A review for THE PROMISE OF LIVING

Thank you, Jack, for taking the time to review my novel! Go to his blog because he is a great lover of books. Mahalo nui loa!
https://jackdanfabbooks.wordpress.com

Genre: LGBT, Coming-of-age, Young Adult, Contemporary

Rating: 3.5 / 5

“Despite the grounded daily activity of milking the herd . . . Ryan knew something terrible was about to happen.”

Ryan has been having visions. They come to him at random intervals, showing him suicide and murder. Will those visions save the man he loves?

Ryan Colton’s boredom of Wilson’s Ferry is shoved aside when he gets a vision of a murder of a high school peer. With the help of city boy, Skylar, he discovers how to control his visions in an attempt to uncover the truth behind the murder. While Ryan is in Boston, he comes to terms with his sexuality, embracing his identity for the first time.

I’ve not read LGBT fiction before. I’ll be honest, I was expecting to read explicit material – limbs akimbo and private parts waving. I breathed a sigh of relief when this was not the case. The characters’ orientation was not central to the story; it could have been taken out and the narrative would have stood by itself. This is what good LGBT fiction should be. A story about people who also happen to be gay. As a gay man myself, the book felt very authentic in its dealing with the issue of ‘coming out’ and handled the feelings of a person accepting themselves very well. This coming-of-age story has a well thought-out plot that threads everything together smoothly and the descriptions of small town life is clear, without unnecessary embellishment.

The writing is superb. There were a few lines that felt a little messy, such as “He grabbed his own books under his right arm and left.” It’s clear what was meant but the two directions did distract me from the natural rhythm – momentum – that was nicely built up throughout the story.

The characters were relatable and felt very authentic. If I was to sum the book up in a single word it would actually be ‘authentic’. There was no extravagant event included for the sake of entertainment. It was a real story about real people.

The Promise of Living is a book I wanted to read. Whenever I had to be somewhere, I wanted to take it with me. I needed to know what happened next. If you’re looking for your next read, here it is!

“I love you, Ryan. I’ll always remember the blond trombone player in the farmer t-shirts and the red John Deere cap.”

I was kindly gifted a Kindle version of this book, by the author, in return for an honest review. Thank you very much to J. Lee Graham.

I love New Hampshire

I love New Hampshire. All my novels are set there and even to this day, the state gives me such pleasure. I really enjoy, as a writer, finding a setting I resonate with and have a heart connection so that my characters feel just as home there as I do.

Peace,
J. Lee Graham

THE PROMISE OF LIVING REVIEW!

Many thanks to Mrs. Condit Reads Books blog for reviewing my YA coming of age novel, THE PROMISE OF LIVING. I was very moved. 
Here it is: 

Posted by Pattycake on June 29, 2013

“Ryan took a breath. “You have a code of honor, Dad, about what it means to be a man and even though I must have grown up watching it, I never even noticed it until this year. I think about that a lot. How valuable that is, and how much I admire that in you.”
GENRE: M/M, coming of age, YA
RATING: 4 Sweet Peas!

BLURB: THE PROMISE OF LIVING is a heart-rending coming of age novel of sixteen-year-old Ryan Colton and his quest for his own authenticity. Ryan’s mother died when he was young, and he and his father carve out a tenuous but trusting relationship. Ryan works on Lee Hemmer’s farm with his best friend Dave in Wilson’s Ferry, New Hampshire, a stifling, small town where, in 1975, everyone, it seems, has something to hide. Ryan has a mysterious series of premonitions and visions that reveal the darker secrets of the townspeople. His gift becomes overwhelming when he visions a murky murder at the high school and cannot prevent its occurrence. Ryan seeks the help of a Boston transfer student and a famous psychic to not only focus his gifts to solve the murder but to finally accept his own personal feelings for Dave. Ryan struggles with his own power of being different in the world and knows that the true resolution lies within him.

TRISH’S OPINION: J. Lee Graham has written a powerful and moving coming-of’age story in The Promise of Living. The blurb lays out the bare bones of the story, but you really need to read this wonderful tale to really appreciate the rich feast laid out by the author. Ryan Colton and his best friend Dave Calderwood are your typical teens growing up in your typical small town until events start to happen that shake them and the rest of the town to their very core. Suicide,murder, feelings that don’t fit what small town society decrees to be normal, and other deep secrets are brought out into the light of day, and things will never be the same again.

This is a brilliantly character driven story with a plot that starts out with a smooth flow, then grabs ahold of you and doesn’t let go until the very end. The characters are solid, credible, and face the same triumphs and tragedies that shape the lives of people in the real world. The backstory is rich with details that lay a solid foundation for the storyline without too much trivia. The writing style of the author is eloquently precise, crisp, clear, and so wonderfully down-to-earth. There is no real sex in the story, but it doesn’t detract ftom the book at all. The author displays a solid and well-researched knowledge of what life was like in that time and place with no jarring errors. There are bittersweet moments when tragedy strikes some of the secondary characters, but the book itself has a HEA ending. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this beautiful book and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a fascinating coming-of-age tale.