Dance on Ice by RJ Scott & V.L. Locey Release Blitz

For the figure skater and the hockey player, their sport demands total devotion, but can falling in love come first?

My name is Shaun Stanton, and I’m bisexual.

In hockey-obsessed Chesterford Academy, Shaun Stanton stands out as the star player and captain of the Chesterford Coyotes, and his exceptional skills have already attracted the attention of NHL scouts. He lives and breathes hockey, but there’s more to his story. His father wants Shaun to be the star he never was, and their relationship is a complex mix of guidance and intimidation. Worse, while hockey is Shaun’s sanctuary and a key part of who he is, he harbors a secret his dad can never discover: Shaun is gay He’s caught between the future career he’s destined for, and the truth he has to hide. There’s one bright light in his life, the vibrant figure skater who shares the early morning practice ice, a friend he worries about, but has now become something more—Kenji is everything Shaun wants and can’t have.

My name is Kenji Kelly, and I need to be perfect.

Kenji Kelly is a young man who walks two worlds: his family is a beautiful mix of American and Asian cultures. He loves both figure skating and hockey, and he’s a out and proud pansexual teen. While it seems to the world around him he has it all, deep down Kenji has a secret that’s slowly becoming harder to conceal. His life is the ice and his coach does not believe in failure. The one person who knows his hidden secret is Shaun, the captain of the Coyotes and a friend from youth hockey days. Shaun’s gaze towards Kenji, once filled with concern, now seems to hold something deeper, unsettling Kenji but also igniting similar giddy, burgeoning feelings in him. As their feelings for each other become stronger, the secrets both young men carry grow heavier and more distressing with each passing day.

Trigger Warning: mention of an eating disorder.

Don’t miss our reviews of the rest of the Chesterford Coyotes series!
For book one, Off the Ice, click HERE.
For book two, On Thin Ice, click HERE.

 

 

Book 3
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There was a heated exchange of words, Kenji skating backward and away, almost at center ice. All I needed to do was to push forward on one skate, and glide there, and we could say hello. We’d been best friends once, and if I apologized—if I was honest with him about how I’d messed up—maybe we could go back to being friends. As the argument escalated between my dad and Kenji’s coach, I felt a knot form in my stomach and I was paralyzed by my own insecurities. I watched Kenji and cursed myself for not having the courage to reach out to him.

Dad was becoming more animated, Kenji’s coach just as loud, gesticulating wildly.

I didn’t have the balls to skate to the center ice.

And Kenji didn’t turn to look at me.

Dad returned, as scarlet as me, but where my reaction was shame and confusion, his was temper and hatred.

“You’re sharing the ice,” he snapped.

He was so angry, and I didn’t know how to feel. He’d sacrificed everything for me; worked three jobs to keep me in hockey gear, drove me to every practice and game, and even volunteered as a coach for the team. The thought of letting him down filled me with guilt.

I owed him.

He’d poured his heart and soul into my hockey career, and it all centered on us practicing six days out of seven on this ice, and today we didn’t have the ice.

I should feel territorial, right? It was what Dad wanted me to feel, I was sure. Instead I felt… weird. Then something hit me. Why was I sharing the ice that was for the school? I was somewhere for the Academy teams to practice and play, and it wasn’t open to the public, courtesy of a shit ton of funding from very rich benefactors at our very wealthy campus. Why was someone from outside Chesterford Academy on our ice?

“They’ll let anyone join this damn school, freaking twirly shit getting in our way. Fucking girls out here on our ice.”

“He’s—”

“No!”

I wanted to defend Kenji, to explain that figure skaters were as valid as hockey players, same as I’d done when Kenji had left hockey for the figure skating and begged to be allowed to be friends with him still. But my dad’s hatred had spilled over and scared me.

“Shut your mouth and listen up,” Dad snapped. His reaction stung, his threats left me feeling powerless and defeated, and small.

So small.

“Figure skaters are boys as well,” I word-vomited, thankful the boards were between me and him when Dad stiffened and sent me a stare that would kill other people. Dad had never touched me, apart from fixing my hockey hold, or straightening my back, but his expression was murderous, and that meant the curses would fly and he’d take out his impotent rage on me with words. He leaned over the barrier, and my heart skipped, my chest tightened. I held my position and tilted my chin as he lowered his voice, hate dripping from every word.

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the third in the series, and is another great book from the talented duo of V.L. Locey and RJ Scott. This time we get an interesting pairing of two very different ice sports – the oversized, slightly brutish hockey player, Stanton, and the diminutive ice dancer, Kenji.

Both guys are now training on shared ice in the early hours of every morning, their respective coaches bullying them on the ice, using horribly negative slurs to get them to improve. I really hate this style of coaching, so was super angry at both of them and very relieved when things change.

