Book Review: With Every Letter

With Every Letter (Wings of the Nightingale Book #1)

Author: Sarah Sundin

Publisher: Revell

Genre: Historical Romance

Synopsis: They know everything about each other--except their real names.

Lt. Mellie Blake is looking forward to beginning her training as a flight nurse. She is not looking forward to writing a letter to a man she's never met--even if it is anonymous and part of a morale-building program. Lt. Tom MacGilliver, an officer stationed in North Africa, welcomes the idea of an anonymous correspondence--he's been trying to escape his infamous name for years.

As their letters crisscross the Atlantic, Tom and Mellie develop a unique friendship despite not knowing the other's true identity. When both are transferred to Algeria, the two are poised to meet face-to-face for the first time. Will they overcome their fears and reveal who they are, or will their future be held hostage by their pasts?

Thoughts: The romance and history in this book were very satisfying but the characters drove me bonkers.

Both the male and female lead repeatedly remark that their desired spouse HAS to be Christian and it is heavily implied that non-Christians cannot be good people. This type of thinking is very insulting and I have to admit that it really took away from my enjoyment of the book. I didn't mind that they talked about their beliefs but the overt non-believers are bad was really off-putting.

One of the things I liked about the book was that like Somewhere in France it looked at the role of women during the war. Unlike Somewhere in France this book is set during the Second World War but even here women were seen as less and they had to fight for the right to do even try things they knew they were qualified for.

Another aspect that I enjoyed and that kept me reading was the focus on the fighting in Africa. Although I have read a great deal about ww2 most of my reading has been focused on Europe and so this meant I got a new perspective on the war. I hadn't realized that it was quite so muddy (which tells you about my preconceived ideas.

One thing I did find interesting as well was how Mellie and Tom helped each other out with their problems. Tom needed to learn how to become a better leader, something I've struggled with at times. He wanted, because of his background, to be everyone's friend but friends don't always make good leaders. Mellie on the other hand needed to learn to be a good friend. I thought this dynamic was quite effective and I think that much of Tom's advice to Mellie was good. I also liked Mellie's advice to Tom. Although, because of the religious aspect of it it wasn't advice I would offer as is, but looking at other strong/good leaders is good advice.

Although I liked the book, it is a book I would be quite careful in whom I recommended it to because of the overt religious message in it.

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission

Book Review: Falling from the Sky

Falling From the Sky 

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Genre: Romance

Series: Gravity

Synopsis: Hank "Hazardous" has had his whole world turned upside down. An injury has left this previous elite athlete in a wheelchair.

Callie has plans and goals. However she is also a very lonely workaholic.

Can these two people heal each other?


Thoughts: Most of this book takes place roughly the same time as Shooting for the Stars. Shooting for the Stars begins 24 hours before the events of this book, and ends about a year an a half after this one and many of the characters overlap (Hank is Stella's older brother). However, the books can be read as stand alones.

I felt a certain kinship with Callie. I too am a planner. I like things being predictable. And like her I don't really have any experience of downhill skiing or snowboarding (I've stood on downhill skis three times and I've skied into a tree twice, I do however love watching downhill skiing and snowboarding). I think this affinity was what really drew me in.

I also liked how Callie tells Hank how his reaction affected her. We rarely seem to talk about how actions that are really not about you can affect you. The reader knows that Hank's seeming rejection of Callie isn't about her, but for Callie, even when she finds out otherwise, it is about her, because of what has happened to her.

The relationships in this book were very satisfying. They felt grown-up but still filled with the angst that apparently we don't get away from even when we leave our teen years behind. The characters were real and often quite funny (loved Tiny). And the reactions also felt believable and real.

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission

Book Review: Shooting for the Stars

Shooting For the Stars

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Genre: Romance

Series: Gravity

Synopsis: Bear has been Stella's favourite person for a very long time. Why can't he see her as anything other than a little sister?

Bear loves his best friends little sister, but with out real prospects he doesn't believe he has any right to make a move on her. 

Thoughts: I loved loved loved this book. It was funny, it was sweet, it made me cry. It was a perfect romance book.

