Roger's Reads – Page 55 – Author & Book Reviewer

Review of Battledoors: The Golden Slate by Brian Wilkinson

March 1, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I’m always a sucker for a story that takes place in or is tied to a bookstore which is exactly where Battledoors: The Golden Slate starts out.

The Blurb for the book is as follows:

Life constantly seems to be wavering between really good and really bad for Owen, a lonely sixteen-year-old still reeling from the unexpected death of his mother and a fresh move to Toronto. After ducking into an old bookstore to escape high school bullies, Owen discovers that he can travel to a parallel, twisted version of the city with a magical tablet called a Battledoor, where he encounters new allies, bizarre creatures, and the ultimate antagonist who will stop at nothing to procure the magical Golden Slate for himself.

Forced to work together with friends and enemies in order to return home, Owen is faced with a series of choices that will prompt him to find courage he never knew he had, explore the possibility of romance, and try to find a way to let go of his painful past and move on. But is Owen ready to finally take control, and become the protagonist of his own story?

The Protagonist and The Bully

The tale revolves around Owen, a high school student living in Toronto who is being bullied by an abrasive sociopath named James Vanier and his mute pal Lucas (though referred to as mute, I don’t think he really was as he did speak a time or two during the story). Up until this point, the bullying consisted of verbal abuse and some beatings. This morning, however, things seemed to take a darker turn as James pursued Owen with the clear intention of stabbing him. From James’s thoughts, it becomes clear to the reader that there is indeed a dark side to this young man – the word “broken” comes to mind.

Introducing: The Battledoor

Pursued by James and Lucas, Owen along with two high school friends Emily and Bea dash into an old bookstore hoping to lose them. While in the bookstore, Owen is attracted to an item called a Battledoor, which is a tablet-like device which the bookstore owner describes as a book where the reader chooses his or her own adventure by making a series of decisions. The owner of the bookstore gives the tablet to Owen and to Emily and Bea, he gives corresponding hornbooks.

James and Lucas discover their hiding place and burst into the bookstore. James attacks the store owner and amiss the confusion, Owen activates the device. Once he does so, a temporary door appears in the bookstore through which Owen, Emily, Bea, James and Lucas all go. They find themselves outdoors in an alley, and it only takes them a moment to realize that they are no longer in Toronto but in some sort of alternate universe . . .and thus the adventure begins.

The Doors

Through every world, there are a series of doors that lead to an unknown destination but one thing we can be certain of: there will always be a battle of some kind to be fought (hence the name “Battledoor”). Owen is typically given two choices such as “Fairies” or “Furies”. As we quickly learn, the most innocuous sounding choice is not always the best one.

The Story

The story had kind of a Jumanji feeling to it, where the characters are playing a game with real-life consequences — or perhaps “Ready Player One” in which the characters enter into a video game. Regardless, Battledoor: The Golden Slate is a fast-paced rollercoaster ride of an adventure story, and I loved the idea of not knowing what lies around the next corner. There are plently of surprises along the way. We also met some very zany characters and unique creatures along the way, including. . .

The Villian

In the Battledoor world, Owen is known as “The Protagonist”, which makes sense, giving that he is the hero of the store in which he and his friends are trapped. But as there is a protagonist in every story, there also needs to be an antagonist. Though we may have initially suspected that James would end up being the villain in this story, he is not (although I’m guessing he still could go either way). There is, however, a perfectly terrifying and sinister villain who goes by the name of Vellum whose main goal is to — you guessed it — kill the protagonist.

My Only Niggle

Perhaps the only drawback to Battledoor: The Golden Slate is that it’s not a complete story. That is to say, the book ends with an unsatisfying cliffhanger, which is something I personally dislike. But there are a lot of books out there with series cliffhangers that generate 5-star reviews so apparently many people aren’t bothered by them. So as you enter into this story, know that you’ll need to purchase the next book in the series in order to find out what happens next.

But I will say that those who do buy this book will most likely rush out to get the next one to find out the outcome of this exciting adventure.

