Review: Beyond Amazing!  (review contains spoilers)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 9, 2014
This was an amazing book!Alex is a 15 year old Latino boy growing up in the ghetto. He lives with his neglectful mother and her abusive boyfriend. He does poorly in school, deals a little weed, parties with his friends and has sex with girls to fit in. He knows no other life, and has nothing really that he looks forward to. He knows he is gay, but is afraid to admit it to others for fear of being beaten up or abandoned, so has decided to try to ignore that aspect of his life.[SPOILERS] Things come to a head when his mother's boyfriend burns his shoes and his arm. His teacher at school finds out and reports him to DCFS, and he is promptly removed from his home and put into a group home. He is scared, and betrayed when his mother never even attempts to get him back. At first, he doesn't even know how to try to turn his life in a different direction, but the caring foster family gradually shows him that there is more to life than what he left behind.Sebastian is another foster child in the home, who is mute, and generally believed to be "a retard". He appears not to be able to communicate at all. Alex starts talking to him, almost as one might talk to a dog, but he derives some comfort from this interaction, and so he tries to draw Seb out and get him to interact a little with the rest of the foster family. He is partially successful. He then admits to Seb that he is gay, not thinking Seb will understand, and starts to feel physically attracted to him. Alex is initially horrified by this reaction (because he still thinks Seb is unable to understand or consent to these feelings), but through this admission, he finds that Seb can indeed understand and communicate, and may even share his feelings. It is a revelation to Alex, and he feels his life is finally looking up and he can imagine a positive future.Then tragedy strikes. The group home burns down, and the foster children are all separated.The rest of the book describes Alex's journey to find, rescue, and protect Seb. He grows and matures as he does so, relearns some hard facts of life, encounters evil and selflessness. He becomes more selfless himself. Seb opens up, and as he learns to communicate with Alex, we see that he has a beautiful soul, despite the terrible abuse that led to his current condition. Although he is mute, the way he interacts with Alex shows a deep understanding and bond, and the communication does not seem unrealistic at all. It was just beautiful. There is still more pain and separation, but there is a HEA. The sex is very limited, but appropriate for the book and the characters.I am guessing that Ms Alva intended this as a stand alone book, but I would love to see a sequel. I know these boys are teenagers, and I don't normally buy into a relationship starting at that age ever becoming permanent (yeah, loved the Twilight series, but undying teenage love is about as real as vampires), but I actually believed it for these two. They had to fight through so much just to be friends, let alone boyfriends! I want to see them actually grow up together, see how they find a future and jobs and create a family. I want to know if Mimi and Star are ever redeemed. I want to see how Seb overcomes his disability -- and I know he WILL overcome it!I want to reread this book already. I loved it. Ms Alva is definitely on my auto-buy list, loved her other books as well! PLEASE write a sequel to this one!!!