Joe 🏳️‍🌈

I found Strange Bedfellows by Rob Byrnes to be a very entertaining novel. Grant Lambert and Chase LaMarca are partners in life and crime. As life partners they've done pretty well, having been together for 18 years. As partners in crime they may leave a bit to be desired. In this story the boys are hired to retrieve an embarrassing photo that a political candidate posted on twitter.(Let's just say the photo left nothing to the imagination) Despite a few snafus they manage to carry out the task only to be double-crossed. Then the real fun starts.

The end of the world has been postponed for two weeks. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Comfort and Joy by Jim Grimsley centers around Ford McKinney, a pediatric resident at a major hospital in Atlanta, and Dan Crell who works in administration at the same facility. Ford is from an old established Savannah family, and is following in his father's footsteps as a doctor. The last thing he needs is to fall in love with a man, but that's exactly what happens when he hears Dan singing at a hospital Christmas concert. The story then shifts from the present to a series of flashbacks as Ford relives the ups and downs of the past year, and comes to grips with the reality that he may have to choose between the past and the future.

The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis was pretty intense. 17 year old Evan Panos has almost gotten used to the mental abuse his religious fanatic mother doles out on a regular basis, but not knowing when she will go off the deep end and become physically violent is something else. Her conviction that his friends at school are an evil influence only adds to the sense of walking a tightrope when Evan develops feelings for another boy in class. When an incident at school brings everything to a head, Evan is finally forced to confront the elephant in the room.

I felt like this one started a little slow, but something clicked around page 50 and from there I was all in. CW as the book may be triggering for anyone who has experienced parental abuse.

The Days of Bluegrass Love by Edward van de Vendel revolves around the relationship between Tycho Zeling and Oliver Kjelsberg. Tycho, from the Netherlands, and Oliver, from Norway, have both been engaged as camp counselors at a summer camp in Tennessee. They meet in the Amsterdam airport while waiting for their flight to the U.S. and immediately hit it off. Once at camp it soon becomes clear they will be more than just friends. When things go public Oliver seems more comfortable being out, but when their time in Tennessee ends and Tycho accompanies Oliver back to his home in Norway things seem to take a turn. On his home ground Oliver suddenly seems reticent about being open with their relationship, and Tycho has to decide what that means for any future they could have.

I came across Yeled Tov by Daniel M. Jaffe while reading an article the author wrote about his approach to writing. Set in the 1970's, the story focuses on Jake Stein during his final year of high school and first year at Princeton as he struggles with his attraction to men and how that conflicts with his Jewish faith. It struck a chord with me having spent 12 years in Catholic school and hearing that I was intrinsically disordered.(not that I even knew what it meant, although it sounded pretty bad) The book is now out of print, but I was able to obtain a copy thru my local library's interlibrary loan program.(which is amazing for anyone unfamiliar with it) I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Some parts had me laughing out loud at the things that went thru Jake's head, and remembering how I had much the same thoughts, and while the story takes a serious turn towards the end it ultimately ends on a positive note.