Independent reviewer for Divine Magazine, I was gifted my copy of this book.
This is, according to the blurb, based on a movie of the same name. I'm guessing the movie came first. I've not seen it.
Tyler takes Chase home for the summer vacation from college. And it leads to all kinds of unravelling; of Chase, of Tyler and most importantly, of Tyler's parents marriage.
Chase is gay, but not out to Tyler, his roommate and best friend. He does come out during this summer though. Tyler's father, Nathan, sees in Chase the young man he used to be, who he MIGHT have been, had he and Stacey not had Tyler, right out of high school. Stacey is waiting for Nathan to tell her, something, anything. She knows it's coming. She just wasn't prepared for this.
I liked this, I did, mostly. I just can't quite pinpoint why I'm left feeling just okay about it. It's not a bad read, not by any means, it just didn't work for me.
But here's what I did like. All the major players have their say. Nathan, Chase, Tyler and Stacey all get to voice what is going on inside their heads and hearts while it all unravels at their feet. And you all know how much I love being able to hear from everyone. Tyler's little sister, Birdey, brings some light relief. She brings her own brand of ....well.....whatever a ten year old girl brings to situations like this. And she takes it all in her stride, so much better than the adults do.
It is relatively clean, with the scene between Nathan and Chase very much faded to black. I would class this as upper young adult. Maybe 16 plus, if you haven't read it. I'd let my nearly 16 year old read it. I did like that its faded to black here, it doesn't need the explicitness that comes with some male/male books.
So, because I DID finish it (it looked a little iffy at some points!) and because everyone I wanted to hear from had their say....
3.5 stars.
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
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- Narrator: Charlie David