The Verdict

This was a fast-paced fun book with a rollicking adventure that draws the reader right in. I found the characters to be well-developed and enjoyed learning more about them as the story progressed. The journey of our five heroes (and company) never gets dull, because we get taken from scene to scene pretty quickly.

I also enjoyed the world building and thought the author did an excellent job of portraying the many alternate universes our heroes encounter. Overall I found this to be an amazing read that was incredibly fun and entertaining, with a gripping story and vivid setting. The book is set to be released on April 3rd, 2018 so this may be one you’ll want to add to your TBR list. Recommended!

Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

You can purchase Battledoors: The Golden Slate here at Amazon

Review of Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

February 28, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

What a beautiful emotional ride this story was! I went into this book totally blind — I had no idea what it was about (it was a monthly read for one of my Goodreads groups so I thought I’d be brave and pick it up without so much as even reading the blurb). I was delightfully surprised by this special book and ended up loving it.

The blurb is as follows:

Three years ago, Tanner Scott’s family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah.

But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High’s prestigious Seminar—where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester—Tanner can’t resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity.

It turns out, Tanner is only partly right: four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him.

Introducing Tanner

As the blurb suggests, the story revolves around Tanner, an 18-year-old half-Jewish bisexual high school student who moved to Provo, Utah with his parents. He is openly out to his parents who are entirely comfortable with Tanner’s sexuality.

However, given as they live in a town where the majority of people are Mormons, they’ve asked Tanner to be especially careful of whom he comes out to. It’s also worth mentioning that his mother, due to heartbreaking issues with the church, is a lapsed Mormon herself.

Where It All Begins

Tanner, who, at the urging of his best friend Autumn, signs up for “The Seminar”, a popular and highly coveted course in which the students write an entire novel in four months under the supervision of a teacher and teaching assistant.

The TA for the course is none other than Sebastian Brother, a gifted author who, after taking the class himself the year prior, is now in the process of publishing his own novel. He is also a Mormon, the Bishop’s son and strikingly good-looking.

Enter Sebastian

From the moment Sebastian walks in the course, Tanner feels a connection with Sebastian — a buzz of electricity between them. Tanner can’t deny his attraction for Sebastian and in spite of his better judgment, finds himself falling for a boy whom he sees as the most untouchable person in Provo. But Tanner is more than a bit surprised when he learns that his feelings for Sebastian are reciprocated.

Knowing the LDS stance on homosexuality, Tanner’s parents are fearful that he is going to end up getting hurt, and they try to convince him that pursuing the Bishop’s son cannot lead to a happy ending. Though Tanner is well aware of the probable outcome of his feelings for Sebastian and he knows that he’d be better off not pursuing the man, his heart isn’t so easily convinced. This leads to an emotional, heartfelt and realistic journey of a young man who discovers he is attracted to Mormon boy faithful to his church — but falls for him regardless.

The Church

Being the Bishop’s son, it’s no surprise that Sebastian is heavily involved with his church. As such, he is in the process of preparing to leave on his two-year mission. But Sebastian is also trying to come to terms with his sexuality, specifically his attraction to males (something he’s more or less denied up to this point).

His emerging feelings for Tanner balanced against his obligations to the church, his parents and his community create even more turmoil and conflict for Sebastian. So while this is partly the story of Tanner falling in love with a member of the Mormon church, it is also very much the story of one courageous man’s search to find himself even if it means losing everything else he has ever known.

What really worked for me in this story is the respectful portrayal (at least as I saw it) of the Mormon church. Many stories that portray LGBTQ characters’ struggle with religion tend to demonize the church and all of its members in the process. I found it refreshing this book depicted the LDS church members as friendly, loving, helpful and positive, with a significant focus on service to others and service to the community. In this way, the author does an excellent job of balancing the positives of the church with the divisive ways that religion can, in certain situations, come between family members.

The Verdict

I absolutely loved this character-driven story. The characters of Sebastian and Tanner were realistic and believable, as were the secondary characters and by the end of the book, I felt as though I really knew these people. Each character is richly mapped out so you can understand where each one is coming from and why they react the way they do. Though the actions of both Tanner and Sebastian angered me from time to time, I understood the reasons for those actions. It this way, the characters were easy to relate to.

