Jamie Deacon
Auteur de Caught Inside
Séries
Œuvres de Jamie Deacon
Take A Chance Anthology: A Collection of Gay Romance for New Adults (2016) — Contributeur — 2 exemplaires
Off Course 1 exemplaire
Forbidden Steps 1 exemplaire
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Date de naissance
- 1982
- Sexe
- nonbinary
- Nationalité
- England
- Lieu de naissance
- London, England, UK
- Lieux de résidence
- Berkshire, England, UK
- Professions
- writer
Membres
Critiques
Prix et récompenses
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Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 5
- Membres
- 20
- Popularité
- #589,235
- Évaluation
- 3.5
- Critiques
- 2
- ISBN
- 6
I’ll first start my review with the cover. I like the colors and the model image. However, the models on the cover are too old to be Taylor and Ben. The models on the cover look like they’re in their mid to late twenties. I think the step-brothers are about eighteen because they’re still living at home and haven’t gone off to university yet. So, the cover doesn’t match the characters.
It’s difficult for me to rate this book because there are a few things that I don’t like when I read a story and I can’t be objective about them. Two of them are first person narration, and present tense. I don’t like reading present tense. Luckily enough the author did a pretty good job so that I didn’t really notice the tense until a couple chapters into the book. But after I noticed, I couldn’t stop noticing. The present tense ended up shadowing the whole story after that for me. Maybe most readers won’t mind, but if you’re someone who doesn’t like present tense, then the writing may bother you especially as this is a long book.
Speaking of book length. I think it was too long. By the time I got to sixty percent, I was putting it down every ten minutes to take a break. It wasn’t because of the realistic family interactions which the author did exceptionally well, but I had to think about why I was getting tired of reading the story. It finally hit me. There is a lot, and I mean a lot, of description. Of everything. Emotions, places, the way the environment looks around the characters, and what those things evoke. I didn’t notice it at first, in fact I sort of liked it. I loved many of the analogies the author used. Unfortunately, after sixty percent, even without knowing why, it was making me tired. I decided to try an experiment. Every so often I’d read a scene, then I would re-read it without all the added description of analogies and environment etc., that was added between the musings when one of the characters was analyzing their thoughts or feelings. And voila! Suddenly the scene and emotions of the characters were more intense and immediate. I was drawn deeper into what was happening because there was so much less added filler between the important lines. I’m sure most readers won’t mind or won’t even notice, but I did and figuring out why helped me understand why I had trouble staying interested in the story. In my opinion, there is way too much description that kept me distanced from the characters and what was happening.
The author did a terrific job of giving each of the characters distinct personalities and having them grow. Except for Taylor’s mother. She was a tremendous *itch, use the first letter of your choice, and I didn’t believe she’d changed her behavior by the end of the book. I also didn’t believe the sudden change in behavior of Ben’s sister once she found out that Taylor was telling the truth about her boyfriend. I also didn’t believe in Taylor being suddenly all cool about everyone since Taylor had a huge capacity for holding grudges and resentment. So, there is some rather quick behavior and personality changes that didn’t ring true to me. I do think both parents were rather controlling in that they didn’t want the boys to date. They’re of legal age I think, and they aren’t doing anything illegal. I can understand the parents setting the rules about not under their roof, but forbidding it all together so as Taylor and Ben can’t even mention dating was ridiculous.
There was also a continuity error that bugged me. Ben is remembering back when he had the chicken pox and his dad was taking care of him. I’m guessing Ben is about eighteen since he hasn’t gone away to college yet. The vaccine for chicken pox came out about ten years before he was born if I calculated it correctly. Ben’s mother was a nurse, she would’ve had her kids vaccinated. If Ben had a bad flu instead of chicken pox and his dad looked after him, I’d believe the scene. But no, not chicken pox.
I was disappointed with the ending because it felt unfinished. The ending was just the two of them going off to university without readers finding out if they ended up staying together. They’re very young and the chances of them staying a couple if reality based, seems rather slim once they attend separate schools. I hope the author writes a short story about the two of them after they leave home.
Overall, the author created a very realistic story about divorced families, their merging together, and the resentment such events can create. The characters had distinct personalities although some of the problems between the members seemed too easily solved at times. The overuse of description tired me out after a while and I had to put the book down frequently before I could continue. I give Forbidden Steps, 4 Stars.
I received an ARC from the author. And I am giving my honest and unbiased opinion.
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