One of the things I liked about this book was that it was about friendships as much as it was about romantic love. Bear and Stella have always been friends, as have Bear and Hank. But it is also about the friendships we THINK we make with those with whom we spend our days, and how when our days change it becomes clear that they aren't necessarily our friends. Not that they are bad people, it is just that your lives are no longer similar and it was that one thing that held you together. However, it also shows who your true friends are and what makes them true friends. I loved this quote:

Hank put a hand on his shoulder. "Not nearly as good as you've been to me. I don't think I would have made it through the last year and a half without you. Felt like the whole world forgot about me. But not you, man. You kept showing up. So I kept getting out of bed in the morning and putting a brave face on it. Because I knew I was going to hear your tires in my driveway eventually, and you'd knock on the door and hold me accountable. That's all that kept me going for a while, until I got over the hump. Maybe I should have said this before, okay. But I notice that shit. Thank you."

I think this quote resonated with me as I went through a major depression when I was in my mid-twenties. I had two groups of friends who simply DID NOT give up on me. In some respects I owe them my life. They also kept showing up, although in most cases virtually, but still. And they expected me to show up. I think this shows how important it is to not give up on friends even when they pull away.

One of the things that is hardest about being an adult is that life does not always turn out the way you dreamed or planned for. Bear and Stella keep saying that they aren't planners, but I disagree with them. They might not have the five year plan of Callie but what they have is dreams. They dream of the snow. They dream of the next trick, the most awesome slope, that big win. And like most of us they realise that those dreams might not come true, but that sometimes you have to modify your dream. Bear modifies his dream and discovers that it is better than his original dream.

There is of course a romantic story to this and I found it very satisfying. I liked that they had so much history together, it added a nice dimension to their interaction. It also added to the tension in the novel because if things didn't work out (which of course they would but still...) they would lose both a friend and the person they loved.

Highly recommend this book.

Out today!

Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC from the author, however the thoughts are all my own, and the love is real.

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission

Book Review: Än finns Det Hopp

Än Finns Det Hopp (There is Still Hope)

Author: Karin Wahlberg

Publisher: Wahlström Widstrand

Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis: This book tells the story of several inhabitants of a small Swedish town in the 1950s. All of the characters are in some way connected to the local hospital.

Thoughts: This was a very quiet book. No real big revelations. No big, climactic events. But rather a gentle wave of events that climaxed at different times. Each of the characters had their own climactic event, often including the others in some way.

This book tells the story of when the polio epidemic was at its height in Sweden, before the vaccine becomes available. Considering the current debate about vaccines in the world I think books like this one are important because they tell the story of how it was before. Before we had easily available, safe vaccines.

Of the different stories told and the different characters some get more space. Nancy, the doctors wife feels like she doesn't quite fit in to her own social sphere. She grew up in the working classes and "married up" and has problems fitting in with the other doctors wives...or well she doesn't really want to fit in, it is hard to define. She just doesn't fit.

Carl, the young doctor who works on the infectious disease ward has his own problems. He is the low man on the totem pole as he isn't quite qualified. In addition he has to worry about his fiances family, she is fine and does not care about class, but her parents are a different story.

The different stories are weaved together in a great way, with the different characters coming in and out of each others lives at different times in the story. This weaving means that at no point does the story feel disjointed. It flows along nicely. This flow is aided by the fact that you never know how much time has passed between the different events. The story starts with the first day of school in the fall and ends in November, but that is the only fixed times you get. At first I found this a bit annoying but then I really came to appreciate it. It means you focus more on the relationships and less on time. I also think that in some ways it mirrors the days in a hospital where they can float together so that in some respects you lose track of time. I base this on my own work at a nursing home.

The next book in the series is due out later this month and I shall be stalking the library's e-book site.

Although this is a good book, it isn't a book I think will be translated to English. It is a bit to Swedish in its subject matter. Although the fear of polio is universal it isn't universal enough that the setting will fit readers in other countries.

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission

Book Review: Blond Date

Blonde Date: An Ivy Years Novella

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Genre: New Adult Romance

Synopsis: In The Year We Hid Away we meet Blond Katie and Andy and we know how the date ended but what actually happened on the date? This novella tells their story

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this novella, the characters were relatable and funny. Katie is an outwardly beautiful and assured character but she shows that even those people can be unsecure and scared. Andy is calm but still has his insecurities. However he reminds me of a lot of my guy friends. Guys who are simply good guys. Guys who make you feel comfortable. All of Bowen's male characters have been generally good guys, only Bridger has been somewhat of a player and this is one of the aspects of her books that I really appreciate. Although the romantic lead is generally never actually an asshole, he is often portrayed as a bit dangerous. In this series this is never the case. These are regular guys (maybe a bit book smarter than average but I spend a great deal of time with people like that so...) and I appreciate that.

