Top 100 Gay Novel: Crossing Borders by Z.A. Maxfield

[reviews_and_ramblings]

This one was a certain to-buy-book: first it's a may/december relationship and I love it, second it's a Loose Id LGBT book and with rare exception I buy all of them (but this doesn't mean that I read all of them...), third it has a young character, probably virgin, and I'm very naughty about it... Plus, and I'm sincere about that, after deciding that I would buy it, I discovered that it was the first book of one of my LJ friends (I recognized the cover) and so one more reason, since I followed all the gestation (how I missed that it would be out with Loose Id, I don't know, but my brain sometime lose a chip here and there).

When I first opened it, thinking to read it on a session before sleep, I had a little surprise: it was 300 pages long, no way I could read it in one night. And another concern was: it is enough good to keep my attention for so much pages? The answer is yes: the book is funny and compelling and if not for my body need of sleeping, I wouldn't put it down till the end. But as soon as I had the time to end it, it was my first thing in the to do list!

Tristan is a 19 years old horny guy... well, poor boy, horny maybe is a strong word, but it's exactly what he is. At fourteen years old Tristan was wondering if he liked girls or boys, but since he was a very cute boy, and girls are smarter then boys at that age, all the girls around caught him before he was able to catch a boy. And so for the next five years Tristan enjoyed the life and the girls... but now he is arrived at a point where he is able to discern, and sexual release is not the only thing he wants. He is finally ready to admit that he is attracted by men, and a man he wants... being around all that girls has taught him a lot of things, above all that the better place to drag is a bookstore. And since he wants to draw a man, what better place that the gay section?

On his very first expedition, Tristan gets lucky... maybe... since the man he hooks up is Officer Michael Truax, the young cop who patrols the neighbor and that always preaches him about being a good boy. But Michael is also a very sexy guy, 27 years old and friendly when he is not on duty. Soon Tristan is ready to forget that Michael is a cop, to enjoy the fact that he is a gay man willing to teach him a thing or two on how it should be the life of a healthy gay man. What it starts like a funny thing soon becomes the real thing, and Tristan has to decide if he is ready for it: no doubt that he is in love with the man, but he is still a 19 years old boy at his very first experience on the "dark" side... maybe he needs to consider other ways, before setting for true?

In this book there is the right dose of awareness that being a gay man today is not always simple, but luckily our two characters don't fight too much to find their way in the world; reality is there, right behind them, and sometime it makes its appearance, but all in all, it leaves them free to enjoy their love.

Michael is a very nice character. Strong, good, tender and caring... and wealthy! A good son, loving with his mother, and a good boy, always ready to offer an hand or an ear. Maybe he is not a man easy to fire up, but he is always "warm"; and he has passion inside: he doesn't deny his desires and his needs; he was attracted to Tristan since the guy was 17 years old but obviously he has never act on his passion since the moment the boy is legal and willing; but as soon as he understands that the boy is ready to be pick up, he is there in front line: no regrets on being too old or on gives him space to test his newfound sexuality, if someone needs to teach something to Tristan, it will be him.

Tristan is a joy to read. He is funny, sweet and sexy. He is clearly a boy with a great spirit and a loving family behind him. He was raised in good way, and he has strong values; he knows what is right and what is wrong; life maybe has put him in front of some obstacles (he lost his father 2 years before), but all in all he walks in steady grounds. And so he can enjoy life, and makes enjoy it also to you, with a freedom that is refreshening.

The story of Michael and Tristan is funny and sexy. There is a lot of sex, but it's always light and not angst: it is almost like you savor it with the same joy and sense of discovery that is of Tristan.

http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=755

Amazon: Crossing Borders
Amazon Kindle: Crossing Borders
Paperback: 316 pages
Publisher: Loose Id, LLC (September 8, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1596327839
ISBN-13: 978-1596327832

Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Anne Cain