Tag Archives: LGBT

Wilton Barnhardt. Lookaway, Lookaway. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2013

**Guest review by Arleen Fields**

 At the beginning of our new century, shrewd Charlotte socialite Jerene Johnston is willing to do whatever it takes to protect her family’s reputation and to secure her children’s future. Her radical daughter Annie, her gay son Josh, her preacher son Bo, and her insecure daughter Jerilyn don’t make this easy. The Johnston family proudly traces its lineage to Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, and Jerene’s husband Duke has abandoned all professional and political aspirations, preferring to reside in a world of nostalgia and Civil War reenactments.

Each chapter, focusing on one character’s story, is like a portrait hung in a gallery. In some of the paintings the character is front and center; in others the subject blends into the background as action takes over the foreground. The chapter about Bo provides insight into his character, but the scene of a melodramatic Christmas dinner is far more memorable.

Jerene’s children and husband are not her only worries. Her alcoholic brother Gaston makes his living writing popular Civil War novels, her sister Dillard has never recovered from a personal tragedy, and their mother Jeannette lives with the knowledge that she failed to protect her children. Add to the mix Josh’s best friend Dorrie, who’s African American and a lesbian, and Bo’s wife Kate who longs to return to the Peace Corps, and you have the perfect southern tragicomedy.

The title obviously refers to the song “Dixie” and there are other allusions as well. Characters are forced to look the other way when reality is inconvenient. Watching the events unfold is like driving by a gruesome car wreck or watching a reality TV show—we should mind our own business, but morbid curiosity prevents us from averting our gaze.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

For an interview with Wilton Barnhardt, see http://www.alumniblog.ncsu.edu/2013/07/23/wilton-barnhardt-im-nervous-about-being-in-any-camp/

A previous version of this review appears in North Carolina Libraries, vol. 71, no. 1 (2013)

Comments Off on Wilton Barnhardt. Lookaway, Lookaway. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2013

Filed under 2010-2019, 2013, Barnhardt, Wilton, Mecklenburg, Orange, Piedmont

Karen Pullen. Cold Feet. Detriot: Five Star, 2013.

cold feetWhen Stella Lavender agreed to accompany her grandmother to a wedding, she didn’t expect to be pulled into a murder investigation.  Stella works for the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and the undercover work she’s been doing has her interacting with all manner of drug dealers, drug runners, and addicts.  Although Stella hates putting on a dress, she is looking forward to an afternoon of good food, champagne, and polite company at an attractive country inn.  But Stella is not sooner settled in her seat when she notices a bridesmaid talking excitedly to the inn’s owner.  Something is amiss. When Stella goes to investigate she finds the innkeeper and bridesmaid huddled over the bride’s lifeless body.  The young woman clearly died an agonizing death.

Soon the local authorities are on the scene, and the investigation begins.  Stella is happy to aid local detective Anselmo Morales, but she is less than thrilled to be working again with her ex-fiancé, Hogan Leith, who is a fraternity brother of the bridegroom.  Several of the groom’s frat brothers came for the funeral, even one brother whose wife died tragically just months ago.  As Stella and Anselmo investigate the murder they find that the wedding included a passel of unhappy people: an ex-girlfriend of the groom, a couple who object to the bride’s profession, parents who try to impose their values on their adult children, and an innkeeper who believes someone is sabotaging his business. When the coroner’s report adds unexpected information about the dead woman, Anselmo and Stella have yet another avenue to explore.

Between the murder investigation and her ongoing drug squad work, Stella Lavender barely has time to exercise her mutt Merle (who was the subject of a bitter custody dispute with her ex-fiancé). Cold Feet is an action-packed start to a new mystery series.

 

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

1 Comment

Filed under 2010-2019, 2013, Mystery, Piedmont, Pullen, Karen

H. Leigh Aubrey. Never Say Never United States: H. Leigh Aubrey, 2011.

never

The most important man in Brian Marano’s life has always been his father.  Brian’s parents divorced when he was young and since then his father’s visits have been precious and few.  In high school Brian hopes that his athletic achievements will get his father’s attention.  They do get the attention of faculty, administrators, and other students at his Charlotte, North Carolina high school. Because he is a good athlete and a good kid, a teacher finds Brian a peer tutor to help him with the subjects that he struggles with.

That tutor is Jason Ratcliffe, a student from a well-to-do, socially prominent family.  Jason is a bit of a nerd, but well dressed and not unattractive.  Brian is uncomfortable being tutored in the opulent home in which Jason lives.  Jason is uncomfortable too, but for a different reason–he’s attracted to Brian and before long Brian is the most important man in his life.

Never Say Never follows Brian and Jason from high school, to college at UNC, to the early years of their careers.  Their friendship grows as they share the challenges of young adult life and as they come to terms, at different times and in different ways, with their love for each other.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Comments Off on H. Leigh Aubrey. Never Say Never United States: H. Leigh Aubrey, 2011.

Filed under 2010-2019, 2011, Aubrey, H. Leigh, Mecklenburg, Orange, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship

Corrine Jackson. If I Lie. New York: Simon Pulse, 2012.

lieWhen you’re in high school, things can seem very black-or-white. Girl cheats on her boyfriend who is a Marine on duty in Afghanistan, she’s trash. When that boyfriend is MIA after a firefight, the whole town shuns her and calls her ugly names.  Since this girl is the child of a woman who ran off with another man, even her own father treats her with a cold disdain. Like mother, like daughter.

