lgbt contempory

Review of If you Change Your Mind by Robby Weber

May 1, 2022 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Blurb:

“A romantic hero’s journey with a happy ending that will leave you smiling and swooning… I loved it!” —Adam Silvera, #1 New York Times bestselling author of They Both Die at the End

In this hilarious and heartfelt debut novel, an aspiring screenwriter learns sometimes love has its own script.

Harry wants nothing more than to write Hollywood screenplays. He knows the first step toward achieving that goal is winning a screenwriting competition that will seal his admission into the college of his dreams, so he’s determined to spend his summer free of distractions—also known as boys—and finish his script. After last year, Harry is certain love only exists in the movies anyway.

But then the cause of his first heartbreak, Grant, returns with a secret that could change everything—not to mention, there’s a new boy in town, Logan, who is so charming and sweet, he’s making Harry question everything he knows about romance. As he tries to keep his emotions in check and stick to his perfect plan for the future, Harry’s about to learn that life doesn’t always follow a script.

Review

If You Change Your Mind is a delightful summer romantic read which follows Harry during the summer of his senior year, who decides that he would spend his summer free of distractions, especially boys. Things don’t entirely turn out the way he’d hoped, however, and he ends up having to choose between two boys — a boy from his past and a boy who’d just wandered into his life. Typically, I’m not a fan of love triangles, but this one worked exceptionally well in the story. Though it was an essential element in the narrative, it didn’t overshadow the rest of the plot. In fact, I didn’t mind it one bit. It was actually fun journeying along with Harry as he tried to figure things out, especially when things got messy. What I especially enjoyed was that nobody was as they appeared to be.

It’s also worth mentioning that Harry is writing a screenplay that is supposed to help him get into the college of his dreams — a film school in California. What’s fun is that the beginning of every chapter contains a scene from Harry’s screenplay, which parallels his real life. I thought the play provided a compelling insight and element to Harry’s story.

What I really loved about the book was how Harry, even though he’s a bit insecure, refused to allow anyone to walk all over him or treat him with anything less than respect — although it took a couple of lessons for Harry to learn this. What we ended up with, then, is a touching story about following your dreams and not losing sight of what is really important — even when love comes to call.

All in all, I adored this novel. The character development was phenomenal, and the plot was riveting. I also enjoyed the themes about the importance of family, friendship, self-discovery, and not losing sight of the important things in life. Additionally, there were many movie references to well-known rom-coms, which added a fun element to the story (such as the title of the first chapter: When Harry Met Logan).

So if you’re in the mood for a breezy heartfelt gay rom-com with lovely characters that will tug on your heartstrings, then definitely check out If You Change Your Mind.

Review of We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

June 26, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Before you ask: no, the sluggers have never probed my anus. I’m fairly certain they reserve that special treat for people who talk on their phones during movies, or text while driving. ~ Henry Denton

THE STORY

We Are The Ants follows Henry Denton, a teen who for years now has been periodically abducted by aliens, whom Henry refers to as sluggers, because they resemble slugs to him. There’s been no probing though — or at least that’s when Henry tells us (see quote above).

So after these abductions have been going on for quite some time, the aliens finally communicate to Henry that the world is going to be destroyed in 144 days. But not all hope is lost. All Henry has to do is push a big red button to stop it and Wham! Earth saved.

The kicker is that Henry isn’t sure he wants to.

You see, Henry’s not all that pleased with his life at the moment. A year ago, Henry’s boyfriend and first love Jesse committed suicide, for which Henry seems to be blaming himself. He is continuously tortured and bullied at school, with one of the bullies — a popular jock named Marcus — using Henry for sex (though he tries to assure Henry that he genuinely does care for him — but it’s up to the reader to decide whether to believe him or not).

Then there are the constant taunts at school with the students referring to him as Space Boy because Charlie, his jerk of a brother, told everyone at school about the abductions. But there’s more: Henry’s grandmother has Alzheimer’s, and Henry recognizes her less and less as each day passes — and his mother is an alcoholic.

So the more Henry thinks about it, the more the idea of wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him because right now, he’s not feeling like the world deserves to be saved. Though he doesn’t explicitly say it, I felt that perhaps Henry found the idea of finally escaping from his daily suffering alluring. But he hasn’t made his decision yet. He’s desperately trying to find a good reason for saving the earth and thus far, has been unsuccessful.

And then one day, a new boy named Diego Vega arrives at school. Henry and the boy connect, and an unusual relationship develops between the two of them.

Up to this point, Henry was almost certain he wasn’t going to press the button. But now, there’s someone he can confide in, someone to support him. So Henry begins to weigh his pain with his happiness as the days count down to when he has to make the ultimate decision.

So does Henry push the button?

WHAT I LIKED

I really liked Henry’s character — he was sarcastic, witty, and funny, and you couldn’t help but fall in love with him. He had a way of adding a light and humorous twist to otherwise serious situations such as his alien abductions. I also liked how relatable and believable Henry’s character was. I think many readers can relate to the bullying that Henry went through in high school as well as some of the difficulties Henry had to deal with in his troubled home life.

