Find My Way Down to You by Julian Winters Review

You've Reached Sam meets Hadestown in this enchanting, intoxicating romance across the mortal world and the underworld.

Eighteen-year-old August is trying to navigate life after the sudden death of his boyfriend left him devastated, aimless, and feeling guilty. Years after the tragic accident, August mistakenly stumbles into a world beyond his own—the Underworld. Unlike his own gray existence, the underworld is a lavish extravagant place, full of mystery and a flurry of charismatic gods, all curious about August's arrival in their world. Realizing right away the opportunity in front of him, August goes searching for his lost love, guided by Cary, the smoldering, broody ferrier of souls. But the more time August spends down below, the more his intentions begin to blur. Is he visiting this realm to reunite with his soulmate? Or is he desperately, inexplicably, intoxicatingly drawn to Cary? With his own world in pieces and a dangerously seductive realm promising him a new existence at a heavy cost, August must a life with grief or a love that might destroy him.

A story of grief and loss mixed with contemporary romance and mythological fantasy flavor, Find My Way Down to You by Julian Winters is a wholesome and sweet YA novel covering somber topics. By exploring the long, individual road to healing while honoring loved ones lost, the book feels like a warm and supportive hug that maintains an uplifting and hopeful outlook even when the pain feels unending. Well‑intentioned and earnest, it sometimes plays things too safe and doesn’t push its strongest narrative elements far enough, but it remains an accessible read with strong YA appeal.

Marketed as a YA romance with crossover elements in fiction, social issues, and fantasy, the book blends a wide range of narrative components into a story focused on grief and loss. Its greatest strength is its relatability for YA readers. Purposely flawed and immature to a fault, the main character August and his internal logic match his age, highlighting teenage shortsightedness and tunnel vision. Winters captures teenage angst well, especially in the wake of August’s catastrophic loss of his boyfriend London, around whom he built his entire world. The portrayal of grief is particularly strong, from August pushing away those around him, including his well‑written dynamic with Max, to closing himself off from his parents and any hobbies tied to London. The book also thoughtfully reflects on how healing is deeply personal and different for everyone, requiring acceptance and self‑forgiveness.

Another area that is noteworthy is its handling of young first love, as well as queer joy and representation. As his first boyfriend, August would leap off a tower for London and as the story progresses, the book does a great job at showing potential areas of relationship conflict and mismatched wants that’re thrown to the wind during teenage love. As August encounters the aloof and grumpy Cary and the charismatic Milos, the comparison between them and their different dynamics is well done. The slow transition of August’s interest and conflicted feelings is smoothly handled and one of the stronger points of the book.

The fantasy elements add good narrative flavor and visual interest, and they’re generally well incorporated into the story. A mix of various forms of the afterlife crossed with mythological themes and characters, the book’s pops of fantasy increase the stakes and intrigue while providing opportunities for vibrant visuals that Winters does well. The descriptions of various locations and scenic areas of the Underworld nicely complement the book’s beautiful cover as August and Cary go back and forth between worlds. The Underworld also has a nice variety of different personalities and characters that are not only visually distinctive but also have great queer diversity as well.

While the book is well-crafted and nicely balances its character drama, romance, and fantasy aspects, it does so at the cost of depth and development in each individual area. The story has a fast pace feel to it on par with books targeted for YA readership, but it often feels like it loses a good deal of nuance in the process. While the vibe and tone were hopeful and encouraging, I was consistently underwhelmed by the story’s surface level exploration of its deep and serious topics. While the conversations between characters were good, the book would consistently pose a thoughtful and complex question, then completely evade answering it or cutting off the conversation with a distraction. The book’s fast pace and overly casual style of storytelling have a tendency to shortcut important character moments and skirt over other elements that don’t feel fully developed. The motif around August’s mother’s gardening and greenhouse felt like it wasn’t given enough attention considering its connection to the Underworld while August’s interest in music feels like a good idea that’s only lightly utilized in the story. The book has a lot of good narrative material but spreads itself a bit thin and doesn’t go very far with any of them.

The lack of development also affects the numerous side characters who don’t feel like they have enough time or development to be memorable. Worse, though August and Cary have great chemistry and play off each other well, the romance can feel one-sided or off balanced. Since the book only presents August’s POV, the reader knows what’s going on in his head and his interests in the other characters. The issue is that there really isn’t much time spent exploring Cary’s interest in the reverse direction or what he likes about August other than explaining his presence nearby; a point could be made that he’s the only one that has seen or cared about Cary, but it isn’t really elaborated. Even though this is a YA book that doesn’t require the most complex character writing and logic, it seems like an oversight. August also repeatedly comments about how Cary talks oddly like he’s from another time, but the dialogue doesn’t really portray that difference very well or consistently.

The same could also be applied to the various fantasy elements that are serviceable at a glance but have quite a few conflicting details that don’t really make sense or have enough time to develop them. Although the Underworld inhabitants are deathless and immortal, at what point after they were born as children did they randomly stop aging? If humans are not able to cross over into the Underworld or even see the Deathless, why is it that August’s friend Max can also see Cary in the pizza restaurant and acknowledge his order (why is Cary even ordering pizza to begin with? His presence there is explained but not his ordering of food). A lot of the Underworld mechanics simply exist and quite a few notable fantasy-related plot twists feel like they just kind of happen or circumstantially fit, lacking proper foreshadowing or setup to make the surprises work. Perhaps this may sound critical considering this book’s primary intent is a character story about grief and moving forward in life rather than a SFF one, but with so many of the book’s pages in a fairly short novel devoted to its fantasy elements, I would expect it to be a bit more polished. Or really, additional pages or slowing down the pacing a bit could’ve helped substantially. And though it’s not necessarily a fault of the book given its target YA readership, it’s worth noting that this book reads quite young despite including lightly discussed adult content. Between its characters that have appropriate but quite juvenile character logic, thematic discussions that get the job done but lack additional depth, and the overall limited level of detail, this is a YA book that likely won’t satisfy older readers.

Overall, as a heartfelt and hopeful journey of healing from the paralysis of grief, Find My Way Down to You is a success. Comforting, wholesome, and well‑pitched for YA readers, the book explores difficult topics in a soft, safe, and warm way with a nice flourish of fantasy elements to support it. Julian Winters is an author I’ve heard a lot of good things about and whose books I’ve been wanting to read for quite some time, but admittedly this one wasn’t my cup of tea despite its great premise. While sincere and having the best intentions, unfortunately this book can feel a bit lacking for mature readers due to its limited depth and serviceable, yet lackluster execution of its mythical fantasy ideas. However, for readers looking for a romantic story revolving around grief that is accessible and optimistic, this is a fine one to go with.