ya lgbt fiction

Review of Running with Lions by Julian Winters

September 5, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

First off, the cover is gorgeous. In fact, it’s what initially attracted me to this book.

The Story

Running with Lions revolves around a soccer team called The Lions, and pretty much the entire book takes place while the players are at summer sports camp. The main character is Sebastian Hughes, the team’s star goalie who has aspirations of becoming captain. Sebastian is bisexual, and several of his other teammates are also gay or bi. They are all fortunate in having a coach who provides a welcoming and safe atmosphere where the players do not have to hide their sexuality.

So Sebastian is all set to have an epic summer at sports camp when he is blindsided by his childhood friend, Emir Shah, who shows up to camp, planning on joining the team. The problem is that something happened between the two of them years ago and Emir now hates Sebastian, and he doesn’t go out of his way to hide his dislike.

Emir is also somewhat of a loner — kind of a misanthrope — as he doesn’t get along with anyone at school, including the other team members. So he keeps everyone at a distance and makes no effort to close the gap between him and the other guys on the team, even at camp.

Sebastian decides to try to reconnect with Emir for the sake of the Lions, and he sets out to regain Emir’s trust. But in spite of Emir’s increasingly lousy attitude, Sebastian finds himself not only attracted to Emir but also developing feelings romantic feelings for him.

So as you can probably guess, a romance develops between the two of them, but it’s not easy going and there are several obstacles they’re going to have to overcome.

What I Liked

I really liked the relationship between the team members — there was a strong bond between all of them which kind of made me think of how we often choose our own families, and those bonds of friendship can sometimes be stronger than families bound by blood.

That’s the feeling I got from the team — that they were one big inclusive family. This was especially true with these guys, I think, in that they were able to express their sexuality without any judgments. All in all, I thought that a novel about an LGBTQ inclusive soccer team was brilliant, though I was thankful that the book didn’t go into too much detail about the logistics of the sport. Some books go a little too far with game play-by-plays which can be annoying for me as I’m not much of a sports person.

Sebastian’s character growth was also something that resonated with me. Initially, he lacked self-confidence and had rather a negative self-image no doubt due to the bullying he experienced at school.

There was his struggle with feeling unworthy to be team captain. He was also not happy with his body, feeling that nobody could be attracted to him. I found it refreshing that this story handled body image issues from the point of view of a boy as this isn’t something we often see in YA fiction.

I enjoyed seeing Sebastian progress and grow throughout the story to a more self-assured and confident character. His relationship with Elmir helped to boost his self-confidence, especially in regards to body acceptance.

I thought the romance between Sebastian and Elmir was sweet and well-done. I am kind of a sucker for the frenemies to lovers trope so this especially worked for me. Well, this was more of a best friends to enemies to reluctant teammates to lovers, which still worked nicely IMHO.

What I Didn’t Like

There was one female character in the book, Gray and she was treated horribly by Mason, the boy she had a crush on. He was rude and mean to her throughout the book, and there were never any consequences to the way he treated her.

Yes, his behavior was explained as “he’s mean to her because he really likes her” but this old clichéd trope doesn’t work for me; in fact, I hate this trope. Gray was also kind of a cardboard cutout of a character, and all we see is her almost desperate one-sided crush on a boy who isn’t very nice to her. This whole thing kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

Another thing I didn’t like was that the story was told in the third-person present tense: “Mason replies, “No.” Elmir takes another dip at the ball. He looks at him. Bastian beams. etc., etc.” I never like this tense in a book, and I’ve DNF’d books because of it. I personally find it jarring, and it tends to pull me out of the story, and sometimes I find it difficult to get past it.

I know many authors write in this tense and it doesn’t bother everyone; it’s just a personal preference of mine, and I tend to shy away from books that use this tense. So this might be why the writing felt stilted and disjointed to me from time to time.

There also wasn’t a whole lot that went on. There was some mild angst but no serious dramatic conflicts. I have to admit that I was waiting for some explosive event to take place but there wasn’t much to speak of. There were no surprises, no plot twists and it ended up being somewhat predictable. I hate to say it, but I did get a tad bored from time to time as the story progressed.

Verdict

This was an adorable character-driven story with a likable cast of diverse characters. Give that this was more driven by the characters than the story, there’s not a whole lot of action going on so if you like your novels to be nail-biting roller-coaster rides, you won’t find that here. Luckily, the characters were multi-layered enough to hold my interest, and I did find myself invested in what happened to them.

