Desert Sons and its author Mark Kendrick are probably among the first examples of “not tragic” coming of age gay love story. Not so many years ago, less than 5, it was almost impossible to find a love story among gay teens without any drama happening in it, and most of the time, one or both main characters didn’t arrive to the end of the novel. Yes, I know, I’m maybe a little dramatic, but trust me, especially in the print books world the situation was not really far from what I described. That is the reason why I mostly stuck to ebooks, it was strange, but in the ebooks world things went different, and the happily ever after was possible.

Maybe due to my “bad” past experiences, I didn’t read sooner Desert Sons by Mark Kendrick, even if this is one of those covers that came often to my notice, and not since it is pretty; Mark Kendrick’s romance novels were among the few you could find in the Gay Fiction department in bookstores, and when you browsed the net, most often than not they came out atop of the search. Other than being mostly tragic, at the time it was also pretty common to have stories about teenagers, don’t know why, maybe since many authors had a not easy period at that same age and they really felt the matter was important.

What I immediately noticed about Desert Sons is that these two teenagers are… teenagers! They are not little men with a teenager body but an adult mind, they are two horny guys who mostly want to experience, and if in the meantime they also find love, well, even better. Truth be told, this is a better description for Scott, Ryan, poor guy, has not an easy life, and he is scared by everything, and being gay is one big secret more that he doesn’t want to reveal, I think since he is afraid that would be another reason for people to shun him. Ryan has not a steady family, he tragically lost his parents and his brother and grandmother are not enough for him to feel safe. He clings to every adult figure he meets, with or without sexual interest: that is the reason why he is friend with Frank, a married man who he sees as the only counsellor he can trust, and why he started an abusive relationship with Crawford, an older guy, 28 years old.

When things got awry, Ryan’s grandmother sends him living with his uncle Howard in the Desert. Here Ryan meets Scott, another gay teenager, even if at the beginning they don’t know about each other; Ryan thinks his entire problem derive from him being gay, and he doesn’t want to act upon it no more. But Scott has other ideas, above all since, as I said, he is gay in a place where there are no other boys like him, and when he meets Ryan it’s like the manna from the sky; it doesn’t hurt that Ryan is cute, but basically Scott wants so much a boyfriend that he would take everyone, and sincerely, at the beginning, I had the felling he didn’t like so much Ryan as a friend, but as a boyfriend he could do.

Now, joke aside, I wanted to highlight as this novel really pointed out how these two boys, 16 and 17 years old, are still young, and unsure, and with the whole life in front of them to make mistake; you cannot pretend from them to be comfortable with their own life, they need time to take they own decision, and yes, maybe even take them wrong. But, thumbs up to Mark Kendrick, at least he gave them the chance to do that, and also to learn from their mistake.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0595191304/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Scott is fairly happy with his life. He works in his family's restaurant, has a creative outlet working the sound panel for a local band and is looking forward to his senior year of high school. His only problematic issues are that his father is forcing him into a business degree when he graduates and leaving his track team to put all his efforts into his music. The fact that he is gay and has actually "come out" to a few select members of his family doesn't really bother him, except for the fact that he knows of no one else that leans in that direction. When Ryan, the nephew of the local business man, comes to live in his home town Scott isn't quite sure what to make of him. He's very cute, but Scott instinctively knows that what Ryan appears to be is a complete facade. When Scott is forced to take Ryan under his wing, he's torn between like and dislike of Ryan's attitude and troublesome ways.

When Ryan arrives in the sunny, arid Yucca Valley he's not sure what to make of it. After being kicked out of his grandmother's house to live with his uncle due to his troublesome attitude, the last thing Ryan ever expected was to find someone like Scott. But, will Scott still be his friend when he finds out what secrets Ryan is hiding about his past?

Although this story seems to be a pretty realistic contemporary portrayal of how teens, particularly gay teens in a relationship, would act, I wouldn't really recommend it as a young adult book due to the amount of graphically described intimacies. Outside of that, I personally did find the book to be a very interesting coming of age type story. It is impossible not to feel sympathetic towards Ryan and his issues, most especially the abuse suffered at the hands of a man he trusted and the death of his parents. Scott's much lighter disposition is a perfect foil for Ryan's dark attitude and his confusion in the face of Ryan's increasing personal epiphanies is understandable. I thought the story was an insightful and believable exploration into issues not frequently addressed in contemporary literature. ( )