I also like that Katie gets to be the one who is sexually experienced and the one who takes initiative sexually. Neither of the other female leads so far in the Ivy series have been scared or scarred sexually but they are inexperienced, Katie has plenty of experience and expresses a general love for sex. This is freeing. 

As stated earlier they are both funny as well, and I love Andy's way of making the party more comfortable for Katie, so much so that I am stealing it for my English students. It is really hard to get them to talk and I think this game could work on them (I won't tell you what the game is, trust me you want to read about it).

I was actually sad when the story ended, I want to spend a lot more time with Katie and Andy!.,

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission  

Book Review: After the War is Over

After the War Is Over

Author: Jennifer Robson

Publisher: William Morrow

Genre: Historical Romance

Challenges: War Through the Generations

Synopsis: Charlotte Brown has worked as a nurse during the first world war, now that the war is over she is back working for a councilwoman in Liverpool. In addition she is given the opportunity to write for a newspaper column. At the same time she worries about the man she loves, Edward Neville-Ashford the Earl of Cumberland who has come back from the war a broken man in more ways than one.

Thoughts: This book takes up where Somewhere in France left off telling the story of two of the secondary characters, Charlotte and Edward. However it also tells the story of how Charlotte came into Lilly's (and Edward's) life and also some of the events of Somewhere in France but from Charlotte's perspective.

Charlotte is a very different from Lilly. She has a much greater understanding of the world, both in the flashbacks and in "real time". However she has an idealism that Lilly, perhaps, did not share. I find that although I could understand Lilly, I can actually relate more to Charlotte. She feels more modern. One thing I often find problematic with historical romances (and any historical fiction) is that the characters are given what I call "modern sensibilities". They act and say things in a way that we would now, but that I find difficult seeing people at the time saying and doing (it was one of the reasons I could only watch one episode of "Reign" even though I knew it was a "romp" not intended as a serious historical series it just grated on my nerves). In this book, with Charlotte I think Robson has found a nice middle ground. There were people with more "modern" views on society than what you might associate with the time period but there were hurdles. Charlotte holds the views but she also encounters the hurdles and this is, to my mind, good.

In my thoughts on Somewhere in France I wrote that the ending was a bit rushed and unfortunately this story suffered from the same problem. And here we don't have a follow up (at least not yet) to explain the rushed ending. Again there are problems and problems and problems and then, voila, everything is hunky dory. It just feels rushed for me.

Despite its flaws it is a book I would recommend.

I've included this book in the War Through the Generations challenge because although it isn't set during a war the aftermath of a war is very much in evidence and the war is central to the storyline.

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission

Book Review: Somewhere in France

Somewhere in France: A Novel of the Great War 

Author: Jennifer Robson

Publisher: William Morrow

Genre: Historical Romance

Challenges: War Through the Generations

Synopsis: The year is 1914 and Lilly, or Lady Elizabeth Neville-Ashford wants to live her own life, marry someone she has chosen, and help with the war effort, but is continually stopped by her stuffy aristocratic mother. Eventually she breaks free, learning how to drive and then moving to London and finally working as an ambulance driver on the front in France

Thoughts: This was one of those books that once I picked it up I simply couldn't put it down. Although I could guess how it would end (see genre) I really couldn't begin to guess how they would get there.

Lilly is very naive and part of me always wonders how true this actually was of the aristocracy. Where their girls really as naive as they are painted in these books or is that a construction of our time? However with this book I am going to assume that it is true as the author holds a doctorate in social history (SHE apparently did not have P. for history in high school). The naivete works well in this story because the reader gets to learn alongside Lilly (I had no idea what a French Letter was either) and because you get to learn with her it does not become annoying that she does not know.

One of the aspects of the story that I found the most interesting is that Lilly and her friends worked as ambulance drivers and I was very happy to find a post from Smart Bitches Trashy Books about a female ambulance driver during WWI. I added quite a few books to my TBR pile from that post. Despite P's efforts during high school history social history is my favourite. I love learning about ordinary people's experiences during historical periods (my history shelves at home are filled with books about ordinary people).

I did feel that the ending was a bit rushed compared to some parts of the book. The training and Lilly's time in France dragged on at times while the ending was very much ...and they lived happily ever after THE END. It could of course be argued that the story that ends the story is really the beginning of the next book After the War is Over but I still feel that it could have been a bit more here.

Although I say that the time in France drags a bit, this isn't all bad, as a reader you really feel the sameness of the days, how the mud and death really start affecting people. I was very glad to be curled up in my nice warm dry bed when I read those sections. Although I've seen plenty of pictures and movies etc. of how it was, for me the words, and seeing women in these conditions made it even more real than it might have been before. I don't know what it says about me that I needed to see women in the conditions to make it more real, but...

