Nick Nolan

Life for Jeremy Tyler has been nothing but misery and broken promises. His father was killed in a car accident when Jeremy was two years old leaving him to live alone with his alcoholic mother in poverty. At age 17 Jeremy came home from school to find his mother almost dead in a drunken stupor. He is sent to live with his extremely wealthy great-aunt and her husband Bill. Jeremy's life is turned upside down by the rags to riches way of life. Jeremy soon finds out that even the wealthy have their ugly little secrets. I found this book to be a quick read although the story had many subplots. Mr. Nolan did an excellent job of intertwining a social commentary into the life of a young man discovering himself. Much of the story dealt with Jeremy's coming to grips with being gay and embracing his sexuality. I did feel like the wrap up conversation with his Aunt Katharine explained too much too quickly. So much was revealed in those few pages that it seemed as if Mr. Nolan was taking the easy way out of a corner he had written himself into. I did enjoy the story of young Jeremy very much and look forward to reading the sequel.… (mais)

Teenager Jeremy Tyler leads a challenging life. His single mother is an alcoholic, and he's often left to take care of her. But when he comes home to find her almost dead, he knows this time things need to change. Not only do the doctors say rehab is his mother's only option, but he's not sure how much longer he can be her caregiver. He's due to finish high school soon, and he'd like to at least have the chance to attend college.

With Jeremy's mother reluctantly agreeing to rehab, Jeremy finds himself whisked away to the home of a rich great aunt whom he doesn't remember ever meeting. But when he arrives, he finds that life with Aunt Katharine might just be exactly what he needs. She dotes on him and provides everything from clothes to a new haircut to advice on how to fit in. Though with that advice comes a clear message: a Tyler needs to be perfect in every way and nothing less is acceptable. Which is the one thing that makes Jeremy's new life bittersweet. If his great aunt ever found out his one flaw, would she disown him? Would he lose everything? And is that worth denying himself true happiness?

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A charming and interesting story. Jeremy is a surprisingly resilient young man considering the upbringing he had. And although life in Ballena Beach is much different from what he had in Fresno, he quickly adapts to his new surroundings. It's all the forces moving around him that create the conflict in this story.

While I enjoyed several of the side characters, I did find the character of Jeremy's uncle confusing. It's Jeremy's story, so maybe it didn't seem important--but there's no real indicator of his motivation. All of the secrets he kept for all of these years? Why? It just seemed a bit strange. But again, maybe we as readers are not really supposed to understand.

Overall, this is an easy read. It's got some comedic moments as well as some sad ones too. Entertaining enough to get you through a rainy afternoon.… (mais)

I really wanted to like this book. The writing was great and the beginning really caught me. Arthur was a very interesting person at the start, and his depression was described very well.

But then the story went down the drain for me.

I didn't like the sexual tension between the father figure and the son of his first love - that felt wrong to me.

Then the age difference: A 39 year old and an 18 year old? I don't buy into the "I had a hard childhood and therefore mentally I am MUCH older than my young and sexy body looks like"...the old guy had a hard youth as well, how old does that make him now according to this logic?
I think that especially young people who have a unstable or difficult youth are even more vulnerable. I never really believed in this "hard experiences make you more mature and strong". It might be true for some people, but my personal experience with pretty much everybody I ever met, says clearly different. I think it is kind of a nice idea that you get maturity and wisdom out of a shitty childhood, but in real life? I am not so sure.

And the relationship doesn't prevail. So the whole "I love you so much, can't live without you" is more or less pointless, because they stay "only" friends in the end. Would have made a better story imo if they didn't fool around with each other in the first place - the whole Daddy-re-live-first love-issue was a bit much, especially with the physical similarities between father and son. I don't know, but in Jeremy's place, I would not feel so special and cherished and loved for myself, if I found out my lover was the first love of my Dad's, whose spitting image I am...

As I said, I enjoyed the very good writing (some even poetic phrases in between), but the story and characters were not really interesting to me and hit some sore points with me.… (mais)