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Review of Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

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Darius the great is not okay cover imageI went into this book knowing pretty much nothing about it and was an amazing read it turned out to be.

Enter Darius

Darius the Great Is Not Okay follows Darius, a friendless, tea-obsessed clinically-depressed, half-Persian, half-American teen who refers to himself as a “Fractional Persian”; that is to say, he isn’t all that connected to his Persian family or culture, he doesn’t feel like a very good Persian; hell, even his little sister speaks better Farsi than he does.

Darius is nerdy and awkward, terrible at sports and feels as though he doesn’t really fit in anywhere. At school, he is the chubby loner who is a prime target for bullies.

Enter the Übermensch

It doesn’t help that Darius also has a super-critical disapproving father who has taken on the task of monitoring and making snide comments about every bite of food Darius puts into his mouth, continually reminding the boy that he needs to lose weight. It’s interesting how Darius always refers to his father by his first and last name: Stephen Kellner said this, Stephen Kellner said that. Another favorite name Darius has for this father is übermensch, given that Stephen Kellner is a handsome blond German who, in Darius’s eyes, seems to be the perfect idealized man.

But overall, Darius feels that he is a huge disappointment to his father and the way he sees it, his father makes no effort to hide that disappointment. The one thing that both Darius and his father have in common, however, is that they both need to take daily medication, so their depression doesn’t get out of hand.

A trip to Iran

Darius’s life changes when he’s told that he’s going to be taking a trip to Iran for the first time with his mom, dad and sister to meet his mother’s family, including grandparents that up to this point, he has only known via Skype. The reason for the trip is that his grandfather, Babou, has a brain tumor and doesn’t have much time left.

I think this was the first book that I’ve read that was set in Iran, so I really appreciated learning about the Persian culture and the vivid descriptions of the food, historical landmarks, and customs. I especially enjoyed the peppering of Farsi throughout the story.

Darius’s first friend

In Iran, Darius meets a boy named Sohrab, a neighbor boy who is quite close to Darius’s grandparents and everything changes. First off, Sohrab convinces Darius to play soccer with him, and his friends and Darius is surprised that he actually likes it — and is even more surprised to discover that he’s quite good at it! Then, they visit various historical landmarks together, and through Sohrab, Darius learns more about his heritage, and he begins to feel like a true Persian for the very first time. Sohrab even calls his Darioush – the original Persian version of his name.

Darius soon discovers that he can not only confide in Sohrab, but Sohrab seems to actually understand him, perhaps being the only person in Darius’s life who does. He also makes Darius feel included, like he belongs. But most importantly, Sohrab helps him to realize his self-worth and helps him to accept who he is.

Darius and Sohrab

I enjoyed the well-written portrayal of the many relationships in this book, but Darius and Sohrab have the most heartwarming friendship that I’ve come across. It was a delight watching them grow closer and as got to know each other. In the beginning, we saw as Darius struggled with body image issues and mental health issues, but as his relationship with Sohrab deepened, we see him begin to embrace his cultural roots and accept himself for who he is.

It was quite an emotional journey that Darius went on and a fun one for the reader to experience.

The Importance of Family and Friends

One of the consistent themes running throughout this book was the importance of family and friends. Family seemed to be especially important, especially since it plays such an essential part of Darius connecting with his Persian heritage. But moreover, it was beautiful to see Darius bond with his Persian grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, all of whom he’d never met in person.

But aside from the friendship between Darius and Sohrab, my favorite relationship in the book was the fragile connection between Darius and his father. Even though they both lived with depression, Darius didn’t feel at all that close with his father. In fact, their relationship was frosty, tense and fraught with miscommunication, and the only closeness between the two of them really was when they silently watched Star Trek together every evening.

But then, they both begin to view each other in different ways, and both start to understand that things are not always as we perceive them. I love the fact that being in Iran in Yzad not only brought Darius to self-acceptance but also helped mend the relationship between him and his father and illustrated nicely how our assumptions can often cause us to mistrust and misunderstand others.

