Review: Five stars aren't enough!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 26, 2014
Ok, I confess - I have a huge crush on this author/photographer and couldn't wait to get my hands on this book.  Let me start by telling you that I adored it, I couldn't put it down and I've had the worst book hangover since, well, the last Dan Skinner book!Well, Dan has certainly done it this time. This is no beautiful love story with young, innocent boys - oh hells no! This book is a front row seat to a train wreck. There were places in this book that made me scream "oh NO HE DIDN'T!  But alas, he did.This is the story of JJ and Dick. It takes place over ten long years. JJ is a nice guy. I suspect Dan is too. All of us want to believe the best in people, that everyone is inherently good, but sometimes that just isn't the case. This book is (I suspect) very close to autobiographical. It is an extremely intimate, brutally honest window into what happens when a good, trusting, honest person gets slowly manipulated by a well, dick.There were so many times I felt sorry for Dick, a closeted gay man with internalized homophobia whose life is just one big bunch of lies. He's miserable. He is the dictionary definition of a mama's boy and it's easy to see where Dick learned the art of manipulation. But there's also a very evil side to Dick and I hated him much more than I felt sorry for him.It's hard to say more without giving the whole story away, but I have to say something about JJ's trainer Alex. He was a godsend in this story and perhaps in real life as well. He showed JJ his own worth. He listened. He was there for him when he needed him most of all. That's what friendship and love is all about. The ending of this book is perfect. I couldn't get the grin off my face. If nothing else, I hope the ending is true, JJ deserves a happy ending. Read this book, you'll be hooked by the first paragraph.