Book Review: Where We Go From Here

I wish this book was already published because the state of the world provides plenty of time for people to get into reading. What I have for you is a must read. Where We Go From Here by Lucas Rocha comes out June 2, 2020.

I am absolutely amazed how well written and how enthralling this book is, especially considering that this is Rocha’s first novel. This book is about three gay men who meet by chance after one of the men, Ian, tests positive for HIV. He meets Victor who tested negative, and Victor gave him Henrique’s number for support because he has been HIV positive for three years.

Where We Go From Here follows Ian’s journey of him finding out his status, with the support of Victor and Henrique. This is all happening while Victor and Henrique are trying to figure out what they are doing with their potential relationship. There is a lot of drama in this book, but that drama is supported by friends. Friends that push the characters to be who they are and do what they want to do.

As a lot of books do nowadays, each chapter focuses on one of the main three characters. It is written in first person for each of these chapters so if you are not paying attention at the beginning of the chapter, it can get confusing as to which character it is focusing on.

That’s not the only creative part of the format of this book though. Something that I wish had more importance in this book, was the use of technology. There are a few parts of the book where it is written in text format right at the beginning and social media format towards the end. I wish there was more of a texting format throughout the book to show the characters interacting with each other while they are not together.

The time period is indicated by the use of technology but also by the mention of popular things in the media. There are references to Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings, and Grey’s Anatomy. This helped me to figure out what point in history they were living in and helped me understand the advancement of HIV treatment and the acceptance of the LGBT community in society.

This book is full of emotional support from friends and family, drama between relationships, and drama because of the HIV positive status. Where We Go From Here will keep your attention as you get emotionally invested in the characters and the need to know what happens to them. I felt like Victor’s best friend, Sandra, constantly rooting for the character’s happiness and situations in their lives and relationships turned for the worse.

If you are looking for a heartfelt, emotional, and sometimes comical read, make sure you add this to your TBR (to be read) list for June second. Hopefully this social distancing will be over by then, but you can still spend a weekend speeding through this book.

ROCHA, LUCAS. WHERE WE GO FROM HERE. S.l.: PUSH, 2020.