Though they were great friends as youngsters, there was a rift, and it is really touching watching them retrieve the friendship, admit that it might well be much more than just a friendship, and navigate a possible future, all whilst dealing with their coaches hounding them to be better. For Stanton, he has to find the strength to live his own dream, rather than his father's. For Kenji, the road is much more complex as he has a coach who demands his weight stay at a set point, something he feels he can only achieve by starving himself most of the time. It is difficult to read, but the authors have done an amazing job of providing balance and insight.

I definitely recommend this book to you – and for series fans, there are plenty of links to earlier books, which are very satisfying.


Shannan – ☆☆☆☆
Dance on Ice is the third installment in the Chesterford Coyotes series. It can be read as a standalone – and the trigger warning for an eating disorder should be taken seriously. If this is a topic you yourself have struggled with or can't read this type of story, please skip this one, as it is a big topic in the plot.

Kenji and Shaun were the closest of friends when they were younger. They played hockey together until Kenji was pulled more toward the figure skating world. Shaun's dad took issue with that and refused to let Shaun remain friends with him. Shaun hated that he was no longer a part of Kenji's world, but he owed his dad for all his sacrifices. Kenji is proudly out as pansexual while Shaun is hiding deep in the bisexual closet even though there are very well known, out hockey players. His dad pushes him hard to be the best and make the NHL at any cost. And Kenji's coach bullies him for his weight – having daily weigh-ins; the stress to be perfect pushes Kenji to an eating disorder. Kenji wants to hate Shaun, but he can't. Shaun wants to protect Kenji and be the one he can lean on. They fight for a regained friendship but they both want more.

The bullying they both experienced was heartbreaking. Seeing Shaun finally stand up against his father was everything, as was Kenji's coach being exposed, unfortunately at the injury of Kenji. There friends stood behind them both and became the support they both needed.

Another great story from this duo of authors!

 

 

USA Today bestselling author RJ SCOTT has written over one hundred and fifty romance books. Emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, single dads, hockey players, millionaires, princes, bodyguards, Navy SEALs, soldiers, doctors, paramedics, firefighters, cops, and the men who get mixed up in their lives, always with a happy ever after.

She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing. The last time she had a week’s break from writing, she didn’t like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a box of chocolates she couldn’t defeat.

Connect with RJ Scott!

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Facebook Group: RJ Scott – Special Secret Group
Facebook Group: MM Hockey Romance

 

V.L. LOCEY loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.)

She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, a flock of assorted fowl, and two Jersey steers.

When not writing spicy romances, she enjoys spending her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in hand.

Connect with V.L. Locey!

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Facebook Group: V.L. Locey – Vixens Reading Group
Facebook Group: MM Hockey Romance

 

 

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Dance on Ice (Chesterford Coyotes #3) by RJ Scott & V.L. Locey to read and review.

The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman by Julietta Henderson

A triumphant and touching debut about the unlikeliest superstar you’ll ever meet.

Twelve-year-old Norman Foreman and his best friend, Jax, are a legendary comedic duo in waiting, with a plan to take their act all the way to the Edinburgh Fringe. But when Jax dies, Norman decides the only fitting tribute is to perform at the festival himself. The problem is, Norman’s not the funny one. Jax was.

There’s also another, far more colossal objective on Norman’s new plan that his single mom, Sadie, wasn’t ready for: he wants to find the father he’s never known. Determined to put a smile back on her boy’s face, Sadie resolves to face up to her own messy past, get Norman to the Fringe and help track down a man whose identity is a mystery, even to her.

Julietta Henderson’s delightfully funny and tender debut takes us on a road trip with a mother and son who will live in the reader’s heart for a long time to come, and teaches us that—no matter the odds—we must always reach for the stars.

 

 

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MIRA (Harlequin)

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
4.5 stars of poignant writing

This is a book which I started at 6am in the morning and didn't stop until I had finished it – it was a good thing I was on leave! I really did just read it from cover to cover – even taking it with me whilst I grabbed some breakfast, and waiting till I had done to get dressed. I say this just to warn you that you will just get so involved that you may forget other responsibilities.

When thinking about how to review this book, I realise just how rich the story is, and how much I know about the people that we meet along the journey to Edinburgh. There are wonderful vignettes of incidents which lend themselves perfectly to explaining what can happen when on a trip. But whilst the journey and arrival is important, it is in the very first few pages that the scene is set to give us cause to be concerned about how anyone on the front cover could suggest that this will be a funny book – and yet it really is, in a rather English understated, raconteur, or even observational comic way!

My absolutely favourite bit was when Norman's mum, Sadie, flicks through Jax's texts to her, him being the cheeky kid that he was, and yet the one who knew that reassuring her that Normie was safe was the right thing to do. But there are many fabulous parts to this clever, funny, and immensely readable book – I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

 

 

Julietta Henderson is a full-time writer and comedy fan who splits her time between her home country of Australia and the UK. The Funny Thing about Norman Foreman is Julietta’s first novel.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman by Julietta Henderson to read and review.

