Review: Well worth it!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 30, 2012
So. Damn. Good. I don't write many reviews, but here goes. This is not a "gay" book. It is a novel written about gay characters. It could just as easily have been written about a rich/poor heterosexual couple, or white/black or catholic/jewish or any other two groups of people that bigots think don't belong together. If you want sex, this book is not for you. To Touch the Stars is a love story for the ages. This book is so well-written. It was a vocabulary lesson (which I love!) in that the author uses words not often heard in everyday conversation. The dictionary feature on my Kindle Fire got a good work out. I love that it was a challenging read verbally, intellectually and emotionally. Not a light read at all, but it will put more back in to you than it takes out. To Touch the Stars didn't just "touch me" or "break my heart" or "pull at my emotions". It completely obliterated me emotionally. I had to try to find all the little pieces of me to put myself back together. I think I may still be missing a few...The MCs were so well-developed, I actually felt like I was growing up with them. Jeremy Pack made them fly off the page and into my brain and heart and bloodstream. There's a scene in the book where Nick is bailing out of a crashing helicopter and he shapes his body, as much as he is able, into a missle to propel himself as far away from the copter as possible. That is how I picture Tait and Nick coming out of my Kindle and into me.The supporting characters were crafted so well that it is clear the MCs would never have become who they were without their support (sometimes not so supportive, but you know what I mean). Ok, maybe influence would be a better word choice than support. Maybe from now on we should refer to supporting characters as influencing characters?I like want to go find the book that Tait was writing about his time in Cambodia to read how he felt when (view spoiler). I want to know what he was going through and what happened to him in the two months between those two events. And what happened while Tait & Alex were in Africa? I know it's a fictional character not really writing an autobiographical book, but still! Nick's mom's book? I want to read it! She's responsible for the title, after all.And Adam. Can I just say that I wish we had met him sooner? Or maybe his story needs to be told on it's own? Or maybe he is just what he is, a brief moment of clarity to show us how to grab the joy when we can. He just had so much damn heart and insight. The fact that such a minor player is so interesting is an indication of the depth of layers Jeremy Pack wrote for his charcters. THIS is the kind of book Hollywood should be shopping to make into a movie, not that erotica book that shall not be named 50 times.Finally, the cherry on top, a freakin' 1980's "Days of Our Lives" reference! So cool. And so very highly, bloody, extremely, profoundly and tremendously recommended!