This review is for Lover Boy Volume 1 and contains spoilers. Ize Press provided a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.
Eunho Jung is the dictionary definition of a lover boy. Ever since he laid eyes on Jaeha Yoo, the neighborhood boy eight years his senior, when he was three years old, he has always liked him. Despite watching the man of his dreams kiss another man, then get married to a woman a few years later, his feelings have never wavered. Time and distance have not lessened his love for Jaeha. When the two reunite again—Eunho now twenty and Jaeha now divorced and twenty-eight—will Eunho get his happy ending?
This is the messy kind of angst that I vibed with when I was younger—and that I still vibe with (while acknowledging that this is a very toxic relationship and in real life, I would encourage everyone to run in the opposite direction and take care of themselves). Lover Boy has no shortage of drama and angst centered around characters wrestling with feelings of love, anger, frustration, and self-loathing. Every one of these characters—Jaeha, Hanjoon, and even innocent Eunho—aren’t perfect.
First, the titular lover boy. You really have to admire his obstinacy because three-year-old Eunho saw Jaeha and immediately thought: Yep, that’s going to be my husband, and just never stopped proposing to him. Even after everything he saw and heard, including Jaeha in multiple compromising situations with his friends-with-benefit Hanjoon, his love has never wavered.
Yes, he was hurt. Yes, he thought about giving up and moving on. And yet, he always went back to Jaeha, all because he’s clutching onto the faintest hope that there might be room in Jaeha’s heart for him.
It helps that Eunho is extremely perceptive. It’s in the little things, such as when he accurately notes that Jaeha is lying when he says art is only a way to put food on the table. He knows, through Jaeha naming the atelier after his ex-wife and in the way he teaches his students, that he loves art. His astuteness comes through most clearly during their first time.
Jaeha is unequivocally a coward. He continues to wear his wedding ring, even after his divorce, isn’t because he still hopes Hyesun comes back, but because it acts as a shield for him to hide behind. It’s especially symbolic for Eunho to not only point out his ring and how it might hurt Hanjoon (and in extension, Eunho himself) but also be the one to take it off and throw it away, saying, “You don’t need that when you’re with me.” That being the ring, but also the walls Jaeha erects to protect himself.
Eunho isn’t dumb, and he isn’t as wholesome as he looks; he knows exactly what he’s doing when he’s carefully poking and prodding at Jaeha. But this kid is also so unfailingly kind and selfless when it comes to Jaeha. He doesn’t shame Jaeha for sleeping around. It takes a certain cocktail of bravery, recklessness, and stubbornness to continue pursuing someone who isn’t interested in you. Although I commended Eunho for his perceptiveness, it does make me wonder what exactly he saw in Jaeha when they reunited after years of silence that made him decide, “Maybe there’s a chance for me.” Did he blindly rush into it, hoping he had a chance? Did he really see a crack in Jaeha’s façade?
In his insistence on clinging to his decades-long love for Jaeha, Eunho hurts himself. Then there’s Jaeha, who doesn’t know what he wants, which is how he ends up hurting himself and everyone around him.
Eunho’s reappearance in Jaeha’s life again sends him spiraling and into an inextricable loop of reaching out to Eunho, pulling back when he gets scared, then running to Hanjoon to escape from confronting his feelings. Jaeha tries to push Eunho away, but it’s with increasingly less conviction every time. He tries to scare Eunho away with sex, underestimating just how deep Eunho’s feelings are.
For the most part, the printing quality is fine. There are instances where the illustrations from the previous page bleed onto the other side, and while it isn’t too obvious, it does become distracting, especially since the majority of the story is black and white. Most of the lines were thin and clear, but there were times when some of the lines became darker, and I wasn’t sure if it was a printing error or something that happened in the original version. I also am not sure what the thinking is behind the omission of “hyung” (“brother” in Korean and is used by men to address older men), and using hyung would’ve worked better in a story like this, especially when the age gap is such an important consideration in their relationship.
Volume 1 will get your pulse racing and your heart aching. You’ll feel insurmountably sorry for Eunho and likely, like me, want him to find someone else because this boy deserves better. There’ll be a rollercoaster of emotions, but by the time you get to the end, you’ll want to celebrate and cheer for Eunho because it feels like he’s finally earned his happy ending.