In the Desert by Elliot Joyce

Can a Navajo trans teen and a nerdy Catholic find the place they belong... and maybe themselves? In the desert, anything is possible…

When Wren came out as transgender before his senior year, it cost him most of his friends. His father hopes joining a Boy Scout troop might help Wren meet other young men his age and be accepted for who he is.

Felipe Nieves wants the new guy in the troop to feel comfortable, and he reaches out to Wren. They become fast friends… with something more beneath the surface. Those feelings confuse Felipe, since his religion considers this a sin—and he’s always assumed he was straight—but he can’t help pining for Wren. Asking him out will take courage, and getting together won’t be easy… but through their friendship, both young men might find their identities… and learn to embrace them in a unique coming-of-age story set against the beauty of the American Southwest.

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

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Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is a very enjoyable coming of age story about two boys (one trans) who find that they are drawn to each other when they meet at Scouts. As we spend the last few months before college with them, we get a good understanding of their thoughts and hopes for the future.

We get to meet both their families and understand some of the dynamics which form the background to their developing relationship. Kyle and Travis are also key to getting Wren and Felipe to admit to each other how they feel – and they definitely add the comedy, as well as Kyle being a mentor to Wren.

A lovely mix of a simple young romance, the complexity of not following the standard paths, and a good appreciation of the way it affects family and friends.


Sarah – ☆☆☆
This is a really sweet and innocent feeling young adult romance. It is the story of the unlikely relationship between a gay trans Navajo kid and a closeted Mexican Catholic boy. Both Wren and Felipe are social misfits who find a scout group where they can belong.

I have to admit that I liked the idea of this story more than I liked the actual book. I feel like too many ideas and moments are mentioned but not fully developed. I wanted to know more about Wren’s Navajo culture. I wanted to know more about his sibling relationships. We get some insights into Wren’s experience as a trans teen but I’m not sure we ever properly get into Wren’s head or his heart.

Very few of the characters in this book feel real to me. Wren’s parents say and do the right things. They are nice and good – but they aren’t interesting, and Wren’s family never moves past 80s sitcom family clichés. The teenage characters are alternately far more mature and more kind than real life teens and also more innocent than any high school seniors could possibly be.

Probably because I can still remember dating 18 year old boys, I didn’t ever buy into the nervous hand holding and stolen kisses between Wren and Felipe. This is a sanitised, low-heat romance without much sexual tension between the characters. The result is a sweet and gentle coming of age story. The boys are adorable but not very believable. This is the book I’d lend my mum if she wanted to try a LGBT romance.

ELLIOT JOYCE is a social-media obsessed, selfie-taking millennial and he’s proud of it. He can usually be found in his room playing D&D or in a theater lurking on the catwalks. Sometimes he even writes.

Other notable facts include the fact that he’s bisexual, he cannot juggle, and he regularly trips over thin air. Catch him on tumblr or really any social media, he spends enough time on it.

Connect with Elliot

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of In the Desert by Elliot Joyce to read and review.

Fourteen Summers by Quinn Anderson

Family, friendship, love, and a summer to remember.

Identical twins Aiden and Max Kingsman have been a matched set their whole lives. When they were children, Aiden was happy to follow his extroverted brother’s lead, but now that they’re in college, being “my brother, Aiden” is starting to get old. He’s itching to discover who he is outside of his “twin” identity.

Oliver’s goals for the summer are simple: survive his invasive family, keep his divorced parents from killing each other, and stay in shape for rowing season. He’s thrilled when he runs into his old friends, the Kingsman twins, especially Aiden, the object of a childhood crush. Aiden is all grown-up, but some things have stayed the same: his messy curls, his stability, and how breathless he makes Oliver. Oliver’s crush comes back full force, and the feeling is mutual. Summer just got a whole lot hotter.

Fun-loving Max takes one thing seriously: his role as “big brother.” When Aiden drifts away, Max can’t understand how his own twin could choose a boy over him. Summer won’t last forever, and with friendship, family, and happily ever after on the line, they’ll have to navigate their changing relationships before it’s too late.

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Riptide Publishing

To Our Readers

While we strive to provide reading recommendations that are appropriate for most young adult readers 12 and older and keeping the blog free of adult content in order to achieve this, there are times when we discover a book that walks that fine line between young adult and new adult. It's that gray area of novels, romance or not – the coming of age story.

Fourteen Summers is one such book – we consider it neither truly young adult, nor truly new adult, but rather a coming of age story. It is because of this that we ultimately decided to share it on our YA blog, despite the sexual content. We feel the challenges the young men face will resonate with older teens as their relationships with friends and potential romantic interests change over the years. Because the book includes non-explicit scenes that aren't fade-to-black, but are age-appropriate for the characters, we recommend Fourteen Summers for mid-to-older teens. Also, we strongly encourage parents of mature, younger teens to read the book to assess for themselves if it’s appropriate for their child if they're uncomfortable with their teen reading sex scenes. We feel that Quinn's message is one that will resonate with many young readers, but especially with teens who are grappling with their own sexuality.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆☆
Fourteen Summers is a coming-of-age tale that encompasses many different types of relationships – romantic, familial, and friendship. The focus easily shifts, yet manages to weave all these types of relationships into a sense of belonging you only get from family.