The story was well-paced and beautifully written with vivid descriptions of settings, making me feel as though I were actually there. But this isn’t just a love story between two boys. Rather, Autoboyography is a tender, emotional LGBTQ-positive coming-of-age novel dealing with issues of identity, church, choice, rejection, acceptance, and family.

This is a relevant book that deals with issues that many LGBTQ teens are facing today and gave a realistic portrayal of what many teens go through while trying to figure themselves out and find their place in the world. In this way, I feel that this is an important book — and a must-read for any teenager who has ever felt different or lonely, no matter what their age now.

Autoboyography is moving story that I connected with on many levels, and although it was heartbreaking at times, I found it to be a beautiful, emotional read with an encouraging ending that felt complete and satisfying to me. Recommended!

You can check out Autoboyography HERE

Review of The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza

February 26, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I’ll tell you straight away that I love Shaun David Hutchinson’s writing and as such, I’m a bit of a fanboi. That being said, I loved The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza and felt that the author once again did an amazing job, with an intriguing (if not zany), unique plot and a cast of lovable, intertwined characters.

The blurb is as follows:

Sixteen-year-old Elena Mendoza is the product of a virgin birth.

This can be scientifically explained (it’s called parthenogenesis), but what can’t be explained is how Elena is able to heal Freddie, the girl she’s had a crush on for years, from a gunshot wound in a Starbucks parking lot. Or why the boy who shot Freddie, David Combs, disappeared from the same parking lot minutes later after getting sucked up into the clouds. What also can’t be explained are the talking girl on the front of a tampon box, or the reasons that David Combs shot Freddie in the first place.

As more unbelievable things occur, and Elena continues to perform miracles, the only remaining explanation is the least logical of all—that the world is actually coming to an end, and Elena is possibly the only one who can do something about it.

Introducing Elena Mendoza

The book centers around a bisexual high school girl of Cuban descent named Elena Mendoza who was the product of a virgin birth (yes, really! It’s a scientific process called parthenogenesis where an offspring is born from an unfertilized egg) and because of it, she is often the target of ridicule at school, as many of the students call her “Mary”.

It’s also important to note that strange voices speak to Elena regularly, often coming from stuffed animals, corporate logos or from other inanimate objects (my favorites were baby Cthulu and the girl on the tampon box). Now nobody knows about the voices — Elena has kept them a secret from everyone around her, more or less ignoring them because what they’ve had to say in the past has never been really all that important — until the day when the apocalypse of Elena Mendoza began.

The Day the Apocalypse Begins

The story begins at Starbuck’s where Elena spots her crush Winifred (”Freddie”) Petrine sitting at a table. Elena’s best friend Fadil convinces her to walk over to Freddie’s table and talk to her. Working up her courage, Elena heads toward the table, but as she does, a boy from her high school draws a gun and shoots Freddie’s in the stomach.

Elena rushes over to her and out of the blue, the voices tell Elena to heal Freddie, that she has that ability. Elena, not quite believing the voices, places her hands on Freddie — and lo and behold, the bullet hole disappears and Freddie is indeed healed. But that’s not the only “miracle” that takes place. The moment Freddie is healed, a blinding flash of gold light comes down from the sky and sucks up the shooter. In other words, he was raptured up.

Choices that Impact Humanity

From that moment on, the voices grow more insistent and prevalent (as well as irreverent), as they encourage Elena to go out into the world and heal more people — or else the world will end.

But as she soon learns, all is not “love and light.” There appears to be a hefty price to pay for what she is doing, and she begins to question whether that price is worth paying.

It’s also during this time Elena begins to wonder (as does the reader) whether the voices truly have humanity’s best interest in mind, even though they insist their goal is to save the world. Hell, we don’t even know who or what they are.

The Character of Elena

The story is told from the first-person point of view of Elena, and I loved her character. I also appreciated the fact that she was a sure-of-herself girl who had no heart-wrenching coming-out issues to deal with. She knew who exactly she was and was not afraid to stand her ground when necessary.

As such, Elena is a strong, likable and dynamic character who has to struggle with making a very difficult decision, one that could impact the entire world. I think that the author handled her dilemma in a new and interesting way, especially once Elena decides on the route she’s going to take. I was truly impressed.

