Five Star Review: Trailer Trash by Marie Sexton

Title: Trailer Trash

Author: Marie Sexton

Publisher/GR Link: Riptide, GR

Genre: MM, 1980’s

Vice: Coming Out, New Adult

Rating: 5 Stars

Lock this book up: 4 keys.  The sex is hot and totally supports the plot line.

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA

Cover Impressions: I love it.

Best Line: “If the world didn’t suck, we’d fall off.”

Synopsis: It’s 1986, and what should have been the greatest summer of Nate Bradford’s life goes sour when his parents suddenly divorce. Now, instead of spending his senior year in his hometown of Austin, Texas, he’s living with his father in Warren, Wyoming, population 2,833 (and Nate thinks that might be a generous estimate). There’s no swimming pool, no tennis team, no mall—not even any MTV. The entire school’s smaller than his graduating class back home, and in a town where the top teen pastimes are sex and drugs, Nate just doesn’t fit in.

Then Nate meets Cody Lawrence. Cody’s dirt-poor, from a broken family, and definitely lives on the wrong side of the tracks. Nate’s dad says Cody’s bad news. The other kids say he’s trash. But Nate knows Cody’s a good kid who’s been dealt a lousy hand. In fact, he’s beginning to think his feelings for Cody go beyond friendship.

Admitting he might be gay is hard enough, but between small-town prejudices and the growing AIDS epidemic dominating the headlines, a town like Warren, Wyoming, is no place for two young men to fall in love.

Impressions: I love Marie Sexton’s writing, and so I was very excited to see this upcoming release.  I couldn’t have anticipated how much I would love it!

Sexton does something amazing with the setting in this book.  She really captures the tones and attitudes to homosexuality, especially in a small town, and particularly in the dawn of the AIDS epidemic.  The hopelessness and isolation that Cody lives with is only exacerbated by the perceptions of his own sexuality.  Though I came out a few years after this, the attitudes towards homosexuality and the inextricable link to AIDs was very reminiscent to my own gay coming-of-age.

Cody and Nate were the driving force in this story, and Sexton did an amazing job of crafting two very different young men who, for very different reasons, found themselves alone and misunderstood.  Nate is a fish out of water in Wyoming, and when he finds Cody, who is alone in the midst of a sea of fish, they are immediately drawn to each other. 

This story definitely broke my heart at a few points.  Cody suffers so much, and his strength in the face of some of his challenges really touched me.  I ended the novel with a smile on my face, and the feeling that this was one of those rare, perfect stories that I will cherish and revisit.

Highly Recommended

New Release: Love Me Tenor (Perfect Harmony, #2)

Title: Love Me Tenor (Perfect Harmony #2)

Author: Annabeth Albert

Publisher/GR Link: Lyrical Shine, GR

Genre: New Adult

Vice: OFY, Interracial, Troubled family

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Lock this book up: 3 stars.  The sex is supported by the relationship

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA

Cover Impressions: Really cute.  I love the layout of this series.

Best Line: “…but it was OK.  They’d have time.”

Synopsis: Trevor Daniels is feeling aimless. A recent college grad, he’s not sure what to do with his useless degree, and his family all but abandoned him after he revealed the truth about himself. But a friend’s suggestion that he take his chances on a reality show aimed at finding the next big boy band strikes a chord with him—until the show’s producers convince him to act like he’s in a relationship with a guy who’s not at all his type. It isn’t exactly love at first sight for Jalen Smith either—but lust just might push them in an unexpected direction. If only their secrets weren’t even more twisted than their sheets, threatening to cost them the win—and each other…

Impressions: I loved the first book in this series, and Trevor broke my heart a little in book 1, so I couldn’t wait for him to get his own, well deserved, HEA.  I was not at all let down!

Jalen was adorable and so loving, and I loved learning about his family and his outlook on the world.  Trevor is such a perfect match for him, with his fumbling health, his self esteem issues and his longing to be loved.  The secondary characters were great and well developed, and the tv setting was well done.  I admit that I am a huge fan of the “pretend to be together” trope, and Alberts does it so well. 

It was so cute to watch Jalen and Trevor slowly fall in love and learn to trust in each other for the HEA they both wanted, but didn’t know they could ever have. 

This series has not let me down at all, and I am looking forward to book 3!

New Release: Getting Him Back

Title: Getting Him Back (Ethan and Wyatt #1)

Author: K.A. Mitchell

Publisher/GR Link: Carina Press, GR

Genre: MM Contemporary

Vice: New Adult, OFY, Dark past

Rating: 4 stars

Lock this book up: 3 keys.  The sex is hot and supports the plotline.

Length: Approx. 133 page Novel

Satisfaction: HFN

Cover Impressions: Adorbs!

Best Line: “Big time stupid love with a guy who was always going to need to be convinced that things didn’t have to suck.”

Synopsis: Ethan may have followed his high school sweetheart to college only to get dumped his first day there, but he's not going to let that stop him from exploring all his new life has to offer. Sex-only hookups, his photography, new friends and a campus-wide game of zombies vs humans all help keep his mind off his broken heart and move him toward building a new, better life without his ex.

And then there's Wyatt. Mysterious, grouchy—hot. And possibly not gay. But Ethan's not going to let that stand in the way of figuring out what makes Wyatt tick. New college goal? Get Wyatt into bed and into Ethan's life.

Step one: arrange a "tutoring" date. Step two: "accidentally" bump into Wyatt as often as possible. Step three: explore the sexy body under that ever-present hoodie. And when their friendship deepens into something neither of them expect, convince Wyatt he's not just a pity fling or a one-time hookup, but that Ethan is in it for the long haul.

Impressions: This was an adorable New Adult romance.  This was a sexy, fun read, and even when it dealt with some tricky topics, it always kept me entertained and hopeful for these two guys to find their HEA.

This story deals with Ethan’s realizations that first love isn’t always the fantasy it seems, and Wyatt’s journey to realize that first love is sometimes just as amazing as it seems.  Wyatt has a mysterious past, and things that he is afraid to share, and it was wonderful to watch Ethan learn that not every challenge in his life is the worst thing that can happen to someone.  

Ethan was adorable, but Wyatt really grabs your heart strings and pulls you into the page.  There were some great secondary characters, and an engaging and dynamic college setting.  Wyatt and Ethan get their HFN, but I think there is more story to tell, and I cannot wait to revisit them and learn even more about their journey to their HEA.