Review: Reading it for the second time-possible spoilers
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 11, 2012
I liked this book a lot the first time I read it, but the second time through, I am not quite as dazzled by it. It seems strange to me now that Nick is such an extrovert, even during the period of time that he is being raped repeatedly by 2 different people. He has one guy raping him on the way home from work, and another waiting to rape him once he gets home. He has a happy-go-lucky personality as if nothing bad happens in the world, even while the worst things in the world all seem to be happening to him. Unrealistic. Meanwhile, Brandon feels unworthy because Nick is in college, and Brandon's a high school drop out, no job, no prospects. He wonders why Nick would want to be with him. I started to wonder myself, after all that whining. Brandon really has nothing to offer in this relationship.Also, once Nick and Brandon actually meet face to face and fall in love at first sight, so many bad things happen to them all within a week or two, it's unbelievable.The story is told in flashbacks, switching from the present to the past, and while in the present, they also talk a bit about what happened in the "middle." It's the little snippets about the middle part of the story that frustrated me. I guess reading pieces of 3 different time periods is just not my cup of tea.It's still a good read, when I want to suspend my disbelief and experience an emotional story about a star-crossed kind of relationship where everything is stacked against them, and they try to overcome it. But I'd give it 5 stars if my disbelief were easily suspended by the story, without so much effort.