Excellent Secondary Characters (mostly)

The characterizations are excellent in this book and the author not only brings all of the characters vividly to life, but he makes the reader care about them. The secondary characters, Freddie and Fadil, were well-fleshed out and like all of us, were messy, confused, complex and insecure people. In this way, all of the secondary characters are colorful, realistic, well-drawn, and add to the impact of this book.

Being human, they all made mistakes which added to their completeness. But in spite their shortcomings and “humanness,” they are a positive force in Elena’s life — even her ex Javi (who in the past consistently tried to get Elena into bed) ended up redeeming himself as the story progressed.

I liked that the relationship between Freddie and Elena was complicated and enjoyed seeing them both grow as characters. In fact, all of the characters in the book went through significant changes throughout the story, a sign of the adeptness of the author.

The one exception is Sean, the deadbeat dad who though was mostly harmless, eventually crossed the line, but I felt that his character was handled well by the author. He outlined the complexity of Sean’s relationship with Elena’s mother and her kids, making us realize that situations are not always as black and white as they may seem.

Those Darn Voices

I have to say that the voices at times were hilarious, even though we had to decide, as a reader, whether or not to trust them, as they were usually quite vague about what was going on and tended to evade Elena’s questions. But that aside, I found them to be a side-splitting at times, and I loved the snappy banter between them and Elena, as they harassed her more and more via the inanimate objects around her.

It Does Tackle Some Serious Issues

The author wasn’t afraid to tackle some difficult issues in the book: teenage shooters, identity, depression, bullying, domestic abuse, suicidal thoughts and making life-altering choices; but he did so with finesse. He also showed us the importance of finding the courage to speak out, even if things may not turn out the way we hope. I felt that Hutchinson managed to confront these sensitive topics with deftness and aplomb.

Verdict

This was a fresh, compelling and unique story that was a delight to read and hooked me from the get-go. Sean David Hutchinson has a knack for grabbing me from the first page and keeping you interested until the last — he certainly knows how to capture a reader’s attention.

I loved this off-the-wall book with its lovable characters and fresh, mysterious plot. This was a moving tale that gives the reader plenty to think about afterward. The ending left me satisfied and happy that I came across this beautifully written novel. This is another 5-star read for me. Recommended!

You can check out the Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza HERE

Review of Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

February 20, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

When this book caught my eye, I realized that I had never read a John Green book — not one — which is strange considering that I enjoy contemporary YA books and I’ve faithfully watched John and Hank Green’s weekly vlog Brothers videos for several years now. Since Turtles All The Way Down is his most recent work, I decided to start with that one.

The blurb is as follows:

Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship.

The Missing Billionaire

The story starts out when Russell Pickett, a billionaire goes missing just before his arrest, and there’s a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Aza and her best friend Daisy search for clues about his disappearance, hoping to collect the reward. It’s worth mentioning that Russell Pickett is no stranger to Aza — or at least, his son Davis isn’t.

As it turns out, Aza and Davis were at a summer camp together years ago (which they named “Sad camp” as it was for children who’ve lost one of their parents). Once Aza and Daisy stumble onto the Pickett property and subsequently get caught, they are taken by security to the billionaire’s son, resulting in Aza inadvertently rekindling her friendship with Davis.

Davis and Noah

Davis and Noah are Pickett’s two children who are now left to fend for themselves, supervised only by paid house employees while authorities search for their fugitive father. Davis figures out what Aza is up to, and pleads with her not to search for his father. He doesn’t want to put his brother Noah (who’s only 13 years old) through the agony of seeing their father arrested and the subsequent media circus that’s bound to follow. Aza is torn, especially once she begins to fall for Davis. She also discovers a protective instinct seems to surface within her whenever she’s around Noah.

Where’s the Mystery?

So as I’m reading along, I noticed that not all that much is really happening in regards to the search for Russell Pickett. Aza and Daisy seem to have given up their quest, and there’s not really any other action going on relating to the billionaire’s disappearance. That’s when it hit me: Turtles All The Way Down is not about the mystery of a fugitive billionaire: it’s something completely different. The book has very little to do with what’s going on in the physical reality — it’s really about what’s going on in Aza’s mind.

