Roger Hyttinen

I just finished another book on my TBR pile that I loved so I thought I’d share it with you. First off, let me admit that I have a bit of a weakness for the M/M stories where ” the Jock and the Nerd” get together. Guess that goes back to some very fond High School memories on my part involving my jock neighbor and myself – but that’s another story for another time.

So back to Frat Boy and Toppy, the title of the novel I’m about to discuss. This is the first book I’ve read by Anne Tenino and after this one, it will not be my last. The hero of our story, Brad, is a Frat Boy and football jock at college who slowly discovers that there seems to be something missing in his relationships with women. He then, to his initial horror, begins have locker room dreams and fantasies about hot naked men. He can no longer deny what he has suspected all along – he is gay.

He then develops a more than casual interest in Sebastian, the hot geeky Teaching Assistant in his history class. In fact, Brad determines that Sebastian is exactly his type. Luckily for Brad, it was a well known fact on campus that Sebastian is gay. So when a nervous and somewhat timid Brad approaches Sebastian and lets him know that he is attracted to him, Sebastian, not one to turn down the advances of a sexy young jock, takes Brad home with him for a night of lust. Sebastian doesn’t find out until they are in the middle of things that it was Brad’s first sexual experience but the evening turned out well for all involved.

What follows is a wonderfully sweet and sexy story of Brad’s sexual awakening and coming out. I was worried at first that this might be a “gay for you” type of story but after Brad’s first sexual experience, he was quite confident in his sexuality. In fact, after their first encounter, the two pretty much had sex whenever they could. Now I will say that typically, I am somewhat turned off by M/M books that have one sex scene after another once the main characters get together. It often seems in these cases that the plot line just drops away completely and the rest of the story is just sex, sex and more sex. I often find myself skimming through the sex scenes after awhile (this is just my preference – I know a lot of reader enjoy lots of sex in their stories). While there are certainly no shortage of sex scenes between Brad and Sebastian, I did not find myself skipping through them at all – in fact, I may have even re-read a few of them. Not only were they hot, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the smaller, leaner, more bookish Sebastian ended up taking the dominant role during sex. It was refreshing to have an author break the Jock/Dom stereotype. The sex scenes were extremely well-written, sweet and sexy and I felt that each one added something to the plot of the novel.

Inevitably, the relationship between Brad and Sebastian deepens and it finally reaches a turning point when Brad, now confident in what he is – and what and who he wants – declares his love for Sebastian. But does Sebastian feel the same? While I won’t tell you how it all plays out, I will say that I found it refreshing that the timid “jock” who had just come out of the closet ended up being much more emotionally mature and together than the sexually experienced Sebastian.

The supporting characters – his roommate Colin, his straight friend Kyle and recently ex-girlfriend Ashley were wonderful additions to the story and it was a delight to see the support they gave to Brad upon his coming out. One of my favorite scenes in the book is when Brad comes out to his entire frat at a frat house meeting!

I found all of the characters to be well-developed, strong and exceptionally likeable, especially Brad. Frat Boy and Toppy is a sweet love story with plenty of wit, humor and of course, hot sex. Recommended!

I belong to a few book clubs on Goodreads and one of the monthly reads was a YA book entitled Gives Light by Rose Christo.  I often enjoy reading YA novels and I was not disappointed by this one.

The hero of our story is 16-year-old Skylar St. Clair, half white and half Native American who is not your typical teenage boy.  He was almost killed when his throat was cut by his mother’s murderer 11 years ago and the attack left him physically unable to speak.  Thus, we follow the story through Skylar’s thoughts (which are often clever, witty and laugh-out-loud funny) and his interactions with others. He lives with his mysterious father and during this particular summer, his father fails to return home.  Skylar find himself placed on the Nettlebush Indian Reservation is the custody of his only living relative – his estranged Grandmother (but never call her Granny!), whom he has never met until now.  On the reservation, he connects with his people and his roots as learns the customs of his tribe (the Shoshone).  Here, Skylar discovers an entirely new side of himself and finally seems to find his place in the world.

