The Boyfriend Academy

Overall Rating: 5/5

Love is forbidden. Truth is dangerous. Survival is everything.

Ganymede's is no ordinary school.

Here, boys are forged into the men that society expect.... forged to be strong, obedient... perfect in every way...

Graduate, and the world is yours. Home, doting wife, and a career.

Fail... and you might as well not exist.

For Dylan, the idea seems so simple at first. Keep his head down, graduate, and he gets everything that a man would dream of.

Until his friend goes missing... and questions begin to flood his mind... questions he shouldn't have while in Ganymede's halls...

As the final trials that will determine whether he is the man that society demands or not loom ever closer, those questions linger in the back of Dylan's mind... and he finds himself drawn to a mysterious and yet attractive boy... and he must decide if he wishes to be the man that society demands him to be...

or the man that he wants to be.

From the cover alone, The Boyfriend Academy pulled at me like the softest little whisper... as if from a novel of dark knowledge whispering for me to learn its secrets... And when I began? I fell hard.... and proceeded to devour this within a manner of two days. J.S. Strange has truly created a novel that is well-worthy of standing beside the other greats when it comes to dark academia... blending a beautiful story of romance (and even better, it's queer romance!), of coming of age and growing into adulthood... in a dystopian universe that holds all the elements of dark academia that you could ever desire... of secret societies, dangerous trials, and an immaculate school setting.... not only that, but J.S. Strange has managed to make this so much more... blending elements commonly found in mystery novels, or thrillers... adding to the tense, gripping atmosphere.

Overall, The Boyfriend Academy is an absolute masterpiece, and one that will most definitely linger in your mind for ages to come afterwards... not just for the message of sweet love, no matter how forbidden...This was my first work from the desk of J.S. Strange, and I will definitely be spreading the word to the rest of my book-loving friends about this novel. I look forward to reading more works from him, and (hopefully) delving back into Ganymede's halls...

Special thanks to Grace Edwards at One More Chapter for the invite to read this in advanced !