Depression Representation

I really liked the representation of clinical depression in this book. We learn early on that Darius and his father both are living with depression, though it isn’t central to the plot. But there are several touching and poignant discussions on mental health, and through these conversations, the characters acknowledge how challenging it can be to manage clinical depression but that it can, ultimately, be controlled.

It was refreshing to see depression discussed so openly between family members and I thought that the mental health elements were handled expertly which isn’t surprising once we learn in the author’s note that this is an #ownvoices representation.

Verdict

Darius the Great Is Not Okay is an emotionally compelling story that deals with many serious topics: clinical depression, feeling like you don’t belong, cultural and personal identity, feeling that you’re not good enough, grief, friendship, our bonds with others and the strained relationship between a father and son who are unable to communicate with each other. But most of all, this was a lovely coming of age book about a boy reconnecting with his Persian heritage and discovering himself in the process — and realizing that in fact, he DOES belong. Darius is such a unique and relatable protagonist, and you couldn’t help fall in love with him.

The other characters in the book were equally amazing and equally complex. I enjoyed delving into this big Persian family as they learn to accept and understand each other and it was refreshing to see that they all had various flaws and imperfections, but loved each other nonetheless.

So all in all, Darius the Great Is Not Okay is a story with memorable and endearing characters that is full of heart and I absolutely loved it.

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Review of Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

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Warbreaker“My life to yours. My Breath becomes yours.” 

The Story

Warbreaker is a story that follows two sisters who are princesses, a handful of mercenaries, a powerful, deadly yet mysterious warrior, a flippant atheist god who seems to take nothing seriously, a group of other gods and goddesses all of whom have returned from the dead and finally, the God King of this world — the ultimate ruler.

The two kingdoms in this story are Idris, from where the two princesses come and Halladren, ruled by the silent yet powerful and fearsome God King. These two cities have been barely tolerating each other for three centuries.

Now the King of Idris needs to make good on his daughter’s marriage contract; you see, one of his daughters has been promised to the God King with the goal being to produce an heir to the God King while maintaining the peace treaty between the two nations. But things turn out a little differently than expected when one daughter is on route to Halladren to marry the God King and the other has undertaken a personal rescue mission to save her sister from the horrid ruler.

The rest of the story takes place in Halladren, where we’re introduced to living gods called The Returned because they have returned from the dead. Every once in a while, someone comes back from the dead and when they do, they are then worshipped as Gods.

We’re also introduced to the system of magic called Breaths revolving around breath and colors. A breath is a chromatic essence of a person – like part of the soul — and each person is born with one breath, which can be given by one person and taken by another. The person who gives away his or her breath then becomes a “drab,” in which the world appears gray and pretty much colorless. The person receiving the breath is bestowed with heightened senses in which they’re able to discern subtle distinctions of color and sound. They are also infused with magic, making them capable of animating objects such as clothing, rope, dead squirrels and even little men made of straw and commanding them to do your bidding. This system is called Awakening, and a person needs a lot of Breath to perform an Awakening.

There’s also the mysterious Vasher to whom we’re introduced immediately in the first chapter, and he repeatedly appears throughout the book. The thing is, is that we have no idea who he is or what he’s up to. Is he trying to assassinate someone? Start a war? The more he appears, the more is revealed.

As political chaos, conspiracies, backstabbing, and unrest in the streets begins brewing, we learn that someone is indeed trying to start a war and it’s up to only a few people to prevent it: a god who doesn’t believe in his own divinity, a princess who overnight become unimportant, another princess who overnight become all-important, an immortal wielding a sentient dagger whose primary goal is to kill evil, and the God King himself.

What I Liked

Given that magic system in this story revolves around colors, it’s no surprise that Warbreaker is a book vivid and vibrant with colors. I found it easy to picture the scenes in my head, and the lush descriptions really helped to give the novel a strong sense of place.