No doubt most of us have experienced a grim view of the world from time to time when we’re going through tough times, like our protagonist. I felt that the author did an excellent job of portraying Henry’s struggles and I liked how brutally honest Henry is with himself through the process. Perhaps many of us have even wondered at times whether the world is worth saving. While reading this story, I wanted so badly for Henry to find some beauty in the world, to discover the peace he longed for — and the reader can’t help but empathize with him.

I’ve read a few Shaun David Hutchinson books, and as is typical, things get a lot worse for the main character before they get better — which means that things do get better for Henry once Diego enters the picture. He’s a bright light in Henry’s dark world, and I couldn’t help but love this charming, lovable character. But Diego doesn’t end up saving Henry; it’s up to Henry to save himself. So though this story is heartbreaking in places, it heartwarming in others, and ends up being a hopeful story at the end of it all.

What I also liked about this book was that though Henry was gay, he was not struggling with his homosexuality. In fact, he was quite comfortable with who he is, which I found refreshing.

Now though it might sound as though this is a grim, somewhat dark book, it’s not. It’s actually quite funny in places, so in spite of the serious subject matter, it isn’t all doom and gloom. Along with the darkness, there is light. There is levity, and there is lightheartedness, which makes the story all the more unique and likable in my opinion. This is the kind of story that will make you laugh, make you cry, make you happy and make you angry, and only a truly talented author can pull this off with the adeptness that Mr. Hutchinson does.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

There’s not anything that I didn’t like about this story. The only thing I was a teeny-tiny bit disappointed with was the sci-fi aspect of it — or should I say the lack thereof. Going in, I thought there would be a more significant focus on the alien abductions, but they actually played only a minute role in the plot line. This wasn’t really a science fiction novel at all and once I realized that, I was fine with it. Just a warning to those who are going in expecting a science fiction story — it’s not.

FINAL VERDICT

We Are The Ants ended up being quite an emotional rollercoaster of a book, so it was a tough one to read in places, as it dealt with some serious and complex issues such as violence, bullying, self-harm, abuse, rape, dementia and more. It’s also quite evident that Henry is broken — he’s depressed, grieving for his boyfriend and keeping every traumatizing experience he’s going through bottled up inside. So in this way, a lot of heartbreaking things happen to our hero, and it becomes clear that Henry’s not just some angsty teen, but he’s going through some serious shit. As a reader, I could feel Henry’s desperation pour out of the pages and because of this, the story was quite cringe-worthy at times as it veered off into some painful places.

But in spite of the serious themes of this novel, it ends with hope, reminding us that things won’t always stay the way they are now and that we shouldn’t allow the bad things to overshadow the good. It also illustrated nicely how it’s up to us to pull ourselves up out of the darkness by making the conscious decision to let the past go and to move on.

This is a beautiful, unique and memorable book and is so worth the read, IMHO. I ended up loving it. It’s beautifully written, and it asks some super tough questions, giving the reader plenty to think about well after the last page of the story. Additionally, all the characters in this book are phenomenal: complex, multilayered with each one being relevant to the story. I can state pretty truthfully that I will without a doubt be rereading this book in the near future.

Once again, Shaun David Hutchinson hit a home run for me. This was a brilliantly written, refreshing and unputdownable novel and I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

You can check out We Are The Ants here at Amazon or at The Book Depository.

Review of Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

June 22, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I’m a huge fan of Two-Spirit literature, so I was delighted with Jonny Appleseed crossed my radar.

This story follows a witty, young Native American man named Jonny Appleseed, member of the Peguis First Nation, who has left the reservation to live in the big city of Winnipeg. There, Jonny reinvents himself and runs his own business as a cybersex worker, in which he fetishizes himself via webcam to earn a living. As the story begins, Jonny has just received the news that his Stepfather Roger has passed away and he has only seven days to earn enough cash to return to the Rez for the funeral.

What follows is a brief, non-linear peak into Jonny’s life as he recalls memories of his strong, no-nonsense Kokum (his Grandmother), his mother, his homophobic stepfather, and his relationship with Tias. During the novel, we flash back and forth from Jonny’s life back on the Reservation to the present where he is working as a sex worker and maintaining his romantic yet complicated relationship with Tias, with whom he’s been friends/lovers with since childhood.

Through Jonny’s first-person narrative, we explore such issues as racism, anti-gay violence, friendship, love, loss, Native American identity, trauma, the challenges of being “Indigiqueer” (identifying as both Indigenous and queer), sexual awakening and most of all, survival.

In this way, the story is sometimes a bit harrowing and cringeworthy, while other times tender, funny and beautiful. This is a real, relevant, and eye-opening book — an intense yet beautiful story written for voices that need to be heard. Jonny Appleseed is a sincere, honest story about a person’s growth despite sometimes seemingly suffocating racism and homophobia.

I especially enjoyed the intimate passages where Jonny reflects upon his life with Tias — how they met, how they became lovers and friends, and the somewhat strange relationship they maintain in the present day. There was also plenty of laugh-out-loud humor in this story, especially revolving around Jonny and his Kokum.

