Review: A short story that left me feeling as though I had read a full length coming of age romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 16, 2012
I can count on Andrew Grey to quickly immerse me into someone else's life and have me feeling everything they are going through, even when it's the life of someone completely different from me. That's one of the things I love most about his books. In Shared Revelations I was thrown into the life of Eddie, an 18 year old man living in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1966. Eddie is obsessed with football and working at a good, if mind numbing, job at a toilet paper factory. Even though we have absolutely nothing in common, I was still feeling Eddie's frustration and desperation as he thought about his future.Eddie is a normal, everyday guy living one day to the next and hanging out with his friends watching football. Everything changes when he gets to meet Johnny Grant, the famous football player he has been secretly obsessing and lusting after. Eddie can't believe his good fortune when Johnny shows an interest in spending time with him. Then it goes beyond his wildest fantasies when Johnny lets him know he wants more than simple friendship.I have to admit that I was a little worried when I read the blurb. I did not want to read another version of a Cinderello fantasy. Thankfully, I can happily say that I never felt even one hint of fairy tale love.  What I got was the nervous excitement surrounding Eddie as he experienced love and sex for the first time. That high is tempered by the fact that Eddie has to keep all of this a secret from his best friends. The strain of compartmentalizing his life soon begins to drag him down. The people who love him start to notice and the elated excitement of being with Johnny is squelched when reality sets in. Eddie realizes he has some important decisions to make. Does he accept the future that has been laid out for him, continue working at the factory, meet a nice girl, and have a family? Or, should he take the risk of losing everything he knows in order have a chance at true happiness?I really liked Eddie and I wanted him to have the life which would truly make him happy. But, I could see the overwhelming dilemma he faced and why he would be so torn. Writing this review I realize that it sounds like just another version of a story I've read again and again. I can't deny that, but when it's well written and I connect with the characters, I don't mind. It feels fresh again. For me, the best part of the entire book was the ending. I loved that it was from the view of Eddie as an old man looking back on his life and the decisions he made.How the author managed to make me feel as though I had read a complete story in just 53 pages is beyond me. All I can say is that I never felt as though anything was missing. It's simply a happy, heartwarming story of enduring love, with just a hint of sweet, in a deceptively small book.*The publisher provided a copy of this book in return for an honest review.