Additionally, the plotting and world-building were outstanding. In this story, Sanderson gives us a rich world filled with riveting history and mythology, fascinating politics, an intriguing mystery and numerous twists resulting in a truly immersive read. I especially enjoyed the political system in which the common people actually interacted one-on-one with the gods.

The gods themselves were also captivating, and I found it interesting how they remembered nothing from their past lives after they were “Returned” so in essence, they had to reinvent themselves when they began their second life. I loved the whole concept of “The Returned” and found it fresh and original. I also thought that the mythology surrounding the Court of Gods and the God King was utterly fascinating and would have loved to have learned more about them.

But the real treasures of this story were the rich, vivid and life-like characters:

  • We have two princesses, Vivenna and Siri, who couldn’t be more different personality-wise, and both of whom grew enormously throughout the arc of the story
  • A witty, sarcastic and irreverent god named Lightsong the Bold (my personal favorite character) — a multi-layered hero who doesn’t believe in his own divinity and whose main goal is to be as lazy and useless as possible
  • Denth and Tonk Fah, two tremendously humorous mercenaries who popped into Vivenna’s life
  • Vasher, the deadly and enigmatic warrior
  • Nightblood, Vasher’s sentient talking sword who has one role: to destroy evil, though given that it’s is only a sword, its concept of evil is a tad cloudy, so it simply sets out to destroy everything
  • Susebron the holy and majestic God King who we know nothing about until his personality slowly begins to unfold
  • And the numerous other gods, goddesses and high priests, all of whom were entertaining with distinct, well-developed personalities.

The character development in the book was terrific, especially with Siri, Vivenna, and Lightsong. It was fun seeing their growth as the tale progressed.

I thought there was a lot more humor in this book than in the other Sanderson novels I’ve read and caught myself laughing out loud several times during the story. Lightsong’s witty and wry humor was particularly fun, especially during his exchanges with the other Returned. I also enjoyed the endless banter between the two male mercenaries and even the exchanges between Vasher and his deadly talking sword were often amusing.

As is the case with other Brandon Sanderson novels, the magic system in Warbreaker, which uses a combination of breath and color to bring objects to life, was phenomenal. There were some fascinating scenes involving animated objects and zombie-like characters. The author certainly has a knack for creating creative magic systems that are intricate, clever, unique yet easy for the reader to comprehend.

Additionally, I liked the idea that magic is costly and not easy to master. I also liked how everyone has the potential to do magic in this world and not just a select few — it all depends on how many breaths you can gather up. The more breaths a person acquires, the longer they live and the more magic they can do. It’s also worth noting that a breath cannot be taken forcefully — it must be given freely.

What I Didn’t Like

Susbron, the God King, remained pretty much a mystery through to the end of the story. We learned a little bit about him but not nearly enough to be satisfying. I wish the author would have delved a little more deeply into his story and history. Likewise, I wish he had gone a little more into the history of the Manywar, the Returned and the Court of Gods.

The book also took a while to get going. My experience with Brandon Sanderson novels has shown me that they’re often slow-starting as the author spends a good portion of the book on world-building as the characters and story begin to take shape. So in this way, the middle dragged a bit. However, I felt the slow-buildup was totally worth it as the story took off like a bullet during the last 20% or so of the book.

Final Verdict

I really didn’t have any niggles with this and ended up loving it. Like the other Sanderson books that I’ve read, the world in Warbreaker is infused with a captivating magic system, compelling political scheming and plotting, unique and interesting religions and such rich history and mythology that I couldn’t help but fall in love with this novel. Sanderson expertly intertwines religion, culture, mythology, and history into a genuinely compelling narrative.

