Whatever autobiographical echoes Jamie Fessenden brings to this book help to make Jake and Danny feel like people and not just words on a page. Set at the author’s own alma mater, and, indeed in the very dorm where he lived, apparently, there is an affectionate authenticity of place that frames the narrative. This book came recommended to me by several friends, I suspect because Jake is a redhead, my personal weakness. The truth is, both characters are immediately appealing, physically and emotionally, because there is a simple sweetness to each of these boys. Both Danny and Jake mask their deep-seated fears, each weighed down by high-school baggage, as they inch ever more closely toward a relationship that goes beyond friendship. Jake’s dilemma is of a more classic sort: fear of loss, fear of consequences, fighting with his desperate need to be free, to be himself. This is still very akin to what coming out was like 40 years ago in college. Jake is the closeted son of a macho, emotionally abusive father. He’s far from being a stereotype, and I really loved that his choosing to move into the Eaton dorm—the action that begins the story—is his quiet way of rebelling against the unloving authority of home. Fessenden draws Jake’s character with great fondness, and it is hard not to fall for him exactly the way Danny does.Danny’s story is more tied to a younger generation of gay men, and is a fascinating, heart-breaking example of how positive change can have negative backlash. Danny’s been out since high school, and has a loving mother who supports him fully. Being gay should be easy for him, right? Not so fast. I’m not sure I’ve ever read of slut-shaming used in this way, and it was moving, because it stirred up my own ambivalence about promiscuity and casual sex. Danny’s dilemma is one unique to a generation of boys coming out in high school and becoming sexually active before they’re emotionally prepared. Jake and Danny are both screw-ups—but they’re far easier to forgive and embrace for the reader than they are for themselves. We see their goodness; they only see their own failings.Given the genre and the setting, obviously there has to be a strong sexual plotline as well as the main story arc. I have to hand it to Fessenden that the sex in this book is both hot and adorable. With its background issues of emotionless recreational sex hovering just out of sight, the story of Jake and Danny’s sexual connection is handled with incredible sweetness. Without judgment, Fessenden demonstrates the difference between love and hormones with a delicacy that I found impressive. Jake and Danny are college students who meet when Jake applies to a dorm. He is accepted and they become roommates. Danny is very openly gay, but Danny knows he has to hide his sexual orientation from his father for fear of being disowned. I loved Jake and Danny together. It was great that even though Jake was so different from the group of Danny's friends, they accepted him and even all managed to become good friends. These characters are very big gamers.. D&D and LARK. I don't play these games, don't understand these games and really don't care to understand them. A lot of the book revolved around the gaming, and truthfully I skimmed those parts. I did love the MC's and thought they had a good connection and chemistry. They are two somewhat broken people who find strength in each other and help put the other back together. Jakes dad and twin brothers, both named Robert (WTF? Who does that!) are such a$$h@les, but both boys moms were supportive and loving. It could have used a better epilogue. If you aren't going to write another book, I like my stories to end in a nice neat package with a bow on top. Close out the story, don't leave me to guess the ending myself. This is my 1st book by this author, but it won't be my last. I will be checking out more.
What do You think about Screwups (2014)?
This was sweet a little sad but somehow touched on my own college experience from 1996.
—caity
I very much enjoyed this book and would recommend it
—rand141