Running with Lions was a light, fluffy summer story about friendship and love that was a fun read. Though it was somewhat of a light-hearted romance, it also dealt with several other important issues such as bullying (both Sebastian and Elmir), homophobia and racism.

If you enjoy sweet summery romances or stories about gays sports teams or summer camp, then you’ll want to check out this book. Though it was a little light on plot, I ended up enjoying it, and I’m glad I read it. It’s a worthy effort for a debut novel, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Mr. Winters comes up with next.

You can check out Running with Lions HERE

Review of Social Intercourse by Greg Howard

June 13, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

“If I would have known losing my virginity would be so nerve-racking, I would’ve stayed home and watched the Golden Girls marathon with my dad.” ~ Beckett Gaines

THE STORY

Social Intercourse is a romantic comedy that follows Beckett Gains, an out and proud gay teen living in a conservative town in South Carolina with his father. When his father begins dating the recently single (and supposedly lesbian) mom of former bully, Jaxon Parker, Beck is not amused. His father is emotionally fragile after Beckett’s mother left them and Beckett doesn’t want to see his father get hurt again. Jaxon (Jax) isn’t happy about the situation either and is willing to do whatever it takes to bring his two moms back together again.

Putting aside their past differences (and there is one serious one), the two boys form an unlikely alliance and concoct a plan to break up their parents. During their scheming, however, the boys begin to grow closer and the situation becomes even more complicated and confusing. And of course, nothing goes according to plan, leading to much drama and comic hijinks.

WHAT I LIKED

First off, this story was hilarious! This was a wild and fun romp whose witty and sarcastic lines had me laughing out loud nearly to the point of tears on more than one occasion. Beckett’s inner running commentary was especially humorous, and I liked him more and more with each page. The Golden Girls references were also a lot of fun. In the story, Beckett called his father “Rose,” the naive character on the Golden Girls whereas Beckett’s father called Beck “Dorothy,” the tough, more cynical character. The nicknames actually fit the characters quite nicely.

The story is told from the dual first-person point of view of Beckett and Jaxon, and it was fun seeing the world from each of their perspectives. I especially loved Beckett’s character – he was witty, sassy, irreverent, sarcastic, self-confident and absolutely lovable, and his snappy one-liners kept me laughing. I liked how he looked out for his dad and did whatever was necessary to ensure that his dad didn’t end up getting hurt. Speaking of relationships, I thought the positive portrayal of each boy’s relationship with his parents was sweet and refreshing.

I also enjoy Jax’s character. Though everybody thought of him as “The Great Jaxon Parker,” he was as insecure and unsure of himself as any of us, as he tried to find his place in the world. Not only that, he’s begun to question his sexuality and whether he is genuinely the hard-core heterosexual jock that everyone believes him to be.

So underneath his womanizing jock exterior, he was actually quite a likable character, and we see how one cannot tell what a person is really like from outward appearances.

What’s interesting, is that Jax and Beck’s rocky past brings up an important issue of how one should react when someone is being bullied. As we learned from this story, sometimes doing nothing when there’s abuse or bullying going on can cause even more harm than those who are actually doing the bullying. In this way, the story causes us to take a good hard look at our actions — or inactions — and how they can affect those around us.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

For me, there wasn’t too much to dislike about the story. My only real niggle was the familiar and often clichéd trope of the characters. For example, Beck was a choir-singing geeky gay kid, Jax was the super-hot star quarterback, JoJo was the extremely masculine lesbian, Tiffany, the “mean girl” cheerleader who is dating the football jock, and Shelby, the fat best friend. I would have preferred to see characters without the standard clichéd over-exaggerations.

I also didn’t care for the way that Beckett referred to Jax’s mother as “Big Titties” throughout the story, which really bothered me. From Beck’s inner monologue, it’s easy to see that he has a low opinion of her solely because of the fact she’s dating his dad. It would have been nice for Beckett to soften his view of her as the story progressed — perhaps give him the opportunity to get to know her a bit, which, unfortunately, never happened.

FINAL VERDICT

The couple niggles aside, I ended up loving this book! This was a fun, lighthearted and somewhat messy romance that brought a wonderful grin to my face during the final pages. Though this book was quite funny, it also dealt with some serious issues such as parental abandonment, bullying, bigotry, and divorce.

This was a quirky and poignant romance with plenty of humor and complex, well-developed characters. Nothing feels rushed in this story, so I enjoyed everything this enemies-to-lovers book had to offer. It was a truly captivating read that I didn’t want to end. I hope the author gifts us with a sequel to this story in the future because I’d love to see more of Jax, Beck, Shelby and all the other lovable secondary characters. Recommended!

