You're quite right to remind me that some of the readers and reviewers on amazon are very young - and, in any case, we can't all like the same books! Your last paragraph is a great warning/advice to us aspiring authors, too.

But I do think there is a difference between a character being likable and lovable. Really, I just wanted to emphasize that I found both Nick and Cal lovable even though they might initially be hard to like.

Sorry it took me so long to respond - I seem to have pulled a muscle (getting better now) and literally couldn't sit at the computer for two days. I couldn't sit down! Can you imagine?