Roger's Reads – Page 60 – Author & Book Reviewer

Review of Don’t Let Me Go by J.H. Trumble

February 18, 2014 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Don’t Let Me Go by J.H. Trumble

I think I just might have a new favorite author — or at least one whose additional work I definitely will be reading. And that would be J.H. Trumble author of don’t let me go, a novel that I just completed and absolutely loved. I read the book in one sitting, staying up several hours past my bedtime because I simply could not put it down.

This delicate yet powerful character-driven story follows the love story between two young men, Adam and Nate. They meet in high school and almost immediately, are inseparable and the love that they feel for one another is evident almost from day one. Told from Nate’s point of view, we are privy to the ups and downs of young love as the two teens figure out who they are in the presence of each other and experience growth in the process. The author does an excellent job of weaving together a complicated first love and I found the writing to evocative, with the perfect amount of description.

It’s All About The Angst

But what’s a novel without a little angst, right? If you like angst, you’ll find plenty of it in this book. Shortly before Adam graduates, a horrific event occurs during with Nate suffers both physical and psychological injuries. Adam, whose love is the theater, is presented with an opportunity to go to New York with a theater troupe only a few months after the incident. The question is: should he go or should he stay? If he if goes, how will it affect their relationship?

Well, we know right from the first page that Adam does indeed go as the novel opens with tense scene during with Nate driving Adam to the airport. With the talented use of flashbacks, the author fills us in on how they arrived at this particular point in their lives and what the fallout (and there is indeed fallout) of Adam’s decision will be on Nate’s life and their relationship. Several misunderstandings on the part of the characters creates plenty of obstacles four our pair and their relationship, causing them to not always make the best decisions.

The characters themselves are meticulously developed and as such, the reader truly feels the depth of their relationship as they grow deeper in love and later on in the novel, further apart. The supporting cast of colorful characters is well presented such as Danial the tease who has shadows of his own; Annie, their best friend, who I suspect is still in love with Nate; and of course Granny, who spends her time looking at gay porn on the computer.

The writing is solid and clear, although some people might not like the author’s use of “time-jumping” — but I felt that it worked well in the story and was expertly handled, as it revealed a touching backstory that helped us to know and understand each character’s motivation.

Character Transformation

At one point in the story nearing the end of the novel, I found myself getting a tad disgusted with Adam and came to the conclusion that he was kind of a dick. In my eyes, this likable character had transformed into somewhat of an unlikeable brat. If you come to this same point, keep reading — he redeems himself later one (but he doesn’t have an easy time of it). The bad decisions he makes however, does render him more believable as a character as we are all prone to making the wrong choices here and there. But by the end of the novel, you will care deeply about these characters and what happens to them.

In the midst of turmoil, there is humor and I found myself laughing out loud several times throughout the story at the witty dialog that Trumble throws at us. Although there is a light touch in places, don’t be deceived — the author tells a very serious story during which our characters learn about love, loss, disappointment, bigotry, deceit, betrayal and friendship.

Don’t Let Me Go is an excellent young adult coming-of-age tale to which many gay and lesbian teens will be able to relate. I found this book to be a refreshing well-written and emotional story dealing with two gay teens who overcome past hurts to find love and the promise of a future together. I look forward to reading more of this author’s work. Recommended!

Review of Every Day by David Levithan

February 16, 2014 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Imagine that every day when you you woke up, you were a different person. Some days you were a girl, others a boy. Or you might by gay one day, straight the next. Maybe a drug addict on Monday and a Supermodel on Tuesday. Such is the life of sixteen-year-old “A”, the first person point of view character in the book Every Day by David Levithan.

I stumbled across this book awhile back on a reading list and the premise intrigued me. The plot of the books is as described above: our sixteen-year-old character inhabits a different body every day and has no control over where – or in whom – he’ll end up, although he does seem to stay within the same geographical area. I liked the fact that the author presents teenagers from all walks of life, prompting us to perhaps question the perceived notions and stereotypes we have of people. “A’s” personally doesn’t identify as either a girl or a boy – it’s different all the time. He never remembers a time when he didn’t occupy a new body daily – it’s always been this way.

What struck me while reading this book was the idea that this person could never forge any lasting relationships. There was nobody “A” loved, relied upon, depended upon. Not one person even knew who he was or that he even existed. This point was really brought home when one of the young men he was “possessing”, Marc went to the funeral of his grandfather. During the service, tears welled up in “A’s” eyes — not over any sadness for the stranger in the casket, but over the realization that “A” will never have a family to grieve over him. That he will never leave a trail of memories behind. That nobody even will even have known him. There will be nobody to attend his funeral when the time comes.

One day, “A” does the unspeakable; he falls in love. He inhabits the body of Justin, Rhiannon’s self-centered boyfriend and from that point forward A is smitten with her and his world changed. He decides that he is going to transcend his situation and tell Rhiannon his secret; he decides to let her how how he feels about her in the hopes that they can somehow build a life together.

