Title: Forget You
Author: Jennifer Echols  [website] [twitter] [facebook]
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: MTV Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchase
Parental Advisory: drugs, alcohol, language, sex, adultery, criminal activity, mental instability
Teachable Moments: communication, independence, reliability, honesty, trustworthiness

Echols, once again, creates a strong character based contemporary romance with a dynamic plot and relatable characters.  Both Zoey and Doug are flawed in a myriad of ways.  She most profoundly defined by her father’s adultery and mother’s subsequent decent into a nervous breakdown.  Doug, on the other hand, is a known criminal — feared by most and kept at arms length by all.  It was inevitable that the two would in some way lock horns.

The plot of the story revolves around Zoey and how she deals with her father’s indiscretions and mother’s instability.  Her father, a jerk by anyone’s definition, is controlling and manipulative and just short of abusive.  Her mother is desperate and emotional and unable to cope with the reality of her life.  Neither are capable of taking care of a child, which leaves Zoey to her own devices.  She copes as best she can but given the situation it’s not unexpected to see her fail at it.  Through a series of indiscretions and missteps of her own, as well as a fairly good sized secret being kept from her, Zoey and Doug find their way to each other.

Though simple, the plot was enjoyable but what made the book for me really was the characters.  Watching Doug and Zoey struggle, not only against their individual problems but each other, as they attempted to find stability was the best part of the book. As mentioned previously, both were written as strong characters, the kind that were flawed and weak yet managed to come out at the end better off than where they started.  Additionally, Echols graces her novels with a healthy dose of realism, she’s not one to sugar coat situations nor is she one to create teens that are either too old or too young for their age.  I greatly appreciate that about her work and it’s one of the reasons I continue to look forward to reading more.

Title: When the Stars Go Blue
Author: Caridad Ferrer [website] [twitter] [facebook]
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchase
Parental Advisory: sex language, criminal activity, physical abuse
Teachable Moments: physical and emotional abuse, sexuality

A modernization of Bizet’s Carmen, Ferrer has created a richly drawn story of a young dancer who joins a drum and bugle corp as it’s principle dancer.  The plot is compelling; the two main characters intriguing.  This story, however, is not for the faint of heart.  There is palpable seduction and sensuality….some serious sexy times.  Moreover, there is no shortage of angst to be had.

At it’s root this is a story of abuse (domestic, physical and emotional).  The abuse of a son by his father leads to the abuse of a girl by her boyfriend.  One would think it’s simple and straight-forward, but that is where one would be wrong.  There are so many undertones and so many complexities that despite the ease with which the story can be read you have to dig deep to grab hold of all the subtleties and nuances.

What I enjoyed most of this story was the romance between Soledad and Jonathan. They built a tentative relationship the quickly exploded into a full fledged obsessive romance.  They were tightly bound by their shared love of the performing art and boy oh boy were they passionate about each other.  Naturally his passion builds into much more and then ultimately destroys them.  But man, the ride getting there is tumultuous.

Ferrer is an amazing writer, so eloquent and descriptive that the emotion of this story leapt right off the page.  Each of the characters (with maybe the exception of Taz who was entirely lost on me) was well drawn and complex enough to provide opportunity for deeper exploration.  What astonished me most was the fact that she created a character in Jonathan that I was able to root for.  He was wrong in every imaginable way and not necessarily the right person for Soledad but gah, I wanted the end to be different.  Boy did I want that.  Kudos to Ferrer for creating a fantastic contemporary romance with teachable moments that didn’t beat me over the head with preachy morals.

Title: Love Drugged
Author: James Klise [website] [twitter] [facebook]
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: Flux  Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher (via BEA)
Parental Advisory: drugs, sexuality
Teachable Moments: sexual identity

What initially drew me to this book was the uniquely devised plot that spoke to one teen boy’s desire to hide his sexuality from his family and peers.  What kept me enthralled was the excellent execution of all the touch points that made the story stand out from others.  From Jamie’s own belief that he, perhaps, didn’t understand his own body and mind well enough to the desperation of wanting to fix it all when he finally did Love Drugged was not always an easy ride.

From the outset I am shown that Jamie is not one to rock the boat.  He’s got a certain desperation to be happy but how he goes about attempting to achieve that happiness is a bit ass backwards.  Conflicted over wanting to embrace his sexuality by coming out publicly to friends and family and doing everything possible he can to deny it he takes the path of least resistance and attempts to be someone he’s not.  Specifically, he attaches himself to a young pretty girl by the name of Cecelia.  With her he builds the allusion of a heterosexual relationship but still maintains enough distance to forego the truly intimate (physical and emotional) connections of a relationship.  Then things get a significantly more complex, as the daughter of a doctor Cecelia unknowingly provides Jamie access to a new drug being researched that (for lack of a better descriptor) turns off homosexuality.  Thus begins Jamie’s quest to do so.  Using Cecelia’s affection for him, and playing the role of boyfriend, he opens up the opportunity to get his hands on these pills.  Taking them intermittently he truly believes that he is changing and becoming the man Cecelia deserves.

One of the elements I like best about this story is the genuine way Jamie works through all of his issues.  Sure, he’s using Cecelia and lying to the important people in his life but he feels conflicted and remorseful at doing so.  He really wants to become the person they all want him to be, much more so than being the person *he* wants to be.  It’s quite sad really, that is until he has his final revelation and sets himself free.  When that occurs it’s a wonderful moment.

As I said, this story is quite unique and it’s written so well — great care is taken not to minimize Jamie’s homosexuality nor glorify it.  He’s a boy who happens to love boys, and as many teens do he struggles with the realism of that.  More importantly he struggles with what the impact of that fact will mean publicly.  Will he be shunned, bullied, disowned?  One would think that this fear would be what drives him to his actions but I felt the conflict all the time.  I believed he had genuine feelings for Cecelia, the question was whether he was convincing himself there was more there than what there truly was.   In the end the questions he has for himself are clearly answered but the journey taken has been more difficult than he could have imagined.