Into Aza’s Mind

Rather than a mystery, this novel is instead a powerful story about mental illness. The story is told from the first-person point of view of Aza, who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which manifests for her as thought spirals which grip her and refuse to let go. That is to say, once she grasps onto a thought, she cannot pull herself back up from it, no matter how hard she may try. She’s trapped in her own mind.

For Aza, one particularly disturbing spiraling revolves around a fear that potentially fatal bacteria has gotten into her body somehow and will lead to her passing away from C. Diff (Clostridium difficile).

The Main Story

In this way, the disappearance of the billionaire is secondly to the working of Aza’s mind and how her OCD affects her relationship with Daily, her mother, and Davis. The story is heartbreaking at times as Aza struggles with her desire to be a “good” daughter, friend and girlfriend, but her mind simply doesn’t allow it. It’s not surprising that this all leads to significant self-confidence issues and depression on Aza’s part as she fears that she’s making everyone around her miserable.

The book wasn’t always easy to read, and I think that was the point. This is a book that hurts your heart as we experience first-hand what it’s like to be in her mind and witness how anxiety can completely take over a person’s life.

Through Aza, we gain insight into what it might be like to live with constant runaway intrusive thoughts and how difficult it is to keep a grasp on reality. For me, this story provided an eye-opening and raw portrayal of what’s the struggle might be like — a struggle that others around you might not always understand. For example, Daisy considers Aza as kind of self-centered and selfish, obviously not fully understanding that Aza had no control over her thought spirals.

Though it dealt with serious subject matter, the book was also light, humorous and laugh-out-loud funny in places. Green did an excellent job of balancing the seriousness of the book’s theme with playfulness and lightheartedness, and in so doing, I couldn’t help but fall in love with all the characters in this book.

The Verdict

Turtle’s All The Way Down was about a young girl’s struggle to find her place in the world and figure out her part in the big picture of things, something that many of us struggle with from time to time.

This was a beautiful engaging book not just about OCD, but also about friendship, loyalty, about finding yourself and about sticking by and being there for one another throughout the thick and thin of life’s experiences. It was also a gentle reminder of the importance of stopping and putting ourselves in the shoes of our loved ones from time to time.

The book was a powerful character-driven and unique story that was heartbreaking in some places and funny in others. The ending was perfect and hopeful — overall, a brilliant story. Another excellent 5-star book for me. I look forward to reading more of Mr. Green’s work. Recommended!

You can check out Turtles All The Way Down HERE

Review of History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

February 16, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for an author who’ll rip your heart out from your chest and make you cry, then Adam Silvera is your man. I knew going in that History Is All You Left Me would be a heartbreaker but I was amazed at the intensity and range of emotions I experienced while reading this exceptional and at times emotionally draining story of love, loss, friendship, grief. . . and hope. Now I don’t want you to think that this book is one huge downer because it’s really not…there’s so much more to it.

The Blurb is as follows:

When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course.

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart.

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

Theo’s Funeral

The story opens at the scene of a funeral. Told from the first-person point of view of 17-year old Griffen, we learn that the funeral we are seeing is that of his ex-boyfriend and first love Theo. Griffen is devastated by this grief and through the narration, Griffen continuously “talks” to Theo in his thoughts as though they were both in the same room together. At first, I thought this was kind of morbid but then, how many of us think of our loved ones who’ve passed and talk to them in our thoughts, thinking perhaps of what we’d say to them were they still here?

Griffen’s heart is ripped open even further the day of the funeral when Theo’s current boyfriend Jackson shows up and shares his memories of Theo during the service.

The History

What’s interesting about this book, is that the chapters alternate between present day (the funeral day and the following days afterward) and the story of Theo and Griffen’s history together. Via the “history” chapters, we learn how they became friends and fell and love, how they both came out to their parents together, the first time they have sex together and the reasons behind their breakup, all leading us to Theo’s passing.

