Best Gay Coming of Age/Young Adult (1° place): Summer Song by Louise Blaydon
I know I was expecting a lot from this novel, after all it was the Dark Horse of the Rainbow Awards, winning first place in the Coming of Age/Young Adult category when more or less no one even knew the story was out, but what I was not expecting for it is to be sweet, tender and yes, even a bit sexy. First of all the story is pretty complex on the writing style field. The author decided to tell it from 4 different points of view, all in first person. Only that 3 of them, best friends Christopher “Kit” and Billy, and Kit’s girlfriend Caitlyn “Lyn”, tell the story like their thoughts are brainstorming in their mind, while Leonard “Lenny”, the new kid in town, is writing a journal. Plus the story starts at the beginning of the year school, with Kit wondering why Billy seems to be surprised, and even a bit scared, by the new kid in the school, Lenny, to then flashbacking three months before, in June, when Lenny is moving from Massachussetts to California to spend the summer with his maternal grandparents.
Kit is obviously jealous of the tight relationship Billy and Lenny developed during the summer, probably even more since he was not there to witness it; Kit spent the summer with his own grandparents, and he left a best friend, Billy, who was almost like a brother and who was telling him everything, to come back to an almost stranger, a Billy that is not even able to tell him that he has a new friend. Yes, Kit is jealous, but even if he wonders if this jealousy means something else, Kit is in love with Lyn, and that is not something he is questioning. What he is questioning, and what makes him angry, is that Billy is no more able to consider him a trusted friend, Billy is no more coming to him to share his soul, he is probably going to the other boy, the new kid, one that has no right over Billy since Kit was there before him.
That was how the story was developing at first, more about the friendship between Kit and Billy and how they were trying to save it; but then it suddenly moved to Billy and Lenny, and how they were instead trying to understand what was happenning between them. The time is the 1955, and it’s not that being gay is something common, let alone in a small town in California. There is no one they can talk to, and while Billy has some experiences with girls, Lenny has neither that, and so they are flumbling around, trying to understand what is good and what is right, what they like and what they don’t.
As I said I was surprised by the “light” undertone of the story; it’s not that the author forgot that being gay was illegal in 1955, it’s only that she decided to not weight it on these boys, letting them living their summer, and then year school, love affair. Truth be told, at the beginning, I had the feeling of reading a man on man version of “Grease”, with Billy in the role of a very surprised Danny Zucco who finds out that Sandy has not gone back to Australia. But Billy is more honest, and probably more in love, than the hero of Grease, and in no way he can deny Lenny’s existence or his love for him.
Summer Love is a very romantic story, and if you, like me, were worried of reading of a same sex love in the 1955, don’t worry, in this case love is stronger than anything else.
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Amazon: Summer Song
Amazon Kindle: Summer Song
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http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
I know I was expecting a lot from this novel, after all it was the Dark Horse of the Rainbow Awards, winning first place in the Coming of Age/Young Adult category when more or less no one even knew the story was out, but what I was not expecting for it is to be sweet, tender and yes, even a bit sexy. 
Judith Krantz (born Judith Tarcher on January 9, 1928 in New York City), is an American novelist who writes in the romance genre. Her works include 
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Judith Krantz (born Judith Tarcher on January 9, 1928 in New York City), is an American novelist who writes in the romance genre. Her works include 
, 
, and 
. 
Director: Umberto Riccioni Carteni 
Director: Umberto Riccioni Carteni 
This is another of those little jewels that the somewhat overlooked Changeling Press catalogue can offer if you dig a bit. Of course I was helped on my discovery thanks to the name of the author, Sharon Maria Bidwell, one of the first gay romance author I read, and one of my favorite too. 
This is another of those little jewels that the somewhat overlooked Changeling Press catalogue can offer if you dig a bit. Of course I was helped on my discovery thanks to the name of the author, Sharon Maria Bidwell, one of the first gay romance author I read, and one of my favorite too. 
With the New Year, I decide to challenge myself ;-) In this last few months my reading list is overflowing, and even if I do read a lot, some "do not miss" books unfortunately "missed" my schedule. And since I have finally surrendered to the e-reader mania and bought an Amazon Kindle, I decided to dig in all those books that are now available to me in a Kindle format.
With the New Year, I decide to challenge myself ;-) In this last few months my reading list is overflowing, and even if I do read a lot, some "do not miss" books unfortunately "missed" my schedule. And since I have finally surrendered to the e-reader mania and bought an Amazon Kindle, I decided to dig in all those books that are now available to me in a Kindle format.
The starting point of this “how to do” book on bettering yourself and your life, Straight from your gay best friend: the straight-up truth about relationships, work, and having a fabulous life, is that, your best gay friend will always give you the right advice since he is not interested himself in what you want. Another woman will be jealous, another man, not gay, will probably work for himself more than you, but a gay man? He will be your best friend since he will be an ally and not a competitor (now, this is not considering all the bisexual men out there, but that is probably in line with the author’s experience, that basically bisexual is only a phase, or you are straight or you are gay). 
The starting point of this “how to do” book on bettering yourself and your life, Straight from your gay best friend: the straight-up truth about relationships, work, and having a fabulous life, is that, your best gay friend will always give you the right advice since he is not interested himself in what you want. Another woman will be jealous, another man, not gay, will probably work for himself more than you, but a gay man? He will be your best friend since he will be an ally and not a competitor (now, this is not considering all the bisexual men out there, but that is probably in line with the author’s experience, that basically bisexual is only a phase, or you are straight or you are gay). 
The Case of the He-Bot Hunks is another silly adventure of the Darcy Boys, the unlikely duo cooked uo by the fervide mind of A.J. Ryan, one of the pseudos of Geoffrey Knight. The Darcy Boys are two stepbrothers, one 18 years old wasp boy from the West Coast and his recently acquired “twin”, an Afro-American street boy from New York City. Tommy is all innocence and joy, Dash is all sex and as much joy as Tommy; no one of them is really dumb, but let us say that they are not exactly geniuses. But they are young, they are wealthy, and they are all alone for the summer, and they have all intention to enjoy the combination. 
The Case of the He-Bot Hunks is another silly adventure of the Darcy Boys, the unlikely duo cooked uo by the fervide mind of A.J. Ryan, one of the pseudos of Geoffrey Knight. The Darcy Boys are two stepbrothers, one 18 years old wasp boy from the West Coast and his recently acquired “twin”, an Afro-American street boy from New York City. Tommy is all innocence and joy, Dash is all sex and as much joy as Tommy; no one of them is really dumb, but let us say that they are not exactly geniuses. But they are young, they are wealthy, and they are all alone for the summer, and they have all intention to enjoy the combination. 
