Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Misplaced Affection
AUTHOR: Wade Kelly
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 421 Pages
BLURB:
Clichés are overrated and loving the boy next door may not be as genuine as the love Flynn sacrifices along the way.
Knowing he’s gay and acting on it were two separate notions to Flynn Brewer until he’d met Keith, his first boyfriend, in high school. Before then, being gay wasn’t as real as the pain of living day-to-day. Flynn’s fear of coming out to his religious best friend Zach in their conservative community destroyed his relationship with Keith, but Flynn rationalized his avoidance and bottled up the truth until it was regrettably too late.
Zachary Mitchell was the perfect son and role model as far as the outside world could tell. Active in his church while attending college, Zach had a personality that could sell anything, do anything, or be anything. Except, he couldn’t sell the truth to himself. Just when he was ready to reveal his internal conflict to Flynn and expose the darkness lurking in his heart, and in his “perfect” family, Zach met a girl and got sucked deeper into his chasm of deception.
Caught in a living Newton’s Cradle of his own design, Flynn must choose between idealistic childhood fantasy or a tempestuous passion that could ignite the very air he breathes.
REVIEW:
Not surprisingly, another great book from Wade Kelly. At 421 pages, I’m thinking it was more like two books…but truthfully I’m not sure where it could have been cut in half. There was one spot that might have worked at the end of Part 1, but it would have ended with a huge cliffhanger which would have left me and the rest of you saying “what the heck Wade!”
I’m going to start out by just saying what I’m thinking. What the hell is wrong with us guys that we just can’t say what we feel. Women do it ALL the time. Men (straight or gay) hold it in and I guarantee you we all can look back with regret at those times we held our feelings in and later found out the feelings were reciprocated and we never knew because we didn’t say anything! This book particularly hit home to me, because the story of Flynn and his best friend Zach could very well have been copied in part from my own feelings for my best friend growing up. I think a lot of gay men will relate to this story.
Flynn Brewer is your typical average middle of the road high school student. He isn’t a jock, he isn’t a stoner, he isn’t emo, he’s just an average joe…well except for that gay thing, but no one knows about that. All that changes one day in art class when he meets Keith Leppo. Keith is out, or at least he thinks he is. Turns out no one at school really has any idea that he is gay either.
The two begin to get to know each other, but there are some issues to get past which could keep them from going any further. One is Flynn’s dad. Six years prior to the beginning of this story, a drunk driver t-boned Flynn’s family on their way to church. Both Flynn’s mom and brother, Nathan, were killed. Since then Flynn and his dad have “existed”. Flynn has coped by depending on his friendship with his best friend Zach Mitchell who lives next door, but things have been weird since that kiss they exchanged one night. It doesn’t help that Flynn has feelings for Zach, but Zach is straight. Mr. Brewer has been coping through a growing dependence on working around the clock and drinking when he does come home. Another issue is Flynn’s hesitation to actually admit he is gay! He will have to tell his dad and Zach before things can go any further. But how long can Keith be expected to wait on the sidelines?
Zach has his own issues. His family belongs to a splinter group church which preaches the wrath of God version of Christianity. Zach’s father and mother have changed over the years and have now become zealots of their religion. Zach’s dad has been physically beating him for years, and is totally intolerant of any other religions and especially intolerant of homosexuals.
The characters in the book ran the gamut of emotions with me. At times I liked them very much, at times I despised them. By shortly before mid-way through the book, I came to a point where I didn’t at all like either Flynn or Keith. Would they ever just start damn talking to each other? Happily shortly thereafter I came to like them again.
Along the way through this book we have Flynn’s dad catching Flynn and Keith on the couch in some heavy petting, we have Zach shipped off to one of those religious “retreats” in Utah to get him back on the right path to God and find a good Christian woman to marry at the same time, we also have car accidents, injuries and near death experiences. Through it all we have love (although as I’ve said….no one actually wants to say it!).
I really liked this book, and recommend it to all. As I mentioned, it really is long. I read it in one day because I’m that sort of reader, but I’d recommend reading it a little slower, so you don’t miss anything! And don’t panic like I did when you get to Part 2. When it went back to 2008 after the cliff hanger at the end of Part 1, I’ll admit it Wade, I used an out loud WTF! Thankfully it is only one chapter and it gets back to 2014!
You will love this book. Go one-click it right now while you’re thinking about it!
RATING:
BUY LINKS:
Great review!
This is a fab review and just makes me want to read the book even more
[…] Read Dan’s review HERE! […]