You can check out Social Intercourse here at Amazon or at The Book Depository

Review of Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis

April 2, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I had no idea what this book was about going in – it somehow came to my attention, so I picked it up. I thought it might be a light, fluffy, coming out story. Boy, was I wrong! It was actually an intense story not only about a teen coming to terms with his sexuality but it was also about physical survival, so it was a tough book to read at times. This is a book that will definitely throw your heart into a blender.

The blurb is as follows:

Seventeen-year-old Evan Panos doesn’t know where he fits in. His strict immigrant Greek mother refuses to see him as anything but a disappointment. His quiet, workaholic father is a staunch believer in avoiding any kind of conflict. And his best friend, Henry, has somehow become distractingly attractive over the summer.

Tired, isolated, scared—Evan finds that his only escape is to draw in an abandoned monastery that feels as lonely as he is. And yes, he kissed one guy over the summer. But it’s Henry who’s now proving to be irresistible. Henry, who suddenly seems interested in being more than friends. And it’s Henry who makes him believe that he deserves more than his mother’s harsh words and terrifying abuse.

But as things with Henry heat up, and his mother’s abuse escalates, Evan has to decide how to find his voice in a world where he has survived so long by being silent.

This is a powerful and revelatory coming-of-age novel based on the author’s own childhood, about a boy who learns to step into his light.

The story follows 17-year-old Evan Panos, the son of two Greek immigrants and the book mainly revolves around Evan’s relationship with his mother. There is something seriously wrong with this woman – she’s a religious zealot who is both verbally and physically abusive to Evan. She whispers in his ear, such things as “you should just die” or “I should have killed you when you first came out of me” (I paraphrase here – I can’t remember the exact verbiage but it was something along those lines). I could almost feel that hatred she had for her son. She refuses to allow him to follow his dreams and in fact, goes out of the way to block him every step of the way.

Additionally, his mother is extremely homophobic, and though Evan has never come out to his parents, she suspects that he’s gay and accuses him of it constantly, all the while spewing constant homophobic vitriol towards her son. Evan goes through his days hiding his cuts and bruises from others, talking about how “clumsy” he is and how he is always falling off his bike.

It’s no surprise that Evan is scared, exhausted, isolated and in pain and his pain and suffering are so vividly evoked, that the reader is easily able to recognize the headspace he’s in and know how vulnerable he is. Thus, Evan decides to take the safest path possible: keep his head down, ignore his feelings for his crush and bide his time until he can finally leave home.

But as the story progresses, his mother’s abuse escalates and becomes even more terrifying, and as a reader, you can’t help but worry about Evan and wonder whether he’ll even make it out of this situation alive. As such, many parts of this book were especially difficult to read.

I found my heart breaking for Evan as he tried to hang in there and figure out who he could trust through all of this. So not only was he suffering from abuse at home, but he was also grappling with his sexuality and his identity while attempting to find his place in a world that was not all that kind to him at the moment.

It’s not very often you see stories of abuse at the hands of a mother, with a meek father sitting by, doing nothing and making excuses for the abuser’s behavior. Usually, we see the drunken, abusive stepfather trope, so it was refreshing to see another take on this, though it was no less horrifying. There were also others in authority positions that could have helped Evan but until the end of the book, choose to ignore what was going on.

But though the story is heart-wrenching, it is also beautiful, and Evan does come out shining at the end, thanks to the love and support of a boy he’s especially fond of and whose loyalty and compassion assist Evan in transcending his horrific experiences. So in this way, it is heartbreaking and heart-mending as he finally steps into his own and finds his voice. He comes to realize that no matter how much he might hope for his mother to change, it is up to him to make the change in his life and escape the madness of his situation.

Though the book does end on a positive, hopeful note, it is a book about a darker subject matter, so it’s probably not recommended for more sensitive readers as there are excessive physical and verbal child abuse triggers as well as homophobia. The descriptions of the abuse are graphic in places. But that being said, the ending was well done and optimistic. So in this way, it’s a story that first rips your heart out and then puts it back together.

This book is a painful yet powerful read that will have you angry during some parts and weeping with joy at others. It provided a multifaceted look at some of the more unsettling aspects of human relationships and a realistic portrayal of abuse at the hands of a fanatical parent. Though I found it emotionally draining at times, I was deeply touched by this story.

