Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  The Perfect Shine 

AUTHOR:  J.K. Hogan

PUBLISHER:  NineStar Press

LENGTH: 279

RELEASE DATE:  March 19, 2019

BLURB: 

Jackson Meade was a shy, awkward kid just trying to survive a high school with too many bullies and too few friends. Now that he’s in college, his eyes have been opened to a whole world of possibilities, especially those regarding love and sexuality. However, he can’t enjoy any of it since he’s been separated from his best friend.

Blake Renault has been in love with his best friend almost since they first met. After escaping a bad family situation, he lived with Jackson and his mom for the last two years of high school, which made it much harder to keep his feelings a secret. Graduation brings lots of changes for the boys, including Blake moving to a different city to apprentice with a tattoo artist and Jackson going off to college.

Being forced apart after high school leads them to new revelations about themselves and their relationship. While Jackson questions whether his attachment to Blake is normal for best friends, Blake decides to risk everything and tell Jackson the truth. Jackson and Blake must figure out what they want from each other while the future of their deep friendship hangs in the balance. Will they find love, or lose everything?

REVIEW: 

Jackson and Blake are best friends. Blake has moved to Jackson’s small town in Georgia from Louisiana.  He’s a good-looking smart guy and Jackson – who considers himself a geek and a nerd – takes a shine to him immediately.  The stunning part is that Blake seems to want to be his friend – something Jackson is not used to at all! He’s been bullied and picked on for as long as he can remember and he is clueless as to why Blake would want to hang out with him.

They become very good friends and Blake shares with Jackson that he’s got a rough home life.  Jackson’s lovely mom allows Blake to live with them for the rest of high school and the boys become closer.  Blake tries to get Jackson to see that life will be so different once he’s out of his high school and that he needs to focus on what he will be able to do in college.  His attempts at getting Jackson to be more social tend to backfire however, when he tries to get him to interact with the more “popular” crowd that Blake hangs with.

Once they do separate and Jackson goes to college and Blake begins his job in far-away Atlanta, things improve for Jackson in some ways.  He does have a couple of friends and he begins “sort of” dating a girl names Daisy.  But he misses Blake something fierce.  They basically have not been apart in over two years so it’s very hard when they have done everything together.  Blake misses Jackson too, but he keeps his head down and works all the time – which he gets called out on by his boss.  Obviously, he’s avoiding something.

The guys do not see each other very much over the first year of college, but in the 2nd semester there are a couple of visits that change the course of their relationship.  Daisy is one of the catalysts in opening Jackson’s eyes.  Blake is scared, but he’s also really tired of not being honest about his feelings.  But is Jackson ready to hear it and what will he do about it?  Without being spoilery, I will have to say that they definitely had some things to work out.

Well, I really wanted to like this book more than I did.  I have enjoyed JK Hogan’s writing and especially LOVE Unbreak Broken.  But something was just off in this one for me.  There were things that threw me out of the story right off the bat.  Jackson is in the Marching Band – but oboes and French horns do NOT march.  Like ever.  Oboist here – Jr. High, Sr. High, College.  I was in the flag corp or played the bells during marching season.  Oboe reeds (until you learn to make them yourself) are extremely expensive and sensitive and the thought of trying to move while playing one is frightening to say the least.  You’ll never ever see any double-reed marching.  French horn players play mellophones – you can’t march and properly play a French Horn – the bell faces behind the player so the sound would be going backwards.  The time jumping – from college back flashbacks of the two years of high school were jarring at first and I wasn’t sure why the story was told that way.  Then they did things like swimming after getting a new tattoo.  Um no.  No swimming for a couple of weeks after getting a new tattoo – and certainly not in a dirty freshwater lake, river or pond.  Being served alcohol as a minor in a bar – after JUST talking about wrist bands for those who could be served since both guys were underage.  On the other hand, I did really like Blake and Jackson and Jackson’s mom Meredith.  She was a terrific mom and a supportive adult to Blake when he really needed it.  She was the kind of mom everyone should have.  I also really liked Daisy – Jackson’s sort of girlfriend, but definitely his friend.  She was so helpful in opening Jackson’s eyes to the possibilities that he really hadn’t let himself see.  I really think another round of edits would have helped this book to tighten it up and catch some of these issues that threw me out of the story too many times. It had great bones, but the execution was just a little off.  It took me a long time to read it, which is never a good sign.  As usual, YMMV.

RATING:

BUY LINK:

Amazon

NineStar Press