I've chosen to include this book in my War Through the Generations as it very much deals with World War One.

Overall this is a book I would recommend to anyone who likes historical romances.

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission

Book Review: Northanger Abbey

 Northanger Abbey 

Author: Jane Austen

Publisher: Free Project Gutenberg covers from various publishers

Genre: Classic

Challenges: Back to the Classics 2015 (Classic by a Woman Author)

Synopsis: Young Catherine Moreland is visiting Bath with family friends. There she makes new friends with Isabella Thorpe and Henry Tilney and his sister Elenore.

Thoughts: Northanger Abbey is my favourite Austen. I find it deliciously snarky and satirical. In addition it also feels very current.

The modern feel of the book comes from the fact that Catherine, like many teens, lives in a fantasy world. In her case the fantasy world comes from reading books, in particular Gothic novels. She lets her fantasy get away from her more than once and this is something I rather recognize myself in.

One might think that this book criticizes the brain candy aspect of the Gothic Novel that was present during Austen's time, but to my mind it actually criticizes those who hold the view that it is brain candy, and instead critizises the society that gives young girls little to do and the disconnect between many adults and the young people around them.

She does also poke a whole lot of fun at the genre, but it is done in a good natured kind of way. I particularly like the very beginning of the book where we are introduced to our heroine Catherine Moreland:

No one who had ever seen Catherine Moreland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her. Her father was a clergyman, without being neglected, or poor, and a very respectable man, though his name was Richard — and he had never been handsome. He had a considerable independence, besides two good livings — and he was not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters. Her mother was a woman of useful plain sense, with a good temper, and, what is more remarkable, with a good constitution. She had three sons before Catherine was born; and instead of dying in bringing the latter into the world, as any body might expect, she lived on — lived to have six children more — to see them growing up around her, and to enjoy excellent health herself.

Here Austen is clearly poking fun at the fact that many of the contemporary heroines (her own included it might be added) came from poor backgrounds and became rich. Had terrible fathers who were mean and mothers who were sickly and weak, often dying leaving the young child all on their own*. By putting HER heroine in no such position she makes the point that one CAN still be a heroine (it might be added that Austen does include some of these aspects in one of the books minor characters so she isn't completely immune to the literary trope).

Catherine can at times seem very teenagery (I can invent words) in that she is impulsive and naive. However she is also very likeable because she does learn, she does stand up for herself, and she is incredibly sweet.

One thing that I find quite interesting with this book is the fact that Henry Tilney, our hero, seems quite remote. I don't feel like I ever get a good grip of him. He is certainly better than James Thorpe, the other man who is vying for Catherine's hand, but really at times only marginally so. He does stand up for Catherine, however he also (as Austen is want to have her heroes do) makes her ashamed of something she does or says (my sarcasm is dripping here, it is one of the aspects of Austen I detest). He is rather secondary to the story.

I often use this book when I teach English 6 (advanced ESL to juniors here in Sweden). I find that the teens can easily relate to it and it means I can cover several genres. I often pair it with Frankenstein. In the past we have read Frankenstein and then watched the movie versions of both Northanger Abbey and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I like these two versions because they are fairly close to the original book. I am considering, depending on the class, having them read both books next time, or perhaps have half the class read one book and the other half the other. I am not teaching English 6 this year so right now it is only swirling around in my head.


Overall this is, as I've said, a book I really enjoy.

* When writing my thesis I read a very good article on why children in literature so often have missing parents. Here are some of them:

Gross, M., "The Giver and Shade's Children: Future Views of Child Abandonment and Murder," Children's Literature in Education Vol. 30, No.2, 1999 103-117

Hintz, C., "Monica Hughes, Lois Lowry, and Young Adult Dystopias," The Lion and the Unicorn 26 (2002) 254-264

Latham, D., "Childhood Under Siege: Lois Lowry's Number the Stars and The Giver," The Lion and The Unicorn 26 (2002) 1-15

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission

Book Review: The Year We Hid Away

The Year We Hid Away

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Genre: New Adult Romance

Synopsis: Secrets. Everyone has them. Some are big. Others small. And sometimes it is important to just be in the moment, however, sooner or later secrets come out. Scarlet and Bridger both have secrets but they also have each other.

