Elpída. Hope.

Because without hope, we are all lost.

Because without hope, we have nothing.

The final installment of this trilogy leaves me shattered and sad, and full of anger towards the men who perpetrate this kind of abuse on children. But most of all, it leaves me with hope, exhilarated and happy, which, in this context, is nothing short of magic on the author’s part.

To take this extremely important and difficult subject matter, and lovingly show it without condescension or sensationalism, and give so many young people hope? Magic, indeed.

There is such powerful truth in this series. There is such compassionate giving of hope. It is horrid and beautiful at the same time, and it has a way of sending a spiraling sense of meaning out to young people who are hurting, telling them there is a future, there is a life, there is a way. Telling them that there are good people out there, who will love them.

Hope. Truly the most powerful of all human feelings.

We started with beauty in book one. And horror. And friendship. And love.

Omorphi. Beauty.

We continued with courage in book two. Lots and lots of courage. And love.

Thárros. Courage.

We finish with hope in this third book, as we run, and hide, and make mistakes, and fix them again. And love.

Elpída. Hope.

Thimi is a young boy who lived through the same horrors as Christy in Greece, and Christy finally gets to see his old friend again as he arrives in the US as a scared little waif of a boy. Thimi slowly opens up through the story, and as he starts to understand the sunshine that can exist in a normal life we get to see more about what happens inside a child after abuse.

When you read a YA book, not often does it also work as a manual of how to do things to help a former victim of abuse. It is not often that, in soft tones and sweet turns of phrase, you will understand and learn how to act around people who have been through the unthinkable. Who have been through the unspeakable.

This is a little bit like a beautifully crafted Technical Manual of Care and Maintenance for those who work with our collective youth, especially if they work with children or young adults who have had a hard time.

And the end result? The telling of a great, great love story — with true friendship shining through, the kind of love that inspires both happy endings and good laughs.

There are other new fascinating characters entering the scene, too, and especially Zero is someone I would love to see more of in a future book... I can truly say that I hope this trilogy gets a fourth and fifth instalment, because there are still things I’d like to know, (and history is full of excellent trilogies in five parts). (Just sayin’).

Beauty and Courage and Hope.

Because Elpida means hope.

And, as we said in the beginning, without hope, we are all lost.

***

I was given a free copy of this book from the publisher, Harmony Ink Press.

A positive review wasn’t promised in return. I also beta-read an early version of the manuscript.

Loved, just loved this.

Loved the language, loved the story, and loved the way life goes on, only differently.

So happy to see that there were no quick fixes, and no miraculous come backs, only a hard-earned struggle to make life work again.

Kudos, author, you did a great job.

We need more books like this one.

Simply loved it.

*** Bought this book with my own monies ***

What a delightful short novel this is. I love the strong main character, Kayla, and I enjoyed walking by her side as she started to come to terms with who she was.

We need more books for young adults that cover the whole spectrum of diversity, and this one is great at talking about the age-old teenage problems of Where do I fit in? and, Who am I?

Few things in life are more confusing than being a teenager. Not feeling “normal” is normal. But getting someone to help you see your true potential and who you are? And making sure you get what you want?

Priceless.

Easy to say, I loved this. It is clean, clear, and beautiful—and it brings hope. I want this in the hands of as many young adults as possible, so that they can see that they are okay, as they are, and that they can have any kind of relationship that makes them happy.

I loved it. Because it’s great also for grown-ups.

***

I was given a free copy of this book from the publisher, Harmony Ink Press. A positive review wasn’t promised in return.

The story runs, skips, and ducks, and my heart is in my throat most of the time, never thinking the boys will make it out in one piece. But they duck like pros, so there is HEA at the end. **phew**

I have no idea what the author wants to do with these boys going forwards, as this is book 1 in a series. There is, however, a good feeling of completion at the end, so it is certainly a stand-alone book.

All the biblical stuff just swooshed past me, as I am not much of a christian at all, but it was a fun backdrop to the telling of this specific covenant between a David and a Jonathan. It is set in Texas in the early 90s, and that can’t have been an easy time and place in which to be gay. When we get angry about things today, it does us good to look back, just a few years, and see how far we have come, after all.

There were a lot of teenage sexy times in this book. I never really understood how old the boys were, but I surmise underage, even if not by much, which might rub some people the wrong way. It was never explicit, nor exploitative, but quite insistent. Mostly, it was teenage hormones boiling in their blood. That’s good, if you like that kind of thing. For me personally, it got to be a tad too much, but then again, I’m currently off the sexy.

There were a lot of people in the story, and among the very memorable secondary characters, I loved the little boys best—Elijah and Cody were hilarious. They waltzed straight into my heart.

All in all, this is a really cute book, with a good story that made me happy.

***

I was given a review copy of this book from the publisher, Cool Dudes Publishing. A positive review wasn’t promised in return.

There is compassion in this writing, a feeling of acceptance and love both for all things normal, and all things different. 

I loved the setup for this story, and I love how the language flows. Seriously well-edited texts are such a treat. I only noticed one wrong verb usage, a couple of typos, and a brand name that was misspelled. That’s really, really good, these days.

But. I got confused with so many POVs. Too many characters for only 190 pages, and I must confess I was quite confused when we travelled into the minds of five whole different people. A little bit disappointed that the old trope that bisexual people are promiscuous. Can we please stop it, and soon.

I am a sucker for the insta-love trope, and here it was simply brilliant. I also loved that the women weren’t all painted in a bad/good color, as so often happens. They were real people, one of whom even redeemed herself. Full points for that one.

Everybody has secrets. I would have liked this story even more, had it not been set in the glamorous Hollywood. It kind of made the “problem” so much bigger—needlessly so, as the problems Zack and Sky would be facing are quite daunting all on their own in a normal setting; it didn’t need the added pressure of fame. It actually took away a little bit of their complete anguish. Because, mark my words, there was anguish here.

I love the debunking of the idea (quite common, still), that bisexual men are gay men who haven’t come all the way out of the closet yet.

They are not. The just simply like both men and women, as a preference for a potential partner.

The struggle is real. Transgendered people, pre- or post-op, and bisexual people, while still part of the LGBT community, are sorely underrepresented in today’s literature, and seem to be quite invisible, at times. The same goes for bisexual people.

So I am giving this book five stars for taking the dive into this universe.

And for doing it well, I might add.

***

I bought this book with my own money.