But the story is a much more complicated than that.  Shortly after his arrival at the reservation, Skylar meets a brooding, moody young man named Rafael who most of the people on the reservation tend to either dislike or fear.  Skylar feels a flash of recognition when they meet and he soon realizes why: Rafael is the son of the man who murdered his mother.  But even though they should be enemies, Skylar finds himself gravitating towards the surly young man and soon they develop an unlikely friendship. Through Rafael, Skylar learns the truth behind his mother’s murder and his own attack.  As the story progresses, we learn much more about Rafael’s past and understand that he carries his own scars from the horrific events in his life and his fear that he will turn out to be *his father’s son*.  A mystery also begins to unfold as the author brings to light the reason for the disappearance of Skylar’s father, why the FBI keeps showing up on Skylar’s doorstep and the truth about what really happened 11 years ago.

What follows is a tender yet intense coming of age story of first love as Skylar and Rafael slowly discover — then accept — their growing attraction to each other. But the book is much more that a simple love story.  It is a novel about innocence, forgiveness, revenge and the scars we carry both on the inside and on the outside.  It’s a story of acceptance and the importance of the connection we make with our community — and how important it is not to judge others based upon outward appearances for there is always so much more beneath the surface.

While heartbreaking in some places, I’m pleased to say that the book is not “angsty”(a genre that I’m not particularly fond of) and is actually a sweet and beautifully written story combining romance, excellent character development all wrapped up in a mystery that slowly unravels as the story progresses.  After reading this novel, I learned that it is part of a 4 book series and I can’t wait to continue with the next book.  Now if you’re looking for a hot, steamy, M/M romance, you won’t find it here (remember – YA novel).  Instead, you will find an emotional yet gripping story of the unlikely friendship — then romance — of two boys with scarred and painful pasts.  Again, it’s not a dark story, but rather a heartfelt, upbeat one with rich, well-developed characters and a compelling plot.  I think that Gives Light is very likely the best novel I have read in along time and in my humble opinion, is not to be missed.

I give it 5 speechless stars out of 5!

Not too long ago, I read a book entitled Woke Up in a Strange Place by Eric Arvin and I loved it so much that I simply had to check out this author’s other work. I decided to start with SubSurdity: Vignettes from Jasper Lane and what a hoot!

Jasper Lane appears to be a typical middle-class neighborhood complete with manicured lawns and manicured wives. However, once we go behind the scenes and meet the residents of Jasper Lane, we quickly discover that Jasper Lane is anything but typical. We meet all sorts of zany and complicated characters:

• Religious fanatic Melinda Gold and her “flatulent” mother (who is even more of a religious kook than Melinda)
• Melinda’s son Patrick who is suffocating from his mother’s oppressive rules religious views – and starts working for neighbor Cassie Bloom
• Cassie Bloom who throws porn parties to which the entire neighborhood is invited to attend and who may or may not have murdered her husband (and buried him in the back yard)
• Vera, a transexual club owner
• The sexy UPS man who ran into an issue with his Prince Albert and another man’s lip ring
• Rick Cooper – a one-eyed gay man who has the hots for an ex-army neighbor, James
• James, who really needs to come out of the closet
• Rick’s gay roomates David and Terrance
• Cliff, David’s muscled-by-steroids boyfriend who is also a porn star
• Terrance, a somewhat effeminate gay man who discovers that he has a 17-year old son – and his son wants to meet him
• Sandy and Steve Jones who at at first glance, appear to be the most “normal” couple on the block….but not for long.
• And of course gayhound, the gay dog

I can’t begin to describe how much fun this zany book was. I laughed out loud many, many times while reading and ended up absorbing all 200 pages in one sitting – I simply could not put it down.

While the characters and the situations portrayed in the book are hilarously over-the-top, this quirky novel does make a biting commentary about the crazy suburbinization of our society as well as how extreme beliefs can alienate you from others.

This talented author not only pens a fantastic tale, he does so with wit, style and elegance. The novel reminded me a tad of Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City” series with perhaps a bit of influence from Desperate Housewives. My only disappointment with this book was that it eventually came to an end. Luckily for me, I learned that there is a sequel!

Recommended – I give this book 5 zany, romping stars out of 5!!