Rating: 3/5 Stars
Title: The Dangerous Art of Blending In
Author: Angelo Surmelis

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Evan Panos doesn’t know where he fits in. His strict immigrant Greek mother refuses to see him as anything but a disappointment. His quiet, workaholic father is a staunch believer in avoiding any kind of conflict. And his best friend, Henry, has somehow become distractingly attractive over the summer.
Tired, isolated, scared—Evan finds that his only escape is to draw in an abandoned monastery that feels as lonely as he is. And yes, he kissed one guy over the summer. But it’s Henry who’s now proving to be irresistible. Henry, who suddenly seems interested in being more than friends. And it’s Henry who makes him believe that he deserves more than his mother’s harsh words and terrifying abuse.
But as things with Henry heat up, and his mother’s abuse escalates, Evan has to decide how to find his voice in a world where he has survived so long by being silent.
This is a powerful and revelatory coming-of-age novel based on the author’s own childhood, about a boy who learns to step into his light.

Initial thoughts:
I pretty much went into this book blindly. I grabbed this one at the library when I was shifting from the ‘LGBT Display’ we had up in June to the ‘Pastel Display’ for July. I had just finished reading The Wicker King and was hoping to read something that would not demolish my feelings as that one had. I thought that the synopsis ( which I read after reading a few pages) and realized that this was another one that was going to pull at my emotions especially with the abuse that occurs right off the bat. The cover is cute though with the sprinkles on the cake, but just be warned this is not a super cute book.

Plot:
What I liked:
I loved how raw and painful this book was to read. It made everything feel so much more real and understandable. The book was fast paced and I devoured it in two days. The story touched on elements like abuse, homophobia, bullying, and neglect very well and described what a survivor of abuse can feel like after taking it for so long from such a young age. The descriptions of events were graphic and described well through the book leaving me almost feeling everything that Evan felt. I also liked how at the end of the book there was information about where to go if you (the reader) needed help like Evan.

What I didn't like:
While I thought that this was a very good, very real book, there was a lot of things that nagged at the back of my mind as I read it. I thought that some of the characters were underdeveloped (ex: Jeremy) and that things appeared to be a little choppy throughout the story. As I said before, I liked how the story brought up some very touchy subjects, but I found that the author didn’t touch on any solutions. The problems just kept coming and there was no work around with them. Some were simply forgotten while others were ignored by not just the victim, but by the community as well. There were no consequences and no real push toward fixing anything. Though the romance was not the center point of this book, I found that it felt very rushed and almost forced at times. It also was rather abusive in a sense and this book seemed to glorify this abuse as love.

Characters:
Evan Panos: Okay this kid is pure and needed a hug. I wish someone would have actually helped him out instead of just watching him suffer through everything.
Henry Kimball: I had some very real issues with his character. I felt that there were times when he was rather selfish and only thought about himself and his own feelings. He never really took other’s feelings into consideration when he did things. He also did not know what consent was at all!
Jeremy: This kid! Don’t even get me started on him. His personality sucks and he is a pretty horrible friend.
Mrs. Panos: She was super scary! Like when I say scary, I mean it! I couldn’t tell what she was thinking at all and I could see why Evan tiptoed around her so much because anything could set her off. I literally hated her as a person and hate how she blamed everything she did on her religious beliefs.
Mr. Panos: He was so passive and I was disappointed in him for the entirety of this book. Everytime I thought he was going to be better, I was let down and eventually learned not to get my hopes up too high for him.

Overall:
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I read it so quickly and, of course, I hated to read about the situation, but everything was so real. I hate to think that what I read has happened and is still happening to queer individuals. It makes me feel lucky that I have grown up in a completely different environment and situation. Surmelis, at the end of the book, explained that Evan’s story was a mirror of his own life to a certain degree and that hurt more than anything else. There was a lot of homophobia in this book and much of the book centered around that. I really wish I could have given this book a higher rating than I did because it was a well written book with a good, dark, story. ( )

Very intense but good book that covers coming out, abusive families, religion, art & so much... ( )

Wow this is incredibly painful to read. The mother is just vile and unbelievable. I am drained. I felt like a helpless witness to the violence. ( )

I honestly can't believe this book is a debut! It was so emotional and very well-written. I definitely binge-read this one, I just couldn't put it down! Although some of the ways Evan's abuse was dealt with bother me, the majority of the book was realistic, in my opinion, for a teenager. The way Henry is Evan's only confidante and how distant his dad seems to be are a little odd, but again I have no personal experience with anything of this sort. ( )

This is Angelo Surmelis's debut novel, and I'm hoping that this means we'll get more from him. His writing is so emotionally driven, crafting an impressive amount of empathy in the reader. You want good things to happen for Evan, someone who is constantly beaten down by his mother. His story is absolutely heartbreaking; but it is also ultimately a story of hope.

One of the only things that threw me off about this story was the jump in time in the middle. I think it was like three months or something, but the jump in time felt a bit out of place. I wanted to know what bridged this jump into the future.

Overall, Surmelis's debut is heartbreaking, brutal, and hopeful. It's this thread of hope that is the most important part. Evan has hope, and is eventually able to craft his own family.

Read more at between-the-shelves.com! ( )