There were so many interesting themes that ran throughout the novel: religion, sacrifice, bravery, intolerance, self-discovery, compassion, empathy, and redemption. It also has an excellent cast of believable characters, a plausible world, an intriguing political system, and a thoroughly satisfying ending. I loved this epic, compelling, complex story of Siri, Vivenna, Lightsong, Vasher, and Susebron as they struggle through emotional, physical, and moral challenges. The intrigue and excitement grow steadily resulting in a perfectly balanced story which by the end, proved to be difficult for me to put down. All in all, a tremendous book that I absolutely loved.

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Review of Perfect Ten by L. Philips

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Perfect ten book coverPerfect Ten follows Sam Raines, who after having broken up with boyfriend Landon, two years prior, is lonely. He’s ready to find a new boyfriend, but that’s not an easy task given that there’s only one other gay kid at his school that he knows of. His best friend Meg, who is a Wiccan, offers to perform a love spell for Sam. All he has to do is make a list of the top ten traits that he wasn’t his new boy to have and then petition the Goddess.

Now Sam is not a believer in Meg’s religion but decides to give a go, figuring his love life could use all the help it can get. So in a midnight cemetery ritual involving candles, the elements and a spell recited in Latin, Sam burns his list, thus sending out his intent to the universe. Much to Sam’s surprise, the spell seems to have worked — but not quite in the way he’d hoped. Instead of bringing one perfect guy to his doorstep, the spell brings three of them. There’s Gus, the debonair and swoon-worthy new French exchange student; Travis, the super-sexy and flirtatious bisexual rockstar with a huge heart; and Jamie, the adorable angelic-looking artist whose face lights up every time he sees Sam. Oh, and there’s also Sam’s ex-boyfriend Landon who still seems to hold a special place in Sam’s heart causing Sam much confusion.

As it turns out, all of them make a play for Sam’s heart, and now all Sam has to do is choose.

What I Liked

First off, I love the cover. It was eye-catching, aesthetically pleasing and super-cute, letting us know that we’re in store for a sweet and fluffy read.

I was in the mood for something that wasn’t too heavy, and this book fit the bill. It was a fun blend of teen romance with a tad of magical realism thrown in resulting in a swoony young adult romantic comedy. It was fun journeying along with Sam who, wanting to explore his options, struggled to choose a new boyfriend from several equally charming contenders. But of course, it’s not as easy as it sounds leading to much drama and both romantic and sexual tension, all of which renders the story compelling.

For the most part, I liked Sam’s character though there’s no denying that he is flawed like the rest of us and ends up making some stupid mistakes. But he felt realistic to me. He was so caught up in the idea that he now had romantic options that he felt that is was okay to “date around” a bit until he made his decision. Not surprisingly, Sam learned that not everyone was okay with this. Lesson learned. But still — I found it refreshing and fun to read a story featuring a teen who had multiple suitors.

I liked the secondary cast of characters and also found them relatable. I especially enjoyed the friendship between Sam, Landon, and Meg and felt that the events in their relationship demonstrated the ups and downs of friendship nicely, especially how loyalties become tested from time to time. I felt that Landon and Meg were believable, well-developed characters, both of which I could relate to. I also liked how Meg’s and Sam’s dating life and romantic interests led to several interesting and frank discussions about love and sex.

Additionally, I felt the magical realism aspect of the story really lent a feeling of fun and intrigue to the story. Truth be told, it was the magical realism aspect of the story that caused me to pick it up. I liked the premise of high school kids do a spell, the spell works and they have to deal with the fallout and learn lessons in the process.

That being said, I did like the inclusion of Wicca in the story and thought that the author did an excellent job of representing Meg and her involvement with the Wiccan religion in a respectful way. This was especially evident when Meg, explaining her religion says:

“The great thing about Wicca is that you don’t need to use any fancy spells or words if you don’t want to. You just have to speak from the heart.”*

On that same note, I did enjoy the representation in the book. We had several gay characters and at least one bisexual character. I also loved how much of the story focused on art. Sam was a writer (though I don’t recall him having actually written anything), Travis was a musician, and Jamie was an artist, and it was through their creativity they all connected, which really resonated with me.