It starts off fourteen years in the past, with three little boys. A pair of twins try to draw their best friend into their welcoming family. It was a heart-tugging yet lighthearted, warm and fuzzy, humorous scene that set the perfect stage for the novel to come.

As identical twins, Aiden and Max have always had a built-in support system, best friend, and constant companion, perhaps causing an unhealthy codependency. They were both devastated when their childhood best friend moved away, but they had each other.

Oliver wanted nothing but a warm and welcoming family that didn't fight with one another, after growing up amidst a bickering set of parents who ultimately divorced, and a rowdy, obnoxious yet loving extended family. He loved his best friends, but was jealous of not only their connection as twins, but of their loving parents as well. Oliver just wanted to be part of their family instead of his own.

Fourteen years later... after a decade apart, a chance meeting in the grocery store sets off a chain of events that tests the binds of different types of relationships, acting as both the angst of conflict and the catalyst of change.

While on the outside looking in, Aiden and Oliver seem almost too perfect in juxtaposition to those around them, especially with Max. Max is jealous, used to being the alpha of his brother and their friend, and he can't handle being the third-wheel. I understood Max, and I think it helped being inside his head during his narration, but I do fear readers not empathizing with him, maybe finding him obnoxious or frustrating. But no character should be perfect, and Max was used to show how Aiden and Oliver are far from perfect themselves. Perception is reality, and Max's perception helps paint a full picture within the novel.

The novel was sweet and warm, yet had its moments when it became highly emotional. There was also a yummy decadence of a longtime crush evolving into something more adult. The realism was shown via Max's interactions, as he was able to force the reader to step out of the warm and fuzzy romance and angst and show a different type of relationship, that of twin brothers and of best friends.

I highly recommend Fourteen Summers. While this is listed as MM romance, I do believe it would be appropriate for mid-to-older teens, (however, it is not fade-to-black sexual situations) as all three boys are barely 20 and experiencing coming-of-age growth as the novel progresses.


Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
This is a sweet and very innocent feeling story. While there is a central romance, it is more a coming of age story about twins growing into an adult relationship. The characters are college age, but living at home with parents for the summer makes them all seem much younger.

Identical twins Aiden and Max are complete opposites but have been inseparable since childhood. Aiden’s interest in Oliver marks the first serious relationship for either brother and it hurts Max more than either of them expected.

This story is as much about the two families as it is about the two boys. Even as a small child, Oliver was aware of the differences between Aiden and Max’s warm and happy parents and his own home where arguments and grudges were normal.

This is a slow and thoughtful story. It is a coming of age story about three boys who are finding themselves and working to make their childhood relationships work as adults. The romance is sweet (with a tiny bit of heat) but for me it was the boys’ relationships with their siblings, parents, and friends that were most meaningful.


Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
M/M Coming of Age
Triggers: Click HERE to see Avid Reader’s review on Goodreads for trigger warnings.

Aiden and Max are identical twins. They do everything together. They were fortunate to make a very good friend while they were just little, Oliver. They have the sweetest relationship together and watching them hang out and be friends was a very sweet way to start the story.

Fast forward 14 years and the boys are just entering their twenties. Reconnecting is something they all needed. Oliver's home life was less than stellar when he was little, and it still is a little rocky now that he's more grown up. Oliver wanted to have the happy home life that his best friends had. While Oliver wasn't exactly jealous of Aiden and Max's home life, it became Oliver's goal to have a family like that.

Aiden and Oliver had crushes on each other when they were little. But because they were little, neither really knew what they were feeling or if they should do anything about it. When they are reunited, those old feelings come back to the surface. But now that those two have a connection that is deepening, how will Aiden and Max cope with the changes in their own relationship?

This story has such a great dynamic. It is about family, love, friendship, and acceptance. I really enjoyed seeing the boys figure out what they wanted personally and from each other. The family dynamic is not overdone and overall, this is a great coming of age story.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆
This is a very sweet coming of age novel involving three best friends. Two, identical twins Aiden and Max, have been together literally their whole lives, and have caring, loving professional parents. Oliver met them as a young boy but moved away when his always arguing parents finally divorced. As a boy, he loved the calm and happiness of their home, as well as having a crush on Aiden. Fast forward to age 20 and they meet up again as Oliver's dad has moved back to the area.

Now we deal with three young men who kind of want to recapture the innocence and fun of their boyhood, yet Aiden and Oliver are clearly attracted to each other. Max suddenly feels that he is losing his twin, and everyone's emotions go into overdrive. We hear the story from all three perspectives, and I enjoyed the fact they all learned from each other and had a new, adult view on what happened in their past, and maybe the direction of their futures.

