Reviewed by Amber
TITLE: Shut Your Face, Anthony Pace!
AUTHOR: Claire Davis & Al Stewart
PUBLISHER: Beaten Track Publishing
LENGTH: 125 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 26th, 2016
BLURB:
First love – coming of age – family – acceptance
When Charlie was eight years old, his mum bought him a microscope for his birthday. Since then, he’s known how he wants to spend his life. There have been trials, and challenges, but now – finally – the day is here for him to start college with his lifelong friend Anthony Pace.
Anthony is a red-haired force of nature. He writes poetry about their enemies and eagerly participates in all Charlie’s science experiments without understanding a word. Every morning, he waits at the end of their street so they can get the bus together.
But things are changing.
Families are important, and complex. Charlie’s mum hasn’t been well, and his relationship with Anthony begins to shine like a different star in the sky.
Can everything come together in this explosion of physics and chemicals that Charlie calls life? Will Anthony Pace ever share his poems with the world, and can the Chihuahua, Princess Arabella, ever learn to stop licking?
REVIEW:
This book worked and didn’t work for me. It’s really hard to explain. It worked for me because I would wholeheartedly recommend it. This book is beautiful. It’s sweet, funny, sad, emotional, awkward…all the true feelings a good book should evoke this one does just that. It was, however, incredibly slow moving at first but once things got going I was completely sucked in.
I also found myself lost on a few different occasions mostly due to the British slang which is no fault of the authors and I obviously didn’t take any points off due to it, this was solely my issue. When I would get lost it would take me out of the story because I would need to go and look up a word or a phrase so I would know what was trying to be conveyed. But again this story was excellently written and unbelievably deep.
Charlie and Anthony have been friends for practically their whole lives. Growing up together they think they know everything about the other but both have secrets that they are keeping. From Charlie’s troubled home life to the boy’s growing attraction to each other they have to navigate the first few weeks at college while trying to move their best friendship to something more.
This is a true coming of age, coming into your own type of story. It’s sad, heartbreaking, vulnerable, uncomfortable but also uplifting, hopeful, and beautiful.
Again, I think most would like this book. Recommend.
P.S. I loved Alice…”you tell him, Shut Your Face, Anthony Pace!!” <3 <3 <3
RATING: 
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