This eloquently-written character driven novel has found a place among my list of favorite books. It causes us to think about the stereotypes we encounter in our daily lives and allows us to perhaps transcend our own biases and see the world in a different way. I loved “A’s” personality and enjoyed watching his emotional progression throughout the book. This refreshing novel pulled me in from the beginning and did not disappoint. Recommended!

You can check out the book HERE

Review of Telling Lies for Fun & Profit

February 13, 2014 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

“Don’t begin at the beginning; first things second. Spring forward in storytelling and fall back with backstory.” ~ Lawrence Block

Telling Lies for Fun & Profit This post might be more of interest to my writer friends or for folks who are thinking of starting a writing career. An author friend recommended a classic book entitled Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block. Block, who has written over 150 novels, leads us by the hand through the process of being a novel writer. If you’re looking for advice on plotting, characterization and structure, you may wish to look elsewhere. Telling Lies for Fun and Profit is more a book about the writing life rather than the mechanics of crafting a novel.

The book is a collection of columns that he wrote for various publications and include such themes as: studying the market, discovering your options as a writer, the question of slanting your writing for editors, writing a first novel, writing as an avocation, advice to a college writer, becoming a pro, how to read like a writer, coping with writer’s block, how to draw readers in close, distinguishing between a plot and an idea, point of view, self-discipline, creative procrastination, the trick of not beginning at the beginning, and much, much more.

This book is not only a treasure-house of information, it is an excellent at motivating yourself to write. It gets your juices flowing, your adrenaline pumping and generates enough excitement to get your butt off the couch and into the chair to write. What I really enjoyed about this book is the informal, friendly way he approached the reader. The conversational tone of the book made me feel as though I were reading a letter from an old friend who is offering some practical real-world advice. The book was rife with the author’s stories about his own experiences as a writer, gently guiding us with real-life examples yet urging us at the same time to write in our own unique voice.

Now this is not to say that there isn’t any information about the mechanics of writing for indeed, there is. He does provide practical tips for dialog, the proper use of strong verbs, rewriting, the use of adjectives and adverbs, surprise endings, locations/descriptions and creating plausible characters, just to mention a few; but each topic is peppered with his personal experiences as a writer.

If you are looking for a book about the process of writing, the writer’s life or simply looking for motivation to start or finish your novel, you can’t do much better than Telling Lies for Fun & Profit. Recommended!

Review of Brent: The Heart Reader by Wynn Wagner

February 10, 2014 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

While browsing for a new novel to read, Brent: The Heart Reader caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, it is described as a New Age Romance and as far as I can recall, I have not yet come across a New Age M/M book. Moreover, the hero Brent, is a Tarot card reader and I have to admit that I’ve myself dabbled quite a bit in Tarot over the years. The author of the book, Wynn Wagner, is also author of the Vamp Camp series which I really enjoyed so I thought I’d give this one a go as well.

Brent, from whose point of view the story is told, is not your typical young man. He is a kind-hearted, emotionally wounded tarot reader who has just suffered the loss of his adopted mother and is finding life more than a bit challenging at the moment. His remaining adopted family – religious zealot cousins – want nothing to do with their gay tarot-reading Swedish relative. But Brent isn’t alone for long. He receives a new tarot client named Takota, an extremely handsome Sioux man who is recovering from recently having lost his lover. Brent provides Takota an amazing reading which helps the Sioux man move on from his pain and loss. A subsequent visit from Takota leads to a romp in the bedroom and the two men almost immediately fall in love. Brent finds a new family in Takota and as their relationship progresses, Brent’s past scars begin to heal. But the story does not end there.

What follows is an exciting adventure as the two men get to know each other and deal with the difficulties that face them – namely numerous attempts on Brent’s life. Throughout the novel, we meet Takota’s zany family, Brent’s gun-toting best friend Kaela, and a sexy detective. But in the end, all is well and the healer is healed.

I can’t begin to express how much I loved this book. Not only was the sex between the two men sizzling, but the witty and cheeky dialog had me laughing out loud on many occasions. Now I will say that it helps if the reader is a bit open minded as tarot card reading, Reiki healing, spirit guides, karma and universal balance are just some of the topics that the reader encounters.

I found this to be a refreshing, rich, well-written novel that combines humor, suspense and romance into a tender, emotionally powerful story. Some folks may have a difficult time with some of the new age mystical elements but all it all, I find Brent: The Heart Reader to be well worth the time. Who knows? After reading this amazing book, you might want to run out and purchase your own tarot deck. Recommended!!

Book Review: Frat Boy and Toppy

February 9, 2014 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

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!

Review of Gives Light by Rose Christo

February 8, 2014 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

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!