Quinn Anderson earned a master’s degree from the University of Dublin in Ireland and is also a University of Florida alumna with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She began writing books, poetry, and fan fiction at fourteen years of age and was first published at nineteen. Her favorite authors include Gail Carson Levine, Libba Bray, Tamorra Pierce, and T.A. Barron. A nerd extraordinaire, Quinn draws inspiration from pop culture and makes far too many obscure references. Quinn’s favorite thing to write is witty dialogue, and her favorite thing to read is a slow burn.

Connect with Quinn

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Fourteen Summers by Quinn Anderson to read and review.

Ryan's Bed by Tijan

I crawled into Ryan Jensen’s bed that first night by accident.

I barely knew him. I thought it was his sister’s bed—her room. It took seconds to realize my error, and I should've left...

I didn’t.
I didn’t jump out.
I didn’t get embarrassed.
I relaxed.
And that night, in that moment, it was the only thing I craved.

I asked to stay. He let me, and I slept.

The truth? I never wanted to leave his bed. If I could've stayed forever, I would have.
He became my sanctuary.

Because—four hours earlier—my twin sister killed herself.

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆☆
4.5 stars
M/F Coming of age, romance
Triggers: Click HERE to see Avid Reader’s review on Goodreads for trigger warnings.

Wow. This is a powerful story about finding a way to survive the loss of someone you hold dear. It is a story about family, friends, and yourself – taking one step at a time and moving forward.

I thought that the two main characters complemented each other well. You have the jock who is trying to find his place – find people who are genuine – and then you have "the new girl" who has suffered a huge loss, but is forced to continue moving forward.

Mackenzie is struggling with figuring out who she is now. Her family is shattered, and she has to figure out if she wants to continue as things have been or change them. When she loses Willow, she lost a part of what made her her.

Ryan is Mackenzie's rock. He doesn't know why he's pulled to her, but when he starts to see things through her eyes, he realizes what he's been missing and what he has. It was great to watch him take things more seriously, fall in love, and see past his own hurt.

The friends and enemies in this story are powerful and real. You can't help but cheer Mackenzie on when she's breaking down barriers. I did have an issue with her "friends" from Arizona. I thought that was too well wrapped up and given the drama, not resolved very well.

This story made me laugh and cry. It was sad, forgiving, heartwarming, and hopeful all at once. The twists are unexpected and yet, it's what I've come to expect from Tijan's books. They leave you wondering and wanting more.


Erica – ☆☆☆☆☆
5 Stars due to the emotion of the novel. 3 Stars on the young adult storyline itself.

I will admit, the beginning portion felt a tad chaotic for me, as several days' worth of events flow in a stream of consciousness from our narrator. I wasn't sure if Mac had left the party to find her sister and was returned, or if it happened before the party and her family was so insensitive they forced her and her baby brother to sit through a coworker's party, who incidentally happened to be a group of strangers. It wasn't until near the end of the book that Mac shouted the order of events. It's a little thing, used to show how discombobulated Mac's thought process was at the time, but it risked confusing readers early on, when a book has to hook the reader into continuing forth, especially in a book marketed to teens. I would think the order of events that lead Mac to sleep in Ryan's bed would have been more clear from the get-go, seeing as it was the theme of the novel.

Without writing out a synopsis of the entire plot, I will focus on the emotion of the novel. Ryan was comfort for Mac, even after never speaking a single word to one another, she recognized the type of person he was. Ryan was patient, understanding, and everything Mac needed in the aftermath of finding her identical twin sister on the eve of their eighteenth birthday. We all need a Ryan – he's exactly who we need for unconditional comfort and support.

The stress and strain on the family, the way Mac's parents and little brother acted and reacted, were realistic in the extreme. I felt, as a reader, I was sitting in their home, experiencing the pain right alongside them, able to understand why they were behaving as they did, and feeling just as powerless as Mac as they pulled away from her.

I will admit, I spent the majority of the novel with tears staining my cheeks, empathizing with Mac and the rest of the cast. Willow haunted Mac, breathing life into a character who would have only been used as a plot device otherwise. Willow became another character in the novel, not simply just the catalyst of the story itself. The dynamic of the twins was thought-provoking, how their relationship was toxic yet motivating.

While the grief was portrayed realistically, with compassion and great understanding, the young adult setting wasn't too original. A bunch of irrational mean girls and a great group of understanding guys. Girl bad, boy good. While I survived high school as a girl similar to Mac (refusing to put up with that behavior), I felt the way the girls were written were over-the-top in juxtaposition to the grief of the novel.

Everyone else felt 3D, except for the teen female population of the novel. One note – jealous, envious, and irrational. There are many Macs in the world, and many other types of girls, as it's not filled with only one Mac and billions of mean girls. Even the 'finale,' which was the only true bad thing they pulled off, didn't ring true, involving four plane tickets for something that could have been taken off Facebook.

