Teenaged angst is doubly hard when you’re gay. Jamie Peterson’s problems, however, seem multiplied out of all proportion and you have to wonder if most of his fears are real or merely imagined.He’s out to his mother and stepdad but not to his friends in school. However, everybody already seems to know that he’s gay, even though he’s gone to all sorts of effort to keep it hidden. He thinks his best friend Mason doesn’t know—but how can Mason be clueless if everyone else seems in on the secret? Are the people around him truly as homophobic as some of his magazine editors fear or will they be more accepting once the news comes out?Jamie’s emotions are on a real roller coaster. Reading this novel brings back all the churning anxiety of being an insecure adolescent, when you analyzed and re-analyzed everything that people said around you, when you wondered if someone you had a crush on really liked you or was just being friendly. The novel contains a graphic short that is so enjoyable to read that I wished the book contained more of them. It’s a very plausible story, filled with such nail-biting tension that it’s enough to make you experience Jamie’s worry, even if it’s only secondhand. It is also one of the better coming-out stories you’re likely to read in fiction. I really don't understand all the negative reviews off this novel. Aside from a few grammar mistakes, I thought the story was beautifully written in Jamie's perspective. Those who commented about Jamie playing the victim and complaining did not understand him at all (or any LGBTQ individual). His concerns and fears are very much real. I know many who can relate to him; I can personally. His resistance towards associating with anything 'gay' and declaring himself gay isn't the author playing into the stereotypes of the LGBTQ community. When you fear losing your best friend and other friends, hurting your reputation, causing others grief, you go to great lengths to prevent it. Sometimes, the choices made aren't always the right choices. Sometimes, they are. And, who the hell would admit to their best friend their love of him or her, knowing that it could either completely ruin their relationship, make it awkward, or be okay? That's a tough choice to make no matter who you are. It's perfectly acceptable that Jamie made excuses for Mason's flirting; he was terrified.
What do You think about Fan Art (2014)?
Hey, it was cute, fluffy, and an easy read. I can't complain.
—Sammyr01
