Jim Provenzano

Since I'm trying to keep this year's Reading Challenge books to all gay romances, taking titles from the Rita winners or nominees won't work for this month's challenge. Maybe someday, but not this year, alas.

So where would I find award-winning and award-nominated gay romance books? There are a few good choices, but my go-to site is the Lambda Literary Awards.

A short recap: From 1989-2001 although Lambda gave awards, none were for romance per se. This year's winner for gay romance is Into This River I Drown by TJ Klune, and although I haven't read it, I decided not to read it for this challenge.

Instead I chose the 2012 winner, Every Time I Think of You by Jim Provenzano, which was a self-published work. I'd read the nominated Something Like Summer by Jay Bell, also self-published, and loved it, so I wanted to see if I would have chosen Provenzano's book over Bell's.

Now I know why Provenzano won, but I'm not sure if I agree with the choice. Fortunately, Bell's Kamikaze Boys, another m/m romance I really enjoyed, won the award in 2013, so I didn't feel so badly that Bell lost in 2012.

While Provenzano's book is enjoyable after the first few chapters, it's the beginning chapters that really bothered me the most. In them two boys go into the wooded area between their two very different neighborhoods in the middle of an Illinois winter to pull of their clothes and jack off. They don't know each other, but spy what the other is doing and form a bond.

Not a bad opening volley, right? It's clever, catches attention, and seems right enough for two teenage boys. So what's my gripe? The writing style which is overblown and pretentious. Not only was it off-putting considering what was going on in the scene, but I was really afraid it would be used throughout the book.

Read the rest of my review at Pat Booked: http://patbooked.blogspot.com/2014/07/reading-challenge-for-july-every.html… (meer)

Every Time I Think of You is done with good care, not falling into the category of the many M/M books - you know, the ones that immediately go into sex and little on the story development.

Every Time I Think of You welcomes us to the 'coming-of-age' as well as 'coming-out' journey of Reid. His love life starts when he bumps into Everett in the woods and since then, Reid goes onto this exciting and yet confusing journey. Exciting, because he thinks a lot of Everett. Confusing, because there is no sitting down to talk to Everett on what they are to one another.

Everett wants Reid around, as much as Reid wants to be around. Not just for sex. The bonding keeps them at edge. Throw in the barriers in the form of distance between them, a world in the late 70's (no internet, no texting, no mobile phones) and control-freak mother (Everett's), we watch as Reid copes with his emotion and his passion for Everett; to be disappointed several times and to find courage. Reid grows alright, but the center of his world, as said, is the most important guy in his life - Everett, without a word from Everett to confirm whether they are an item.

Some questions left unanswered. Who took Everett's photo? Why Reid's parents are alright with Reid coming out? Why Everett keeps Reid at a distance when friends are around? Well, perhaps it is nice to have the readers to speculate. Perhaps it is an old issue to keep seeing books that deal with parents' reaction.. but still the photo?… (meer)

It’s not often that a novel surprises me, and Every Time I think of You managed to do that, in a very positive way. First of all, I really hadn’t realized it was a coming of age story, and I’m a loser for that kind of stories if they are good, and this one is. Second I did wonder on the reason why the author picked the 1979 as year for his novel, and I will tell you later what I think was the reason.

Reid and Everett met during a spring break in the forest dividing their neighbourhood, Reid from the low-middle class side of the town, Everett from the very upper-class one. There is a little of Romeo and Jules, a little of star-crossed lovers, and there is even a little of drama, but above all, my heart ached on how pure, and innocent their love was. Oh, don’t get me wrong, Reid and Everett are 17 years old going 18, and they have sex, like any other teenager was probably having in that winter break, like it was a way to prove they were adult and ready for the world that was waiting for them in just few months, but their sex, and love, was without recrimination, without worries, and that first time in the woods it was almost metaphorical, like they didn’t need anything else if not their bodies and their desire: no background, no names, no expectation.

And I think this aura of innocence is also the reason for the author to pick a pre-AIDS time for his story; these guys don’t need the worries of the plague, and the fear of death, for their first time together, they are meeting like strangers in the woods, and they are exiting that same woods as lovers, they need to be free to express their joy through sex, without fear, without worries.

The first part of the story, exactly half of it, is sweet, and tender, the right feeling for a teenager love story; Reid and Everett don’t really have trouble, their parents maybe are worried, but more or less supporting, their future can be undefined, but it’s there, at hand reach. I was wondering how this story would have evolved, if it was possible for it to be so simple, and nice, if Reid and Everett were heading towards an easy romance; and I was worried since, my thought was, if they haven’t to fight for it, would they be able to understand how important it was? And then the author decided to put an obstacle on their path, a challenge, something that, as they said, if didn’t kill them, would make them stronger. Despite that, Reid and Everett don’t suddenly turn into adult, they are still teenagers, maybe less starry-eyed, maybe, in Everett’s case, less spoiled, but still in love, still believing their love was not a fluke, still wanting to prove to their parents they are worthy of it.

The drama hit, but didn’t destroy the sweet and tender feeling of the story, and I’m sure this is a romance that the more romantic readers will love.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1463778643/?tag=elimyrevandra-20… (meer)