After how mature and realistic the grief was written, the young adult storyline was a letdown.

I wish the novel would have highlighted how irrational and wrong this entitlement is toward their crushes, as it was the perfect vehicle to do just that, with Mac's inspirational and empowering rants.

Just because a girl 'likes' a guy, doesn't mean she should just get him, and it has nothing to do with his current girlfriend. Why aren't mothers teaching their daughters how if they themselves get the final vote in whether or not they date someone, a guy also gets a voice when it comes to who he likes. He's not wronging a girl for not wanting her back. He has a right to like who he likes and not be made to feel guilty for not liking a girl back, just as a girl has a right not to deal with friend-zoned guys. All girlfriends and actual girl friends shouldn't be targeted by the rest of the female population who thinks they have ownership on a guy. The guy owns himself.

This toxic narrative needs to be addressed, "He won't date me, so you shouldn't date him either if you want to be my friend." "I called dibs first, how dare he like you and not me." "Let's attack his girlfriend and girl friends because how dare he not want me back." Who would want a guy who is manipulated into dating you, who doesn't want you back? Or how about address how if you got a guy through these means, he's too weak to be your boyfriend in the first place.

I'm not saying it's not realistic, or that it didn't happen to me in high school, but a young adult novel is the perfect vehicle to teach, especially when an empowered character is facing the challenge, to address the negatives of this way of thinking, as well as what happens if they did manage to 'break' a guy so badly he'd date those who manipulated him.

Overall, the way the grief was addressed was outstanding, one of the most accurate accounts of the aftermath, the strain on a family, the survivor's guilt, and the way life changes inexplicably. I highly recommend, but feel adults will appreciate this more so than young adults, with the exception of mature teens who have gone through similar situations – I believe this would both drum up their grief while helping them through it.

Young Adult age-range: 14+, due to adult language, alcohol, and sexual situations, as well as the aftermath of suicide. While the setting and age-group are most definitely young adult, the emotional impact may be too much for some readers (no matter their age). The school setting lightens this 'feel,' which may be too juvenile for serious adults, while the emotion may be too heavy for the youngest of readers. It was a mix of super serious grief and mean girl high school antics, with no middle ground in between.


Kris – ☆☆☆☆☆
I couldn't put this book down. It's classic Tijan. Which I was starting to feel was faltering in the recent Fallen Crest installments. She always gives the mean girls a run for their money and that is coming out quite a bit in Ryan's Bed. Even though I really felt that this story could have stood without the teenage melodrama of that addition. This is a dark and very sad story, but it wasn't super depressing as it has the mean girl element to lighten it up some, so in that regard I guess it was helpful. I think Ryan and Mackenzie would have had a great story even without the big failed "take down" scene by the popular girl. Mackenzie lost her twin to suicide and Ryan is like the balm to her tortured soul. He sees the darkness in Mac and it draws her to his own. He's experienced horrible loss too and can really empathize with Mackenzie's feeling like she's lost and crazy. There was an odd moment of everyone seeing the ghost of Mackenzie's dead twin which was funky, not super sure why that was thrown in the story. Otherwise the drama and then the intensity were pure Tijan perfection. I plowed through the story with a passion and loved the ending, it's a bit of a GASP moment that I did NOT see coming and gives a new perspective on the whole story.


Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
Tijan is an author I have not read before but I was drawn into this story right from the get go. The night her twin commits suicide, Mackenzie’s parents leave her with their new neighbours. She gets up during the night for a drink and accidently gets in the wrong bed and ends up sleeping in Ryan’s bed.

As Mackenzie struggles to deal with the grief over the loss of her twin, Ryan is the only person she can connect with. Their friendship quickly becomes romance and his friends become her friends. When senior year starts, Mackenzie learns that Ryan is the most popular guy in school. With a new school year comes new friends and new enemies. Mackenzie has to deal with the mean girl crowd all the while struggling with her grief and watching her family fall apart.

All through this story I wanted Mackenzie to deal with her issues and come out the other side stronger. I wanted her to find happiness. And Ryan is her rock through everything. We learn about his history and why he understands loss and grief. As far as book heroes go, Ryan is pretty amazing. There is one particular scene toward the end of the story in the basketball stadium where he just had my heart melting.

Mackenzie agrees to attend counselling sessions where she is, for the most part, uncooperative. The first two sessions made me smile and laugh a little. I’m not sure they were supposed to, but it was a good way to relieve the tension among all the seriousness.

I was enthralled with Ryan's Bed, but as much as I was sucked in, I didn’t cry. Given subject matter of loss, grief, and suicide, I thought I would have cried plenty, but I didn’t shed a single tear. In hindsight, I think I was maybe a little removed from the emotions because I felt like Mackenzie was holding something back. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. And drop it does. This story has an ending that is a shock. In the author's note at the end of the book she writes she hopes it will make you re-read the book. And I can say I definitely want to re-read Ryan's Bed.

