Returning as a Better Person

No Such Thing by A. M. Arthur, the review of which you can read at AAR, has an interesting premise.  A hellion returns to the tiny town where he grew up and routinely caused havoc as a teen, only he's changed drastically.

No, he isn't a multimillionaire bully who runs a corporation like a sweatshop.  Instead, the anger and belligerence have left him, and he returns in order to help his wonderful, patient foster mother who is raising two children alone now that her husband has recently died.

The guy realizes that without this couple's help, he would probably be in jail now.

What the book doesn't go into is how the foster mother feels about this young man returning.  As someone whose students were often troubled young men and women, I can imagine she feels like I did when students returned to tell me how well they were now doing in school or in their jobs.  My pride in them and their accomplishments was staggering.  When they'd been in my class, I'd believed in them, and now they believed in themselves.  It was wonderful.

So while No Such Thing is a wonderful gay romance and well worth reading for its plot, teachers, former teachers, and foster parents will probably find a little more in the book than just the surface story.

Romance in a Musical Family Amid Bullying

John C. Houser's The Music Box is an amazing romance on so many different levels.  For one thing, it's the touching story of two men who are settled in their careers as opposed to the buff, young twenty-somethings that a large proportion of gay romances feature.  Both are battling big problems in their careers--problems that must be settled soon or they might be unemployed.

One is a high school music teacher who is watching his program shrink because of budget cuts.  How can he make the program more viable to the students?  And should he agree to teach history as well in order to keep his job?

The other man manages the music store his musically-talented family owns.  His mother is a world-renowned soprano and his brother in a string quartet.  What they don't know since they are away touring is that the store is losing money and the building need therapeutic maintenance badly.  But where's the money to come from?  Should he start charging family members to keep the business going?

When both men see an extremely gifted teen being harassed by another boy, they rush to his aid, thereby causing their worlds to change.  What results is not only a satisfying romance but also a triumphal story of people reaching out to make someone else happy.

Houser is the kind of uncommon writer whom everyone should read.  I know I can't wait for his next book.

Sabotaged by its Cover

Even having worked for a publisher at one time, I'm still flummoxed by how editors and art directors can undermine their own products by using completely subversive covers.  My review of Deirdre Martin's Hip Check running on the front page of AAR today gets into this problem a little bit.

I mean, look at the cutie with the hockey jersey used as a dress.  She's having a lot of fun, right?  And then there's the veteran hockey player, not a scar visible, who's holding his stick like he's a cut-out.  Sparks are flying, and everything's cool.  (Okay, bad hockey jokes.)

But the book itself?  Martin's story?  Well, that has to do with the death of the happy-go-lucky cover guy's sister.  He's become the single-parent uncle of his niece.  And the woman on the cover?  The no-nonsense nanny. 

Now take a look at the cover again.

Do you see the still grieving Finn?  The playboy turned responsible adult superstar hockey player?  No?  Me either.

How about the responsibility-laden former teacher turned nanny?  The woman who's concerned with a grief-stricken child?  Yeah, I'm missing her too.

So if you're a reader who's looking for a light, fun read, how cheated would you feel picking up this book and getting a story that, while really good, subverts your mood?  Would you venture into Deirdre Martin territory again?  Or would you be very wary?

Shakespeare, Sacramento, and English Teachers--Oh, my!

My review of Amy Lane's It's Not Shakespeare ran today at All About Romance.  This is one of those books that needed to last longer than it did.  Both the disgruntled English teacher James Richards and the "underwear model" Rafi Ochoa had much, much more to tell about themselves and the way they got together than Lane's slim 164 pages gave.  And I miss those insights.

Still, at 164 pages, Lane's book is a satisfying read.  I just wish readers had a chance to sit down and talk to characters who intrigue them.  I'd love to sit down with James and trade English teacher stories.  I'd especially love to know what his students in Maine were like as compared to those here in Sacramento.  I'm sure we'd have a great time chatting.

Oh, yeah, and I can honestly say that I never saw even one of my students like either of the guys on the cover.