I thought the ending was well done and enjoyed how it all turned out, especially given that there was a huge “fake-out” at the end. The conclusion was romantic and satisfying, with a HEA.

What I Didn’t Like

One of the main things that I disliked was how the French foreign exchange student’s dialog was written phonetically. I hate it when authors try to write an accent or a dialect in this way, and it rarely works. It certainly didn’t here, and I found it super annoying. I also felt that the author resorted to negative stereotypes in the portrayal of Gus, portraying him more like a French caricature than a person.

While I did find Sam likable (mostly), there were some things about his character that bothered me. He was at times almost over-the-top shallow and self-centered, and he struck me being oblivious to the feelings of others. He often didn’t treat the people in his life all that well. I recall a couple of scenes in the book in which he shames Meg into not losing her virginity with her boyfriend though he regularly had sex with Landon while they were dating. I felt he could as supported her a little better and at times, he didn’t feel like he was a very good friend.

Okay, maybe it’s just me, but I’m surprised that nobody had an issue with 21-year-old Travis trying to get 17-year-old Sam in bed. In fact, just about every conversation between Travis and Sam revolved around sex. I just found it surprising that none of Sam’s friends took issue with Travis’s age, especially considering that it is illegal in most states for an adult to have sex with someone who’s underage.

Verdict

In spite of our main character being a tad bit too self-centered, I thought that Perfect Ten was a sweet, lighthearted gay romance that I overall enjoyed. In fact, I read the book in a couple of sittings because I couldn’t put it down, so that says something about its strength as a story. I especially enjoyed the heart-warming conclusion that gives you all the right feels so in this way, it was quite an engaging story. I probably would give this one 3.5 stars.

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Review of Summoned to Thirteenth Grave by Darynda Jones

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Summoned to thirteenth grave coverI was so excited when I received an Advanced Reader Copy of Summoned to Thirteenth Grave. This is the thirteenth and final book in the Charley Davidson series and I’ve followed this series since 2011 when Darynda Jones published the first book in the series entitled “First Grave on the Right.” Seven years I’ve been with these characters and the dreaded day finally arrived when I would have to say farewell to them, once and for all.

This series follows Charlotte Davidson AKA Charley Davidson who sees dead people and it’s up to her to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances — like murder for instance — they sometimes want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. She has her own investigation business but as it often turns out, most of her clients are the dearly departed.

As the series progresses and the tale unfolds, we meet all manner of interesting characters: ghosts, demons, angels and even Gods and the main characters of our story have all sorts of surprising secrets — some of which the characters aren’t even aware of themselves!

Now you may think that the series sounds spooky — and I guess it can be. But these books are filled to the brim with humor and snarky comments which at times, caused me to laugh so hard that tears were running down my face. In fact, a couple of times my partner would look at me while I was in the throes of hysterical laughter and ask,

“Are you reading Charley Davidson again?”

 “Why yes. Yes, I am.

Now there is so much more to this story than a young woman who sees ghosts — hell, it took 13 books to tell this tale — so I can’t say too much about it since I don’t want to ruin anything for those of you who haven’t read it. Let me just say that the author did an excellent job of wrapping up this series. At the end, it felt like I was saying goodbye and farewell to much beloved old friends.

This last book was phenomenal and I really, really hated to see it end. This is probably my all time favorite series and this is one that I may even consider rereading. Heck, I actually pretty certain that I’ll reread it at some point.

So if you follow the series, know that this final book will be released in January of 2019 and it is a very satisfying conclusion to the series.

If you haven’t yet discovered Charley Davidson and if the premise intrigues you, then you’ll want to start with the first book “First Grave on the Right”. It’s the perfect time to dive in as you won’t have to wait for the next book in the series. They’re all finished. Let me tell you, it was hell each year waiting for the next book to come out.