Ryan’s Bed is an excellent young adult novel that can be enjoyed by teenagers and adults alike.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆☆
It is not often that I feel a book is truly 'amazing' as the Goodreads 5-star review requires. I find it a term that means more than five stars to be honest. But in this case, the word 'Amazing' is exactly what I believe should apply to this book. And if I am being really accurate, to the very last page.

I am not someone who reads young adult, and this does, in many ways, fall into that category. But this book is a rather wonderful reminder to anyone who feels that they are beyond young adult, that actually the feelings of 18 year olds are just as formed as those of many adults. They may not be able to use experience to process them, but then not many adults have the experience necessary to do that either. So, the emotions which dip and dive for Mackenzie, her parents, Ryan, and those around her make for an amazing book.

I wasn't a huge fan of the parties, the appearances of those who shouldn't be there, the mean girl games, but in part it reminded us that Mac's feelings, Ryan's behaviour, they all sat in this world and age group. That basketball came late in the story was really important, as they needed the time to be comfortable with each other – timing was key in many elements. Even the confusion of timing at the beginning worked to bring the level of disbelief and unreality to the fore.

The relationship between Mac and Ryan is undoubtedly key to the cohesiveness of the story; his patience is utterly enchanting – and the fact that his parents allow them to be together, is testament to the fact that he has good role models, who have helped him become that person. He could be so conceited, but instead is supportive and loving. He is still a horny 18-year-old, and drinks and hangs out, but he is protective, loving and just the rock that helps Mac live again.

Such a good book, such a difficult story to tell, but a really worthwhile read.

Tijan is the New York Times bestselling author of the Carter Reed series, the Fallen Crest series, and the Broken and Screwed series, among others. She lives in northern Minnesota.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Ryan's Bed by Tijan to read and review.

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

Fangirl meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this funny and poignant coming-of-age novel from New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren about two boys who fall in love in a writing class—one from a progressive family and the other from a conservative religious community.

Three years ago, Tanner Scott’s family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah.

But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High’s prestigious Seminar—where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester—Tanner can’t resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity.

It turns out, Tanner is only partly right: four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him.

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆
4.5 Stars.

I need to preface this review with how I struggled at the beginning of Autoboyography. I also need to add I received an advanced copy, so I cannot comment on whether or not this is present in the published version.

I was close to DNFing the novel several times over during the beginning, which would have been a shame. The premise kept me reading – a bisexual writer in this coming-of-age tale. Truly, I’m thankful I kept reading, as I enjoyed the story immensely. To be honest, there was a different feel to the first three chapters versus chapter four and beyond. The pacing, flow of information, and scene structure, the majority of the first three chapters were rambling monologue, giving info the reader needed, but in a storytelling fashion. All tell, no show. There was little to no dialogue. But my biggest issue was how the narrator dropped readers into scenes in the middle of it, only for a few paragraphs, then would teleport the reader into another time and place without a transition.

Explanation: paragraphs of a classroom scene. One word later, the reader would be thrust into the mall. Classroom, then arcade. Classroom, then home. All partial scenes, in the middle, with no beginning or end. While this promotes fast pacing, cutting out any unnecessary info, it was beyond jarring and confusing. I'd flip back pages, wondering if I'd somehow missed the end of one scene, a mark denoting a passage of time, and the beginning of the next. Days could go by from the end of one sentence to the beginning of the next.

If you are reading this review, like I went searching due to my struggles, hang in there. It's worth it. The scenes become full-length at the start of Chapter 4. The authors begin showing, instead of telling.

Tanner is a well-rounded boy from a supportive family, with an equally supportive best friend. It was a breath of fresh air to have a narrator who wasn’t abandoned, or bleeding angst on every page. Dry wit and self-depreciating humor, Tanner knows who he is, what he wants, and where he wants to be in the future. He’s a non-religious bisexual boy living in an LDS community, raised by a Jewish parent and one who holds deep-seated resentment toward the Mormon church.

Tanner’s family is intelligent, open-minded, empathetic, supportive, and gives true-to-life, realistic advice by emotionally mature individuals. It was refreshing.

While Autoboyography does show different sides to LDS, instead of besmirching it, it’s written in a gray area, where it’s decisions made, left up to the individual.

Tanner falls deeply into infatuation with the TA in the Seminar, a class where students write a full novel during the semester. Color me jealous, but I wish this existed when I was in high school. The only issue, the boy Tanner falls for happens to be the son of a bishop in the LDS church.

On the pages, the reader follows Tanner’s coming-of-age journey, as the boy he loves has a conflict of conscience but never of faith. The comfort and clarity Sebastian found in his faith was inspiring, even during his deep struggles with the followers of said faith. The evolution mirrors the book Tanner’s writing. Cute. Sweet. Mortifying. Several times over, I dropped my Kindle into my lap, only to cover my face with my upraised palms. I was embarrassed for Tanner – blushing, laughing, and smiling. Shaking my head at the dang kid. Mortified.

