Review: One of the Best Novellas
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 2, 2011
About 1270 locations...For a shorter novella the author still managed to give his characters a full story.  The story is told through Kyle's inter monologue POV. The writing and telling of this anti-fairy tale fairy tale is fantastic. I found myself immersed in Kyle's world and I couldn't help but root for him to get a HEA.I thought Goode's use of the crash testing of cars metaphor was creative as it was a nice parallel to the emotions Kyle felt / was describing.This novella reminded me somewhat of the Talker Series by Amy Lane. Not so much in regards to storyline, but in writing style and in the manner in which the person tries to come to terms with who they are and accept themselves, emotional baggage and all.Don't skip over this book thinking it's gonna be like some high school gay soap opera or something, cause it's so much more than that. There's humor (when Kyle said he was Brad's "History whore" in this one scene I just about died of laughter), there's fear (of being different, of being broken, of being rejected, of being alone, etc), there's love (first feelings of love, of finally feeling connected to another, feeling broken-hearted, accepting who you are, etc), and everything else in between. A couple of unexpected twists (on my part). There were two scenes where I found my mouth hanging open in surprise, but in hind sight I shouldn't have been surprised.Don't expect sex scenes either. There are a few make-out sessions, some touching & groping but other than that.... This story is about thoughts, feelings, & emotions not the physical expression of those things.I recommend reading this as it is a good coming of age/coming out/coming to terms with yourself story. Relatively quick read, but still worth it. I am looking forward to the sequel, The End of the Beginning.And an extra star for the Edward Cullen reference! Team Edward 4Life!!!!!!!!