When dared to make a promposal to his long time crush, Theo finds himself rejected and wondering who his true friends are.
As You Walk on By is a young adult novel by Julian Winters, that follows Theo and his friends, Darren and Jay. Also known as TNT.
Theo's life is planned out, at least his dad has it planned out, with hopes of him getting recruited to run track at Duke, get good grades, and finally leave their small town in Kentucky.
TNT has made a name for themselves by giving each other outrageous dares, within a limit. That is when Theo, one of the only out kids at his school, is dared by Jay to ask his long time crush to prom.
When the first attempt fails, Jay suggests for Theo to do it at a party that weekend, leaving Theo to try to plan the most epic promposal ever.
When the party, and the promposal, take a turn; Theo finds himself hiding out in one of the bedrooms with ragtag group who just needs a break from everything around them. Between Luca, who is also suffering from a failed promposal to River who is just trying to make friends. Theo starts to realize that maybe the people he called his friends were not really looking out for him at all.
There is a large cast of characters within this novel who each bring something different to the story, as well as a lot of representation to the book. Theo, and his father, are both queer and navigating their own relationships. Theo's best friends come from different backgrounds, with Jay being the boy who has everything.
This book takes place over a week or so, with a major part of the book being the party and learning about the different people Theo now finds himself with. One of my favorite parts of the book is how is shows navigating friendships and how sometimes it takes something big happening to realize the people we thought were close to us are not looking out for us. There is also a lot of discussion about how the country, and the world, perceive people of color and those who are queer. And how those lead to the expectations that Theo's dad had for him.
Overall this book was a 5/5 star read of me. I really enjoyed it and the growth that Theo experienced. The cast of side characters are really fun and very diverse and unique.
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