Reviewed by Cheryl
TITLE: Toy Soldiers
SERIES: When We Were Young #2
AUTHOR: Maggie Blackbird
PUBLISHER: Devine Destinies
LENGTH: 209 pages
RELEASE DATE: 9 October 2020
BLURB:
Once a thief, always a thief, and if he can’t win the heart of the boy he loves, he’ll steal it.
Billy Redsky’s made one of his biggest dreams come true, but there’s a problem. Even though the boy he loves is mere footsteps across the hall from his bedroom, they might as well live a country apart because claiming René Oshawee’s heart is more difficult than Billy anticipates.
Much to Billy’s disgust, René can’t accept his true self, so he’s incapable of loving someone else. And all he cares about is living a life the chief and his wife foresee for their youngest son.
If Billy is to finally have what he truly desires, he must stop René from running away from who he really is and face the man in the mirror, or what they share will never blossom into true love.
REVIEW:
What a lovely book. I adored the first book in the series, Two Princes, and this was a worthy successor. The problems Billy and Rene face are so relatable, and yet unique to their backgrounds and current situation. As the son of the leaders of the Ojibway tribe in Canada, Rene’s life is very different to the average teen. So is Billy’s but his difference comes from the other end of the scale. On the face of it these two are so far apart there is no way to bring them together, even though they are now physically close.
The tug and pull of their relationship forms the core of the book as Rene tries to open himself to Billy but is unable to take the risk that everything he knows will change. When rumours of his sexuality surface at school he entirely falls apart.
Billy, on the other hand grows more and more certain of who he is and what his place is in the world. With the help of the wonderful Ned, who I adore and want so much to adopt me, he gets in touch with his inner self and it brings him calm and centering. It is the little touches of native culture and belief that really bring this book, and the whole series so far, to life for me. It’s like peeking into another world I adored it. It was a privilege to share some intensely personal moments. Of course many of them were extremely frustrating, but that’s par for the course whenever teenagers are involved.
It’s sometimes hard to remember how young these two really are. They are both wise in their own ways and sometimes seem far more grown up than their years, especially Billy, the younger of the two. There are times when I grew frustrated with their immaturity only to remember that of course they are immature because they’re still so very young. The author has this spot on, I think.
Like the first book, this one is not perfect, but then what book is. There is still some stiffness to the writing in places, especially some of the dialogue, but I mention it only for completeness because this really is a wonderful book and one that should definitely appeal to younger readers. It is one of those books I would truly love to see in libraries and on school reading lists for so many reasons.
There is such richness in this story, I would recommend it to anyone and would dare to suggest it would make an excellent gift for younger friends and family.
RATING:
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Thank you very much for taking the time to read and review. It’s greatly appreciated. 🙂