I don’t really need to say that I gave this book five stars. A huge, grateful thank you to St. Martin’s press and Darynda Jones for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy.

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Review of The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein

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Trauma cleaner book coverThe Trauma Cleaner is part memoir, part biography that follows a transgender woman named Sandra Pankhurst, owner of a trauma cleaning business. What Sandra and her crew of cleaners do, is to enter the properties of suicide victims, murder victims, hoarders, and drug addicts and cleans them up. In this book, we follow along with the Sandra and the author as we enter a few of these sites and some of the descriptions thereof are pretty horrendous.

The book provides vivid descriptions of people, many of them hoarders, living in feces-invested homes with rats, roaches, flies, rotting food, mold-lined walls, rotted floors, and nearly unbearable stench, all of which the author witnessed firsthand as she accompanied Sandra and her crew to various scenes over a four year period. But in addition to cleaning up, Sandra enters into the lives of the occupants, gently leading them and guiding them to hopefully a better way of living, away from the hoarding and the filth. As she does so, we get to hear the stories of the some of the hoarders all of which I found quite fascinating.

But this isn’t just a look at the business of trauma cleaning, though that part is quite interesting. The Trauma Cleaner is also about Sandra’s personal life in which we learn that she began life as a boy named Peter and during her childhood, suffered horribly at the hands of an alcoholic and abusive father. It’s in these personal stories where we follow Sandra’s struggle with gender identity as she moves from suffering at the hands of abusive parents to her estrangement from her children as well as all of her friends after her transitioning process.

As Sandra’s personal history unfolds for us, we witness harrowing events such as her life as a child during which she was beaten, starved, ignored and forced to live in a shack outside of her home; the time she spent as a prostitute; a shocking event where she was beaten, raped and nearly murdered by a client; and the night that the person with whom she was in love with was brutally murdered right in front of her. She has also had to endure much transphobic abuse and hostility surrounding her transition.

Sandra’s story is truly fascinating as she has gone through more ups and downs than most of us can even begin to imagine. In fact, some of the events of our life seem so far out there, that part of the story read more like a fiction novel than a biography.

What I liked

Though Sandra had gone through more than her fair share of hardship, her story is also an inspiring one. It’s a story of a strong woman who overcame one difficult situation after another by sheer force of will and through it all, held on to her dignity. So in this way, Sandra Pankhurst is quite an admirable person, and I loved the way she reinvented herself over and over again. The author painted a mesmerizing portrait of a woman’s bizarre life and did so in a way that allowed me, as a reader, to empathize and connect with Sandra.

I also enjoyed how multi-faceted and complex of a person Sandra is. The blurb for the book describes her as a husband, father, drag queen, sex worker, and wife. We cannot forget that she is additionally a successful entrepreneur and a trauma cleaner so, in this way, she is indeed a woman of many guises.

I found both Sandra’s personal story and the brief peek into her life as a trauma cleaner to be utterly fascinating, and it held me captive until the end of the book. I thought the author did an excellent job of presenting and balancing Sandra’s business with her clients with her personal history, and I think that Sandra may be the most compelling person that I’ve ever read about. By shifting the narrative back and forth between Sandra’s trauma cleaning business and her history, we begin to get a glimpse of those events which brought her to the current place in her life.

Additionally fascinating was the peek into the lives of the hoarders. What I found surprising, was how hoarding does not discriminate on the basis of income or intelligence but rather, hoarders can be anyone from a drug addict to someone holding a Ph.D.

I enjoyed reading the narratives of the hoarders and learning how they ended up in their current situation. Reading some of these accounts certainly has caused me to think about ways of making my own life more uncluttered.

