Review: Boys Love at its best! Sensational, Hot and Angst-ridden
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 21, 2014
Lovers of Yaoi and Male/Male Romance alike will love this enchanting, but angst-ridden episodic story that pits three young men against the sordid jungle of the big city—I know I did. This first book in the series introduces us to Ty Iverson, the teenage runaway of the title, Dani, a young man who has come to the city hoping to start a singing career, and Kaeden, a twenty-year-old Chinese boy, who left home after his parents’ negative response to his coming out.Battered and bruised, seventeen–year-old Ty Iverson is on the run from his abusive father, regretfully leaving his mother and younger sister behind. With little money and a hastily stuffed backpack he heads to the city hoping his policeman father’s influence will be less formidable outside of his jurisdiction. He doesn’t hold much hope for that—Richard Iverson is an esteemed member of the force. No one will believe he regularly punches and whips his son, let alone that he chained Ty up and locked him in his room for days without food or care. His mother doesn’t have a clue and his sister only realizes what has been happening when Ty runs. But the city has its own form of abuse. Afraid that his father will find him, Ty refuses all offers of help and lives on the streets where his pretty boy looks draw too much attention. One cold, rainy night when Ty has lost all he owns and is violently ill he accepts the help of a male nurse, Abe, and a tentative friendship is born.There is a lot of action in this engaging story as Ty tries to stay one step ahead of his father who uses his position to track his son. Ty’s idyllic time with Abe is cut short when Abe kisses him—a not unpleasant experience, but Ty isn’t gay…is he? Conflicted, but certain his father will only cause Abe trouble, Ty returns to living on the streets. He is literally running from his father when he meets Dani, who offers him a place to stay. But terrified of his growing internal conflict Ty refuses Dani’s offer and sticks to the street-life. A friendship is struck nonetheless and through Dani, Ty meets Kaeden. From that point on the boys’ fates are forever entwined.I found the story to be a scrumptious feast for the emotional and visual senses. Beautifully woven into what initially appears to be Ty’s story, are the stories of Dani and Kaeden. Multiple storylines and intriguing twists and turns are skillfully aligned in a fast-paced, non-stop parade of adventures that read like a sweet dream, thanks to the author’s clear, concise writing. There is plenty of sweet, hot smex and some not-so-sweet brutality, as the boys each learn that big city life is full of sordid traps and predators, perhaps more so for pretty young things like these boys. There is also a large supporting cast of memorable characters, include the members of Leather, a band on the brink of breaking into the big time, Tommy the charismatic femme prostitute who prowls the bus station looking for young runaways to recruit, and Sally, the landlord of a large house, who finds “clients” for her young lodgers.To my mind the story read with the ease of Jet Mykles’s Heaven Sent series, and the camaraderie of HBO’s Entourage with a hint of ABC’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager tossed in. This heady combination worked really well for me. Be warned—all storylines are not resolved at the book’s end. I was ecstatic to find the adventures continue in two additional books, Redemption and Revenge, and immediately purchased them.Thank you, J. Vaughn, for penning this smashing “coming of age in the big city” tale.“Trippy, Smexy, Love”