’s so great! If Del wasn’t gay, I would ship them so hard. Speaking off, Del was such a great character. So strong. I really admired her strength throughout this book. Seriously.
If I had to point out one negative thing, it’s that some things kind of didn’t get resolved at the end. Or not enough. Sharing these would mean going into spoilers, so don’t open the spoiler if you haven’t read the book yet. View Spoiler »
The Flywheel definitely on the list of must-read contemporary novels from this year. I’m definitely curious about what the author will bring next! I highly recommend this one, for sure.
- {Bee Mini-Reviews} THE BOY WHO STEALS HOUSES by C.G. Drews - April 8, 2019
- FairyLoot February UnBoxing – All The BATB Things - March 22, 2019
- The Return of Bee (part 2) ~ What I’ve Been Reading - March 15, 2019
Twitter: Jeann Wong
Awww man Del sounds like a really lovely and strong character! I love the diveristy though. It would be frustrating leaving loose ends though. So glad to hear you liked it Bieke!
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Yeah, I would’ve liked to see everything more wrapped up than it is.
2015 really has been an insanely good year for contemporary books! I noticed that so many of them have been so well-written and have been well-received this year and that makes me so happy to know. I haven’t heard of this one but it’s promising to know that this is one of those we need to watch out for! Plus, that cover is fantastic.
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
I know! I’m going to need a separate top 15 for contemporary at the end of the year. XD