A big part of the story – both past and present – is Griffen’s attempt at dealing with his OCD. We see him trying to deal with Theo’s death while trying to keep what he refers to as his “compulsions” in check: obsessively counting (no odd numbers allowed), ensure that nobody is ever situation on his left side at any time, etc.

Alternating the chapters between past and present provided a nice balance in the story. In one chapter, we read through grief and pain while in the next, we experience the exhilaration of an exciting first love. The author did an excellent job with this, and the past and present method of storytelling really worked well for me.

Jackson

Jackson, who is staying with Theo’s parents, surprisingly reaches out to Griffen and an unlikely friendship develops between the two of them, as they share their memories of Theo and end up supporting each other through the grieving process.

Though Griffen feels as though he should hate Jackson given that Theo replaced Griffen with Jackson, Griffen discovers instead that Jackson is the only person he can talk to — the only person who truly understands what he himself is going through.

I applaud the author for not making Jackson into some kind of villain, given that he was the one who stole away our protagonist’s first love. Jackson ending up being not only an interesting character but also a rather likable character and someone with whom we empathized.

The Themes (as I saw them)

As Theo and Jackson shared their memories, I was struck by the repeated message of how important it is for us to appreciate the people in our lives while they’re here.

Another one of the themes that seemed to run throughout the novel was that though we may have grandiose plans for our future, there’s no guarantee that we or our loved ones will be around to carry them out. So in this way, it’s essential that we “live in the moment”, and not postpone living for some later future date which may never come.

Life isn’t always going to turn out the way we intend and we don’t always get to choose our future. And when life does throw us for a loop, we have to realize that it’s okay to experience all the emotions that come with it because that’s what living is all about. Sometimes messy, sometimes scary but there are always more surprises for us around the next corner.

Griffen’s Journey

By seeing the past and the present firsthand, we accompany Griffen on a journey of the excitement of first love, his challenges with OCD, the emptiness he feels when Theo moves on, the jealousy that Jackson’s presence instills in him, the terrible grief and gut-wrenching heartache he goes through when Theo dies and finally, moving on.

Now it’s worth mentioning that Griffen doesn’t necessarily handle each situation in the best way — but do any of us? Especially when faced with such extreme situations? His failures and foibles just made him even more human and someone I think most of us can relate to.

But There Are Surprises

As we experience Griffen and Theo’s past, we expect a simple and tender story of two boys falling in love, resulting in tragedy. But there’s much more to it than that. There was one surprise twist that I did not see coming. Additionally, the mystery surrounding Theo’s death finally comes out into the open at the end of the book.

The Verdict

Loved it, loved it, loved it! I was hesitant going in — I mean who can approach a novel about death, grief, and pain without more than a bit of hesitation? But what I found instead was an incredible emotional and gripping character-driven story that was tender and raw at the same time.

I don’t want to give you the impression that it was a depressing downer of a book. It wasn’t. Now I’m not saying that it’s an easy story to read because it’s not. But what it is (in my humble opinion), is a beautiful, well-written emotional story with deep (though flawed) characters that is well worth reading.

It’s not only a book about love and loss, but also about forgiveness and hope. History Is All You Left Me is definitely a 5-star book for me. Recommended!

You can check out History Is All You Left Me HERE

Review of Release by Patrick Ness

February 15, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I enjoyed reading A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness awhile ago (the movie was quite good as well) so I was eager to pick up another book by this same author entitled Release, which I believe is his latest work.

The entire novel takes place during the span of one day and focuses on: 1) The life of a young man, Adam Thorn, who following a series of events and situations, feels undeserving of love and 2) A murdered girl who returns from the dead to obtain vengeance for her death — oh, and she’s sharing a body with otherworldly queen.

The blurb is as follows:

Adam Thorn doesn’t know it yet, but today will change his life.

Between his religious family, a deeply unpleasant ultimatum from his boss, and his own unrequited love for his sort-of ex, Enzo, it seems as though Adam’s life is falling apart. At least he has two people to keep him sane: his new boyfriend (he does love Linus, doesn’t he?) and his best friend, Angela.

But all day long, old memories and new heartaches come crashing together, throwing Adam’s life into chaos. The bindings of his world are coming untied one by one; yet in spite of everything he has to let go, he may also find freedom in the release.

