One Giant Leap

This is overall a good read that delivers on everything the blurb promises.

I didn't enjoy the first quarter of this book much at all and considered setting it aside. I really dislike the author's writing style. It's in present tense, which I don't like, and the first half also has frequent excerpts from a TV interview one of the main characters gave shortly before the space mission. I didn't find this structure confusing, just annoying. But beyond those two things, I didn't like all the poetic descriptions of the characters' love for space.

When books have an overly lyrical style, I cringe, and then I feel like an old curmudgeon, because it was exactly my favorite style 20 years ago. I had a creative writing professor who used this style in his work, and I thought he was the best. But my tastes have changed over the years.

But I feel guilty saying that, because the writing is beautiful, and I think most readers would enjoy it. And I do really like the actual substance of the book. The plot is very romantic and the two main characters are both lovable. I was cheering for their happy ending. I've had a few long-distance relationships that started out similarly (although not on such an epic scale, of course), and the author did a great job of capturing those feelings: idealizing the person you love, knowing them very well without knowing them at all, and then being excited yet terrified to finally meet them.

For some reason I thought this was gay-for-you, which I usually don't like, but it definitely is not. Patrick is gay, and Curt is bisexual; he has been out since almost the start of his astronaut career. It's great bisexual representation. If he were a real celebrity, I would be a huge fan. The device of the TV interview gives the author the opportunity to have Curt speak openly about his bisexuality in a way that is rare to encounter in m/m romance. I also really appreciate the diversity of the rest of the cast, who are all interesting characters.

Some of the critical reviews here complain about lack of sex. There are a few racy scenes, including one explicit sex scene, and one that is written in poetic language (but it's clear what's happening). I'm not sure why people made that complaint, and I hope that readers who avoid books with sex scenes don't pick this one up based on that misleading info.

At its core, this is a story about two lonely people finding each other against all odds, and learning to love each other. It also feels like an ode to the space program, which brought back some of the worshipful feelings I had towards NASA, as a kid. I know I will remember the story itself fondly, but I didn't enjoy the actual reading experience.