Thoughts: This book has a bit more of a mystery aspect to it than the other books in the series. Why does Bridger have to run off? Did Scarlet's father really commit the crime? And that in some respects appealed to me. At the same time the threat from the body guard seemed a bit silly. On balance however I really liked this book.

I liked that both Scarlet and Bridger learned that it actually helps to share burdens. This became extra clear at one point when Scarlet says to Bridger:

"You just had the same fight with Hartley that you picked with me."
Bridger's answer was almost a grunt. "I noticed."

I know I am very guilt of trying to do things myself, I've gotten better over the years but when I was in my twenties...I had to be in dire straights for me to ask for help. When we are in our twenties we are so desperate to be thought of as adults that for some reason we have come up with the idea that asking for help is taking us back to being children, when in fact knowing when you need help and asking for it is the actual sign of maturity.

Like the other books in the series this is also a love story. Part of me loves that love story, and part of me hates it. It uses the sad old trope of finding the right girl turns player boy into a loyal boyfriend, and that annoys me quite a bit. At the same time in this type of book it actually makes more sense. I don't think it is impossible to think that someone who is a player at 18-19 wants to settle down when they become older. It just seems like quite a jump. But I did love it because I am a sucker for a nice boy who loves a girl.

I did like the fact that Scarlet didn't want to make a big deal out of losing her virginity. I think that making it into a big deal in pop culture has led to more let downs than not. But that the same time, did it have to be so darn good for her :). Yes I am hypocritical here.

Overall this was a good, entertaining read that I won't mind reading again.

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission

Book Review: The Year We Fell Down

The Year We Fell Down

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Genre: New Adult Romance

Synopsis: Starting college is hard. Starting college in a wheelchair is harder. The cute boy next door can make it easier...or he can make it harder.

Thoughts: This is the first book in Bowen's The Ivy Years series. I've already reviewed book 3, The Understatement of the Year and this one is also good. Not quite as good, but I think it will be hard to top that book with a "regular" romance book. In the romance genre it does stand out. The characters are likeable and easy to relate to.

I think that Corey's struggles were portrayed very well. I don't know anyone who has had such a life changing injury but I know the desire for something that was, and also the trap of always being happy. Not to mention feeling like you don't quite fit. 

 Although there was some infidelity it didn't feel bad. I am very much a "people need to define their own relationships" and to me as a reader both parties in the relationship were in some form of agreement on the parameters of the relationship.

For me the living arrangements took me back to my own college days so I think that influenced my views on the book, the whole boyfriend across the hall is something I remember with fondness :)

One thing I have been thinking about while reading these books is the casual underage drinking. I am not naive enough to think that drinking doesn't occur, and I like that in many respects the characters take care of each other when they have had to much to drink. However, as a teacher of New Adults/Teenagers it makes me uncomfortable. I know we drank a great deal in college and I am trying to see the characters actions through that lens and not my teacher lens, but when the boys buy the girls alcohol I have a hard time with it. I guess I am getting old. In part I like that Bowen presents what I know is a realistic view of what happens on a college campus, but at the same time the fact that the drinking doesn't have any consequences apart from a hangover bothers me. I am quite conflicted here. 

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission

Book Review: A Modest Proposal

A Modest Proposal

Author: Jonathan Swift

Genre: Classic (Satire)

Challenges: Back to the Classics (Satirical)

Thoughts: A Modest Proposal is a re-read for me, and I read it again as I assigned it to my Seniors in the aftermath of the shootings in Paris, France.

A Modest Proposal is often seen as one of the earliest examples of satire and it is one that still has the power to shock today. I remember the first time I read it, that feeling of you nodding as you go along and then, bam, the fricassees. However to realize that he is being absurd you really have to have an understanding of the time period of when it was written. The Enlightenment was a time period of extreme realism. Where observable facts were King. With this knowledge it is much easier to see the total absurdity in the piece. The author presents the facts ever so rationally with facts and figures. Swift isn't just criticizing the Irish and the landowners, he is also criticizing his culture. For me the most effective satire does just this.

The essay continues to be relevant not just because it is one of the first examples of satire but also because of the subject matter. Although Swift uses the poor Irish as his source of food, it could just as easily have been another group of people in today's society. When I was reading it this time I thought of the "well-fare Queen" and here in Sweden, the asylum seekers. Groups that many seem to think should just "pick themselves up by the bootstraps". The fact that poverty is often a trap does not seem to enter the discussion then or now.

