Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Uncovering Ray
SERIES: Ellery College #1
AUTHOR: Edie Danford
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: 309 Pages
BLURB:
When the right love uncovers the wrong secrets…
Hey, man–you a chick or a dude? Dealing with the same old boring question is a downer for college drop-out Ray Fayette, especially when it’s asked by the low-tipping, over-privileged students at the Ellery Diner.
When six-foot-five, muscle-bound straight arrow Wyatt Kelly publicly smacks down a fellow frat bother for caveman behavior, Ray’s interest is sparked. Wyatt’s not-so-subtle attraction sparks a few other things too.
But getting to know Wyatt proves dangerous. His sexy smiles and smart questions slide under even Ray’s prickliest defenses. Worse, his academic mentor happens to be Ray’s ex-stepfather, the dictatorial jerk who just kicked Ray out of his house. Again.
Wyatt suggests a housing arrangement that has surprising appeal—there’s space available at his frat house—but he’s unaware just how complicated Ray’s “identity issues” are. Ellery College kicked out Ray for a reason—a reason that could deep-six Wyatt’s academic career and Ray’s newly hopeful heart.
REVIEW:
Ray Fayette’s life is sucking pretty hard right now. Dropping out of college, fighting with the stepfather, waiting tables in a diner and having to deal with difficult college students. The icing on that screwed up cake is getting kicked out of home and being kept from Dave, the eleven year old step-brother that Ray loves.
Wyatt Kelly, one of those college students, though not so difficult, can make Ray smile. Ray recognizes that Wyatt could maybe be a bright point in an otherwise unhappy life, if only he’s given the opportunity. He’s also offering a place to live, but that might just increase Ray’s problems rather than solve them.
Uncovering Ray is the first book that I’ve read with a genderqueer character. I most definitely don’t have any sort of prejudices towards genderqueer folk, but I’ve never really spent much time pondering issues they may face either. Honestly, I don’t think I really understood what the term meant and for a good portion of the book I was focused on figuring out whether Ray was a girl or a boy. Because everyone has to be one or the other, right? Well, no. That’s sort of the whole argument and at some stage Ray’s rants finally sank in. As Ray would most eloquently say – It doesn’t fucking matter.
Oh man, please everybody don’t hate on me for writing this but in my opinion, to many people, I think it would matter. When it comes to what genitals are between the legs of a person you’re interested in, I think a lot of people would discover that their opinion might change. As an example, how many heterosexual males would freak out to discover the person they want to have sex with has a penis? They might understand and support the concept of being genderqueer but that doesn’t mean they want a partner with a penis. Now I’m not going to mention what genitalia Ray is rocking, but what I think would have made this story even better would be to have Wyatt’s perspective. He’s this perfect, accepting of anything, almost zen-like character but surely he must experience some conflicting thoughts. Is he secretly hoping Ray is a “girl”? Despite the fact he says that he doesn’t care what’s in Ray’s pants he’s only ever had sex with females before. Actually as much as I really enjoyed Ray’s “voice” throughout the book, I think I would have found much of the story more interesting through the eyes of Wyatt.
As far as main characters go I think Wyatt and Ray were very well paired. As much as I liked Ray, my patience was definitely tested. I could understand the emotional overreacting as far as the stepfather goes. He let Ray down as a child when he appeared to be the dream parent Ray desperately needed, but then didn’t follow through on that promise. So any interaction with him now gets Ray instantly ready for a fight. Ray is still a teenager after all. But Ray aims that snarky bitchiness at everybody and I did find it frustrating after a while. Wyatt however was largely unfazed by Ray’s dramatics. He stayed calm and continued to offer friendship and help. I was so happy when Wyatt’s patience finally broke through Ray’s prickly shell and Ray began to grow up and lose the bratty child attitude.
I found the secondary characters interesting in that two of the more frequently appearing ones… well I’m finished the book and I still don’t know if I like them or not. Tom, the stepfather, and Mike, Wyatt’s obnoxious frat buddy, both began the story firmly on my asshole list. But the author wrote them with a very realistic blend of both good and bad characteristics and by the end I was conflicted. I wanted to hate them, I’m stubborn like that, but I was forced to acknowledge that maybe they weren’t so bad. I love it when an author can make me question my assumptions and change my mind about things.
I snuck a peek at Goodreads and this book has one of the most random collection of ratings that I’ve seen. From one star to five stars and everything in between. But I genuinely enjoyed this story, and I’m giving it my recommendation. I’ll certainly keep an eye out for future Ellery College books.
RATING: 
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