All in all, The Dangerous Art of Blending In was beautifully crafted and evocative, and though raw in places, it was a book I’m glad I had the opportunity to read. Recommended!

You can check out The Dangerous Art of Blending In HERE

Review of They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera

March 2, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

If you had one day to live, what would you do? This story is an honest and unafraid portrayal of two teens who had to make that decision — and all I can say is wow! They Both Die At The End is one of the most amazing books I’ve read this year — maybe ever. I knew from the title that this book was going to hurt my heart — and it did. As I listened to the audiobook, at one point, I found myself standing in the middle of the kitchen with tears streaming down my face. But the ride was so worth it.

The blurb is as follows:

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today.

Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

The Setting

Image, if you will, a world in the not-so-distant future in which everyone knows the day they are going to die. A public service called “Death-Cast” is charged with telephoning anyone — between the hours of midnight and 3:00 — who is going to die within the next 24 hours. No details are given except that each person is encouraged to live out their last day the best they can.

Such is the setting for “They Both Die At The End.” Shortly after midnight, two teens, Mateo and Rufus, each receive the dreaded Death-Cast phone call telling them that within the next 24 hours, they are going to die. What follows is how they decide to live their last day on earth.

The Last Friend App

There is an app available called “The Last Friend App” in which Deckers (the name given to those who’ve received their Death-Cast call) can find each other and if they so choose, opt to spend their last day together. Though both Mateo and Rufus have loved ones, outside circumstances intervene to keep them apart, so instead they reach out to each other via the app. Once they meet in person, they make the decision to spend their last hours with each other and help each other to face their fears and say goodbye.

Their Lives

As the two get to know each other, we learn more about their past and what brought them to this particular point in their lives. Rufus is a tough street-kid whose entire family drowned. Mateo lost his mother early in life, and his father is currently in the hospital in a coma. It’s also worth mentioning that Mateo appears to be afraid of the world, perhaps suffering from social anxiety and does his best not to leave the safety of his apartment.

What I loved most about these two characters is how they bring out the best in each other and support each other when situations or emotions become challenging.

The One Day

Though each other, they discover parts of themselves they thought they’d lost and this realization encourages them even more to live their last day to the fullest. The story isn’t simply a day in the life of two Deckers; rather, it is a progression as each boy learns to truly savor life perhaps for the first time ever – and in the process, they come together in the most beautiful way.

In the one day that they found each other, they experience joy, sadness, loss, a couple of terrifying near-death situations and love; and in so doing, these two boys experience a profound connection to the world around them and each other.

The Other Stories

There are several minor characters that connect (or nearly connect) with Mateo and Rufus during their day together, outlining nicely how we’re connected to others and how they, in turn, are connected to us. Silvera does an excellent job of weaving these intertwining stories together and demonstrating the importance and significance of even the minor events and interactions in our lives.

Verdict

Yes, this book is heartbreaking and you’ll most likely tear up (if not ugly cry) in several places throughout the book. They Both Die At The End is a haunting book and will stay with you for awhile. It’s been over a week since I’ve read it and I’ve thought about it every day since then. I think that this is one of those life-changing stories that after reading it, can make you view the world differently. In this way, it’s a hopeful book that makes you want to get out there and drink as much as you can from the cup of life while you still can.

Regardless of the title, this isn’t the story of how two boys die, but about how they live once they find each other; so in this way, it’s not about dying but rather about living. It’s a gentle reminder that no matter what we do, we’re all going to “die at the end” so why not make the most of the life we are experiencing now?

I thought the premise of this story was brilliant. The creative and original character-driven plot kept me interested each step along with way and I couldn’t help but hope that somehow, Rufus and Mateo would escape their fate and NOT both die at the end of their 24-hour adventure (but you’ll have to read it to find out).

This bittersweet story is so beautifully written that I’m still amazed by the effect that it had on me. I laughed in places; I cried in others. And the endearing, honest characters of Rufus and Mateo pulled me in and held me fast until the very end. I could relate to both of them in several different ways, sometimes uncomfortably so. Through Rufus and Mateo, we receive lessons about courage, growth, friendship and daring to take chances. You can’t help but fall in love with both of them. I know I did.

After this novel, Adam Silver is definitely on my “insta-buy” list (I also loved his book “History Is All You Left Me”, another emotional rollercoaster ride) as this book is a definite 5-star read for me. So I thank you, Adam Silvera, for this beautiful heartfelt story. Recommended!!

You can check out “They Both Die At The End” HERE

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