Classics are often hard to understand and so when I teach A Modest Proposal I have some resources I like to use because they offer a good background and discussion for my students. The two resources I used this year were a discussion from BBC's In Our Time. And a lecture I have from The Great Courses: Classics of British Literature (Audible). The In Our Time program is a discussion and offers my students the opportunity to listen to discussions in English (a requirement in all three courses I teach). I only use it in Senior English (and I rarely assign A Modest Proposal to any other year). The lecture was a new one for me and I think it worked quite well, although it also talks about Gulliver's Travels, so in the future I might also watch a movie version of that book.

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission

Book Review: The Understatement of the Year

The Understatement of the Year 

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Year: 2014

Genre: New Adult Romance (M/M)

Synopsis: At the start of pre-seasons training his junior year Mike Graham's life is thrown into a tailspin when John Rikker walks into the dressingroom. Rikker, knows things about Graham that Graham can barely admit to himself. Things he hates himself for. Five years earlier a kiss in a car changed lives. What happens now is anyone's guess.

Review: This was my first experience with the New Adult Genre and it was a very happy one. I could not put the book down. For so very many reasons.

Last year I read A LOT of romance. It was the fluffy reading I needed for various reasons and most of the books followed a fairly predictable pattern. Boy meets girl. Boy and/or girl swear that they will NOT get together because they are NOT looking for love. One of them falls in love. The other finds out and freaks out. They stop seeing each other. The freaker outer realizes that they too are in love. They get back together, get married and they all lived happily ever after. This book did follow that pattern to a certain extent but it felt so much more real. The characters, main and supporting felt more real. It was also much more of a gradual growth. A gradual coming to an understanding of who you are and who you love.

Graham's fear is so very palpable that although you want to smack him over the head, you can't fault him. Especially not when one of their idiot teammates continually proves that he does have something to fear. Even when he is willing to admit to himself and Rikker that he is gay, I can still understand his fear that people will treat him differently. I don't think you need to be gay to understand that feeling. We all have secrets, big ones and little ones, and we fear that others will see us differently if they find out about them. The thing is, we can never control how others view us, and I think that this book shows us very well that Graham's fears aren't all about how others see him but also about excepting himself as he is, not how he thinks others think he should be. The section where he talks about being worried about how people see him is so wonderfully spot on.

I didn't want people to see me as a stereotype. Faggot. Queen. Fairy. I didn't feel like any of those things, and I didn't want to be called those names. I just wanted to be Michael Graham. It's just that Michael Graham was attracted to men. And always had been. (255)

The book also shows how much discrimination and bigotry against homosexuals still exist in the world today. As Bella, one of the (major) minor characters in the book says:

 'Sports really is the final frontier, isn't it? Now there's same-sex marriage in seventeen states. But the NHL is a hundred percent straight.' Sure it is.' 'Right?' she laughed. (62)

The fact that it is a big deal in 2015 when a future NFL star comes out is sad but also shows why this book is important. I really cannot understand the fear that seems to exist in some places. Do they really think they will get attacked in the locker room by marauding hoards of gay men?! Do they not realize what it says about them? That they don't think they could control themselves around naked women?

On the whole I thought this was a great book about love, friendship, growing up and about coming out. I really recommend it.

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission

Challenge Sign-Up: 52 Books in 52 Weeks

In 2014 I did A LOT of re-reading, to the point where I don't even know how many books I actually read, I am sure I read some of the books two or three times. I needed it. But now I really want to branch out and read new books. Meatier books. so I have decided to do some challenges since in the past challenges have really helped me when I want to broaden my reading.  I also want to have a goal with my reading. I like having lists and ticking things off and with a goal I feel I can do it. Thinking about what is going on in my life, what other goals I have in other areas, reading, on average, one book a week seems like a doable goal. I have some books I want to read in the meatier category that I know will take me more than one week. I also know that Susan Mallery has four new books in the Fool's Gold series out in 2015 and J.D. Robb will have a few, these are books I read in a day or two (depending on what else is going on when they come out), so these books will "bring my numbers up".

Based on this I will be joining the ladies in the 52 books in 52 weeks again. The biggest danger with this challenge is that my wish list for books always grows exponentially whenever I join in discussions.

The nice thing about this challenge is that you can choose what ever type of books you want and read at your own pace but you can usually find someone to have a discussion about a particular book with.

For some of the books I will be reading this year see my other challenge sign-ups (which I will be putting up in the next few days).

Copyright ©2015 Zee from A Tea Stained Page. This post was originally posted by Zee from A Tea Stained Page. It should not be reproduced without express written permission