Tanner and Sebastian had chemistry, tension, and a push-pull banter that was as humorous as it was seductive. A true connection was felt from the pages, causing the reader to become emotionally invested in the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed Autoboyography, and am so thankful I continued forth after struggling with the beginning. I recommend it to fans of the authors, as well as fans of the MM romance and Young Adult genres. But my recommendation goes deeper – young adults, especially those struggling with their sexuality while having faith, to experience the comfort of knowing they aren't alone. I also recommend reading by parents of these same children, to get a grasp on what they may be going through.


Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
Like all the best Young Adult writing, this story made me laugh and smile and cry and reflect. It is the story of a bisexual boy from an affluent liberal family who finds himself one of only a handful of non-Mormon kids in his new Utah small town. And he finds himself falling hard for his very Mormon writing mentor.

I was able to overlook the erratic pacing and the sometimes confusing plot structure because I fell hard and fast for Tanner. Most of the story is told from Tanner’s perspective and his experiences and observations are wonderful. I loved his friendship with Autumn and I wanted so badly to protect him from Sebastian.

Tanner’s experience as an outsider in a Mormon town is only compounded by his mother’s experiences growing up LDS and her adult resentment towards the church. Similarly, Tanner’s ‘coming out’ is tainted by his aunt’s very negative experience a generation earlier. I loved that the kids and the adults in this story are all multi-dimensional. We don’t get good and evil, we get people trying to do what’s right for them. Even when I wanted to hate Sebastian’s family, I was forced to understand their emotional and spiritual struggles.

Together, Sebastian and Tanner are wonderful. They are sweet and sometimes beautifully innocent. I wanted so desperately to protect their hearts – but this story is too honest for that.

While I loved the story, I did struggle with the writing. At times, scenes ramble on and on but in other places, readers are jolted from aborted scene to aborted scene quite erratically. But these characters are special and I had a powerful emotional reaction to their story.


Kris – ☆☆☆☆☆
A really new and different take on a coming of age/forbidden love story. Tanner's family moves to Utah, the land of Mormons and the LDS (Latter Day Saints church) where his mother grew up but left after the church shunned her gay sister. Tanner is bisexual and moving from open and out California to closed and closeted Utah is an adjustment, for sure. Of course, the one person Tanner finds a spark for is the LDS Church's, bishop's son!! Couldn't even be a girl he found completely intriguing. Sebastian is the poster boy for the LDS church. He's lived his entire life with a smile that covers a lie. Tanner brings out everything Sebastian is fighting to keep hidden. The two take on a forbidden romance and all the angst that comes with the fight against Sebastian's bishop father, the closed minded church town, and the intensity of first love. The beginning of the book threw me off a bit at first. Slightly disjointed and halting with quite a bit of over description. I was unsure where this story would go, but boy did my perseverance pay off and I implore you to do the same, KEEP READING! This book was a "can’t put it down, stayed up till 2am reading" story! Although I did find the ending a bit lackluster, although it was sweet and the way I wanted, I guess I just wasn't finished reading and wanted more. The book is very Young Adult with great descriptions that don’t go into much real detail but written extremely well.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
I don't often read coming of age novels, but I am very glad that I read this one. The blurb absolutely captured my imagination, and did not disappoint.

I found that Tanner was beautifully written as a boy who is right on the cusp of manhood, but can fall either side of the line, just depending on what is happening to him at that time. He was such a fabulous romantic writer – even though we don't get to read his book, anyone who ever wrote pages of their feelings of unrequited love, can imagine just what he has expressed in it.

And the whole LDS element was fascinating to me, as someone who lives in the UK, where there really aren't such large groups of Mormons. I met a young man going on his mission a few years ago on a flight to Ghana – so I remembered his nervousness, his earnest desire to do well, and yet he had never been away before and had very limited expectations of being able to talk to his family over the next two years. So, I could feel for Sebastian, and the prospects of his next few years.

The idea of basing the story around a book writing class is inspired, as it provides so many opportunities for the two guys to meet, which would have not happened otherwise. There are also some fabulously important people that get to join the cast; Autumn without a doubt being the most noteworthy. Whilst at the beginning of the book she dips in and out of sight, her contribution later is at times essential, and also, she holds a twist or two in her hands!

Really, my advice is that you should get yourself a copy and enjoy a wonderful love story, with some unexpected twists and turns. And do it as soon as you can. This book is on my re-read list, because I know I will enjoy it even more second time around. Thank you, Ms. Lauren.

Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/besties/soulmates/brain-twins Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced fourteen New York Times bestselling novels. Their books have been translated into 31+ languages. (Some of these books have kissing. Some of these books have A LOT of kissing.)

Connect with Christina

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Autoboyography by Christina Lauren to read and review.