Reviewed by Roberta

TITLE: Loving Jay

AUTHOR: Renae Kaye

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 200 Pages

BLURB: One thing Liam Turner knows for sure is that he’s not gay—after all, his father makes it very clear he’ll allow no son of his to be gay. And Liam believes it, until a chance meeting with James “Jay” Bell turns Liam’s world upside-down. Jay is vivacious and unabashedly gay—from the tips of his bleached hair to the ends of his polished nails. With a flair for fashion, overreaction, and an inability to cork his verbal diarrhea, Liam believes drama queen Jay must have a screw loose.

An accident as a teenager left Liam with a limp and a fear of driving. He can’t play football anymore either, and that makes him feel like less of a man. But that’s no reason to question his sexuality… unless the accident broke something else inside him. When being with Jay causes Liam’s protective instincts to emerge, Liam starts to believe all he knew in life had been a convenient excuse to stay hidden. From intolerance to confrontations, Liam must learn to overcome his fears—and his father—before he can accept his sexuality and truly love Jay.

REVIEW: Wow, what a great story about coming out and finding who you are.

Liam Turner is this young man who is battling his desires.  He’s messed with guys and girls before and yet he can’t say that either experience did much for him.  Hell, he even dated this girl who ended up married to his brother and gave him a nephew. All his life he’s heard from his father that he’d have no gay sons.  That he’d disown them first.  But Liam seems to have this obsession for openly gay and very flamboyant, James “Jay” Bell.  Liam watches him on their commute every day.  He wants to be able to talk to him, yet, he’s so unsure of himself.  Liam was in a nasty accident when he was 16 and he is scarred and has a resulting issues with his leg.  But even with all of that, Liam is this sweet, clueless guy who is finally figuring out who he is.

James “Jay” Bell is this wonderful character. He’s very open about who he is.  He’s never doubted who he was.  He’s got such great family.  Raised by a single mom and his two sisters, he’s had nothing but love and support to fall back on.  He is smart and funny and just about the cutest thing that I’ve ever read.  He’s the flamboyant, twinky character that I’ve ever read and yet, he made me smile.  I loved that he’d prattle on and just be himself.  He made me laugh and smile a lot.  I loved that he took the time to get to know Liam and not just rush into something.  He showed such strength of character in the way that he was just himself and yet in his own way, he took care of Liam’s fears slowly.  Jay is just about one of the greatest characters that I’ve ever read.  No matter what happened, he was able to still come through it with all of his strength and humor and his beliefs intact.

The secondary characters in this book, gosh I don’t even know what to say. They were GREAT!!  Jay’s mother, Carol.  His sisters, Janey and Jackie.  Janey’s husband, Trevor.  They were wonderful.  You see why Jay is the way he is.  It was fun watching the four of them together talking and interacting with each other.  The way talked over each other and kept lots of conversations going at once.  Yet, you could really feel the love that they had for each other.  Liam’s family.  They just took my breath away.  Liam’s family consisted of William and Connie, his parents. His brothers, Ben, Dale, Cameron, and John.  I loved, just loved how they supported Liam.  I think that they kinda knew that Liam was gay and just really waiting for him to catch up and tell them.  Everyone but his father.  William is that old school, beer drinking, hard living man who has his beliefs that his son’s will only be “real men”.  The rest of Liam’s family are just the most amazing supportive family that you could ask for a man who is coming to grips with his sexuality.  They showed Liam such love and support. Pushing him to be honest and being who he is and with the person that he wants to be with.

The love story between Liam and Jay was really beautiful to watch.  To watch Liam become the strong man that he becomes when it comes to loving and protecting Jay.  To watch Jay be the strength that Liam needs in order to become that man that is does.  I love that no matter what Jay does, how he acts Liam just falls more and more in love with him.  That he sees Jay for all that he is and still will stand in front of him and protect him.  That they can fall in love with each other and together they are all the better. 

This was such a great love story.  I love a great coming out story.  I loved that Liam kept saying that he wasn’t gay and yet, everything he did when it came to Jay proved that he was indeed gay.  I love that he asked Jay for the time to work things out in his head and Jay gave it to him.  I loved the way that they loved and supported each other. These two young guys really showed true strength of character.

This was a beautiful coming out story.  I loved that this story felt so very authentic. The story flowed so smoothly and you were never thrown out of the story.  You were along for the ride as Liam comes to grips with his sexuality and falls in love.  You won’t be disappointed with this story.  Trust me.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner Press