What I Didn’t Like

Initially, I was a bit confused by the book. The name of the book is “The Trauma Cleaner” so I went into this book assuming that the focus was going to be on the trauma cleaning and the intricacies involved with it. In actuality, the book touched very little on the “trauma” aspect of Sandra’s business and mostly focused on her past life. The few trauma scenes that we did experience were told through the observations of the author. I would have preferred more client stories and more trauma site anecdotes. Thus, if you’re expecting to learn about the trauma cleaning business and all that’s involved with it, this isn’t the book you’re looking for.

Additionally, we are told that Sandra is an unreliable source as there are huge gaps in her memory mostly likely due to years of drugs, hormones, alcohol, and exposure to chemical cleaning supplies necessary for her business. So I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the events in the book actually happened and how much was just speculation on the part of the author. In this way, I’m a bit dubious about many of the events as presented in the book and couldn’t help but wonder to what extent they were embellished. Though to be fair, I’m typically not a fan of unreliable narrators.

Verdict

All in all, The Trauma Cleaner was an engaging, mesmerizing and poignant look at the life of a fascinating person. The book was humorous in some places, heart-breaking in others but through it all, the author painted for us a portrait of a strong, admirable and resilient woman who chose to live life on her own terms.

Though I was a bit disappointed initially after having realized that trauma cleaning was not the focus book, I ended up truly enjoying this unique and engaging biography about human survival, loneliness, pain, loss and ultimately, triumph. It is an emotional and sometimes shocking story about an extraordinary life, and I’m so glad that I read this creative book. Recommended!

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Review of The Evolution of Jeremy Warsh by Jess Moore

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Evolution of jeremy warsh book coverThe Evolution of Jeremy Warsh takes place in the late 1990s and follows Jeremy Warsh, a high school senior and artist who, ever since his grandpa passed away, has put aside his comic art and not touched it. Because he and his mom are struggling financially, Jeremy doesn’t count on going to college but instead, expects a boring life of drudgery.

Then things begin to slowly change for Jeremy. His best friend Kasey comes out of the closet, he receives an unexpected gift from his father and his other friend Stuart begins dating. Inspired by his friends, Jeremy picks up his pencil and starts drawing again, creating a sassy, wise-cracking, no-nonsense, in-your-face character he named Penny Kind. What’s special about Penny, however, is that she speaks to him — literally — and is not afraid to expect and demand more from him than he’s currently giving. That is to say, she holds him accountable for all of his actions and inactions, causing him to continually reevaluate his life and his decisions.

This is especially true after he kisses a boy at a party and he begins to question everything he thought he knew about himself as new and confusing feelings surface. I really enjoyed how Jeremy’s art not only helps him cope with his problems and insecurities but also shows him ways to overcome them, opening his eyes to the different paths available to him.

It was so much fun journeying along with Jeremy as he experienced the ups and downs of life in high school: dealing with high school bullies, facing an uncertain future, finding his place in the world, feeling like an outsider, supporting his friends, supporting his family and discovering and accepting his emerging sexuality. I found him to be not only a lovable and empathetic character but also a wonderfully relatable and memorable one who revealed more and more of himself as his understanding of the bigger world around him unfolded.

Additionally, the diverse cast of secondary characters in the book is truly delightful. These are characters who not only amuse and entertain us but also touch us, and prompt us to think about who we are and how we want to live our lives. Jess Moore really seems to understand the teenage soul — the doubt, the uncertainty, the longing, the self-awareness, the challenges and the confusion and in so doing ended up creating a believable world with plenty of heart.

I also thought the burgeoning romance in the story between Jeremy and Matt was soft, gentle and well drawn. I liked the fact that it was slow and not at all rushed, resulting in a sweet and heartwarming affection that didn’t take away from the rest of the story. It was fun, however, to see Jeremey move from a place of doubt and confusion to a place of acceptance and certainty.

This feel-good story has everything you need for the perfect high school senior story: a tight group of witty and charming friends, a zombie homecoming dance, a high school senior identity crisis, an ultra-cool mom, a will they/won’t they romance, and that somewhat melancholy high that comes with endings and new beginnings. All in all, a delightful story!

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