An Unusual Format

This is an unusual book in that it follows two separate stores, with each chapter alternating between the two. One is a modern realistic storyline depicting an interesting day in the life of a gay teen. The other is a paranormal story, featuring a resurrected murdered girl who is sharing a body with a Queen of another realm.

Adam’s Story

The first story follows a day in the life of Adam Thorn, a young gay teen living in an extremely religious household (his father is a pastor). This isn’t one of those stories when a gay teen is deeply in the closet or shunned by his parents, thrown out, or otherwise abused. The author does manage to illustrate, however, the manner in which certain religious beliefs can damage relationships and tear a family apart.

But Adam is comfortable with his sexuality, even though it isn’t a subject he ever discusses with his parents, even though he’s fairly certain they are well aware that he’s gay.

Because of his parent’s beliefs and their unwillingness to acknowledge Adam’s sexuality, however, he feels rejected and unloved by them but forges ahead despite their distance. This is depicted perfectly by his father’s off-handed comment to Adam:

“You have no idea how hard I work to love you.”

Adam is also, suffering from a broken heart. Though he is currently dating a boy who adores him (Linus), Adam is unable to completely commit to him because he is still pining horribly for his ex, Enzo, who didn’t treat Adam all that well while they were dating and subsequently dumped him. A going-away party is planned for Enzo later that evening, which Adam will be attending with Linus.

Earlier that day, Adam’s brother Marty (who is training to become an evangelical preacher like their father) drops a bombshell on Adam, which kind of shakes Adam’s foundations to the core (as well as results in a full-blown family crisis). While trying to be understanding and supportive of his brother’s predicament, Marty makes a hurtful comment regarding Adam’s sexuality, which kind of sets the tone for the rest of the day.

The day continues to challenge Adam when at work, his boss makes unwelcome sexual advances toward him and gives him a creepy ultimatum if he wants to keep his job. Then to top it all off, Adam learns that Angela — his dearest and best friend, confidant an emotional crutch – has another bombshell to drop on poor Adam.

There is a lot more going on with Adam but suffice it to say that by the end of the day, he’s able to overcome everything that the fates have thrown at him and, perhaps for the first time in his life, he is clear on who he is and what is really important to him. He understands that in this life, we have the option of choosing our family and by the end of the story, Adam is ready to reshape his life and move forward with his head held high.

Additionally, though things started out rocky with him and his brother, I was happy to see their relationship strengthen by the end of the book, as they formed an alliance in preparation for the new challenges they’ll both have to face.

The Paranormal Story

The second storyline follows the tale of a murdered girl who was a drug addict and killed by her boyfriend. She emerges from a lake and is followed by a Faun, who is invisible to her and who continually refers to her as “My Queen”. The body appears to be inhabited by two spirits: the spirit of the murdered girl and the spirit of a Queen of another realm (from what I can gather, although it wasn’t quite clear to me where she was from).

The girl has one plan for the day: to get revenge on the person who killed her. The Faun’s goal is to make the Queen remember who she is, for if the Faun is unsuccessful, the entire world will be destroyed — so we have the element of the “ticking time bomb” thrown in for extra suspense.

This tale, though it seemed separate from Adam’s story, does merge together with Adam’s life at the end, in a surprising and satisfying way.

The Verdict

I admit that it took me awhile to adjust to the strange format of the book with the seemingly unrelated alternating storylines but it ended up working for me as it all came together in the final pages.

This was a wonderful book and I loved how the author portrayed Adam and his friends talking openly and positively about sex and being gay, all behind a very powerful message: We deserve to be loved.

The book deals with several real-world issues: sexual harassment, shame, religious extremism, love, family bonds and being true to oneself. There is certainly pain and heartache in parts of the story and it is an intense read. But there is a lightness to it as well, and the overarching theme is a positive one. Because of this, I found Release to be a beautiful, heartfelt novel that was life-affirming and a delight to read.

The characters are realistic, vivid and well-developed, and you can help falling in love with them by the end of the book (well, maybe except for Enzo). Recommended!

You can check out Release HERE