Overall, I found Jonny Appleseed to be a refreshing, brilliant work that’s gorgeously expressive and poetic yet with a certain rawness to it that makes it real and relatable for the reader. I felt that the author does a superb job taking us back into the mind of our two-spirit protagonist. I also liked how the story came together in the end, with everything wrapping up nicely during the last few pages. Overall, an impactful, diverse and important book from a great author. Recommended!

Warning: Given that our protagonist earns a living as a sex worker, there are quite a few graphic descriptions of sexual situations and profanity — so more sensitive readers be warned.

You can check out Jonny Appleseed here at Amazon or at The Book Depository

Review of Detour by Reesa Herberth and Michelle Moore

May 14, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Detour follows 18-year-old Ethan who embarks on a road trip shortly after his graduation. We learn that this was a trip Ethan had originally planned on taking with his boyfriend and love of his life Scott, who was murdered at school by a shooter. Ethan’s not really sure why he’s taking the trip though we do know that he’s still reeling from the loss of Scott so perhaps he’s hoping the trip will help him to figure out who he is without his boyfriend. It’s also worth mentioning that Ethan is suffering from a severe case of survivor’s guilt.

So it’s dark, the weather is bad, and Ethan almost runs over a hitchhiker. Despite his family’s repeated warnings of never picking up hitchhikers, Ethan offers the hitchhiker a ride. We learn that his name is Nick and that he also has his own demons he’s running away from. He has just left one of those “pray away the gay” type of camps called Camp Cornerstone and is basically homeless and broke. Funny, this is the second book right in a row that I’ve read which revolved around these types of compounds, a trope that I typically avoid.

Not only that, we learn that prior to Nick’s “enrollment” at Camp Cornerstone, he was in an abusive relationship with a controlling, stalkerish, and a rather creepy man named Kyle. That being said, Nick is the much more mistrusting and bitter of the two, given that he’s been betrayed by every important person in his life. It’s additionally worth mentioning that Nick has also experienced the death of someone close to him, which adds to the emotional turmoil he’s experiencing

So after having faith that neither of them is going to kill the other in their sleep (the topic of “stranger danger” comes up several times during the story), they decide to embark on Ethan’s road trip together. So basically, we have two characters who have gone through horrific events and who are basically broken — they’re both confused, hurt and trying to find themselves in a world that up to this point, has not proven to be overly kind.

WHAT I LIKED

I really enjoyed the dynamics between these two vivid and lovable characters. Though they were both hurting and perhaps a bit mistrustful, they both opened up to each other and throughout the trip, treated each other with kindness and respect — though it did take Nick somewhat longer to open up which isn’t surprising given that he’d been let down by everyone in his life up to this point.

But it was lovely to see the healing that took place with the both of them as they each helped the other work through the terrible events of their past and explored their grief together. I also really loved Ethan’s tender kindheartedness towards Nick, which I felt showed a lot of strength as a character.

There was a lot of enjoyable banter between the two of them, and both Ethan and Nick had a wonderful sense of humor which made me chuckle out loud on more than one occasion.

I also loved the slow burn romance aspect of this story, which I have to admit is one of my favorite tropes. I loved how the relationship between these two broken characters slowly developed over the trip, resulting not only in the blossoming of a new love but also in much-needed healing for the both of them. In fact, I felt that the entire story wasn’t at all rushed and unfolded at just the right pace. The author did a nice job at showing the relationship progress between Ethan and Nick.

I’m also a huge fan of road trip stories, and this one was no exception. It was fun experiencing through our characters all the zany and kitschy places they visited (Titanic museum and hotel, anyone?) and the adventures they had along the way.

But what especially worked for me in the story was the healing and growth these two characters experienced as we moved throughout the book. As their backstory unfolded and they confided more and more in each other, they both underwent several realizations and revelations that helped them grow as characters. Thus, they were able to overcome the adversity that had them both nearly paralyzed before they met.

In this way, Detour is about two lost souls finding themselves and not allowing their circumstances to prevent them from evolving into the people they’re meant to be.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

Though I enjoyed the snappy banter between the two characters, there were a few times when I felt that it went on and on a bit too long. I did catch myself thinking on a few occasions that the non-stop snark was getting a bit tiring — maybe even grating on my nerves a bit – and felt that the story could have done with a little less of it.

FINAL VERDICT

I ended up loving this book. In the midst of darkness and turmoil, there is fun and humor, and I found myself laughing out loud several times throughout the story at the witty dialog that Detour throws at the reader. Though it will break your heart in places, it is also sweet and playful in others.

The writing is solid and clear, and the touching backstory helped us to know and understand each character’s motivation. I also felt that the characters themselves are meticulously developed, and as such, the reader truly feels the depth of their hurt and guilt and their past unfolds.

Detour is a powerful and revelatory coming-of-age novel of two boys trying to overcome their pasts, so in this way, it’s heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. The main charm of this book is in it’s plain and simple relatability. Though we may not all have gone through the exact things as Ethan and Nick, the majority of us have at some point experienced heartbreak, grief or difficult circumstances that have kept us stuck.

All in all, Detour is a lovely sweet romance between two boys who, in working through their past demons, come out stronger on the other side and I loved it. I’d give this book 4 1/2 stars.

You can check out the book here on Amazon