Review: Encounter by Perie Wolford

It's time to face the unknown.

In an attempt to prove it to the world that crop circles are man-made and aliens don’t really exist, Ricky and his team of young enthusiasts (including one particular enthusiast, Josh, who is hopelessly in love with Ricky) start falsifying the phenomenon by creating their own crop circles. Their endeavors prove successful, pretty much so, but only until the day when Ricky sees his unique circle design replicated throughout the country by the force unknown. 

Perie Wolford has a way of making me read things that aren’t in my usual rotation and loving them. I’m not a huge fan of YA, but Perie writes it and I love it. UFO stories don’t usually pique my interest, but Perie writes one and I power read it in one sitting.

Ricky and Josh are part of a group, led by Ricky, that want to debunk the myth of crop circles by proving how easy it is to make them, no alien help necessary. They’ve decided to create a vlog about their latest conquest and the story is told, for the most part, through the lens of Josh’s camera.
Encounter has some sweet moments, but I wouldn’t classify it as a romance. It’s a sci-fi story with gay main characters. If you know that going in and aren’t looking for hearts and flowers you’ll be able to appreciate the story without looking for what isn’t meant to be there.

I really liked the snarky friendship between Ricky and Josh, they were complete opposites, but a perfect match as friends, vlog partners, and with a hope of something more. Josh is model handsome but prefers to stay behind the camera. Neither of them are out and aren’t ready to be, so the attraction is all in their inner dialogs for the most part.

Ricky invites Emily to join them in their next project. She’s an intern from Washington DC doing research into crop circles so she seems like a perfect fit for their group which also includes Ann and Mike, an established couple that Ricky and Josh are long-time friends with. The addition of Emily causes some serious tension and territorial battles between Ricky and Josh. Each assumes the other is straight so the change in the dynamic that the oh-so-beautiful Emily adds to the mix compounds the stress they are all feeling with their biggest project yet. It was interesting to read how they create the circles and the vision that Ricky has before they start.

As with every good sci-fi mystery, all is not as it seems and when Ricky and Josh make a discovery that neither suspected, the action accelerates fast. Once I hit this mark while reading I knew there would be no putting this one down until I finished it. I can’t even really say anything about it without giving the story away, but I will say it was a fun ride and the ending was a pure WTAF? moment. I wasn’t happy, but it was perfect and if it had ended any other way it would have cheapened everything the author had created up to that point.

I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon spent creating crop circles, being chased by pissed off farmers and government agents, and reading about new love being discovered. Thanks Perie, that was fun.

For more information about Encounter, check it out over on Goodreads.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**