This is Sophie Topper Quinn’s life. Quinn–the name her father insists on–has learned to accept her father’s cold manner. In the years since her mother left, Quinn has wondered what role she might have played in her mother’s departure. She can’t say that her father’s behavior is unreasonable, but she is shocked to find herself so on her own after a photo surfaces on Facebook that shows her kissing someone other than Carey Breen. No one knows that Quinn turned to someone else after Carey told her her that he was gay and asked her help in covering that for him in their small military town.

To keep Quinn out of trouble, her dad arranges for her to volunteer at the Veterans Administration Hospital in nearby Fayetteville.  There she becomes friends with George Wilkins, a retired military photographer.  George recognizes Quinn’s talent and enlists her to work with him on the Veterans History Project. Quinn’s edgy defensiveness does not put off George and as their friendship grows, he helps her navigate additional curve balls–like her mother’s return–that come her way.

Although If I Lie focuses on how Quinn responds the turmoil in her life, readers also get a look into the lives of other characters, particularly George, Quinn’s mother, and Carey’s best friend, Blake.  All have behaved in ways that they regret, without mercy or grace to themselves or those closest to them. By placing this coming-of-age novel in a military town in the Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell Era, Corrine Jackson has produced a book that will engage both young adult and mature readers.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Comments Off on Corrine Jackson. If I Lie. New York: Simon Pulse, 2012.

Filed under 2010-2019, 2012, Children & Young Adults, Coastal Plain, Cumberland, Jackson, Corrine, Onslow

Gregory Funaro. The Impaler. New York: Pinnacle Books, 2011.

FBI Special Agent Sam Markham barely has a day to adjust to his new home in Quantico, Virginia before his boss comes calling. Another body has been found in Raleigh, North Carolina: bound, gagged and horribly impaled, just like the first two. Even though Sam is still recovering from an exhausting case in Tampa as well as dealing with the impending execution of his wife’s murderer, he doesn’t hesitate. He goes to Raleigh to hunt down the killer the press is calling the Impaler. But finding the killer is easier said than done– the Impaler has his own strange codes, symbols, and portents that lead Agent Markham and the rest of the FBI on a twisted journey through Babylonian mythology, the Iraq War, and medieval Romania.

Edmund Lambert works by day as an assistant in the theater at local Harriot College, but by night, he is the General. Meticulous in his plans, the General is laying the way for the Prince to return to Earth…but in order to do that, the General must kill. Within the ancestral Lambert family farmhouse, he reeducates his victims, and topping their headless corpses with the taxidermied head of a lion, uses them as a sacred door through which to communicate with his Prince. The hour of the Prince’s coming is getting closer, andLambert must ensure that all is in perfect readiness.

As the body count increases almost daily, Agent Markham employs all of his skills to find this monster before it’s too late. But will his work be enough? A grisly psychological thriller, this prequel to The Sculptor leaves the reader pondering the thin line between cop and killer.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Comments Off on Gregory Funaro. The Impaler. New York: Pinnacle Books, 2011.

Filed under 2010-2019, 2011, Funaro, Gregory, Horror, Piedmont, Wake

Jim Metzger. Dim. Albion, MI: Aberdeen Bay, 2011.

Tom Maloney, budding Methodist minister and native son, has returned to North Carolina after finishing up a lengthy educational stint in the northeast at Princeton Theological Seminary. The young Methodist’s first job is in Harmony, a fictional small town on the Outer Banks, preaching to a mostly elderly population. Unfortunately for Tom, his northeastern education has not prepared him to lead a flock from the Bible Belt. In a town that thrives on pimento cheese, barbecue, and strong conservative values, Tom’s parishioners think  him far too liberal and his sermons disturbingly lacking in fire and brimstone.

Besides this obvious problem, Tom himself finds the town more and more distasteful: he is frustrated by the closed-minded opinions of his parish, annoyed by their strong objections to his girlfriend Sophie, and hates pimento cheese, which everyone offers in abundance. Additionally, Tom struggles with deep feelings of inadequacy and doubt with regards to his chosen profession, and finds himself more and more engaged by the few dissenters who present alternatives to traditional Methodist principles. His doubts and the community’s dissatisfaction with his abilities both come to a head just as hurricane season rolls in, and Tom must decide what to do. Jim Metzger’s debut novel charts the spiritual and emotional journey of a young man questioning who he is, what he will become, and the meaning of his presence in the greater scheme of life against the backdrop of what is for him, a stifling community.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library’s catalog.

Comments Off on Jim Metzger. Dim. Albion, MI: Aberdeen Bay, 2011.

Filed under 2010-2019, 2011, Coast, Metzger, Jim, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Religious/Inspirational

Jenny Hubbard. Paper Covers Rock. New York: Delacorte Press, 2011.

Alexander Stromm describes himself, as does everyone who knows him, as a “good, solid kid.” His best friend, Glenn Albright Everson III, is a “golden boy”: blessed with golden looks, golden athleticism, and golden intelligence. Alex has always wanted Glenn’s life, with his perfect, wealthy family and beautiful girlfriend. Alex’s mother left when he was five, and he has never stood out in anything, until his junior year at the Birch School. On September 30th, both he and Glenn stand out for being the boys who were with Thomas Broughton when he drowned. Since the accident happened because they were drinking vodka and diving in the nearby river, Glenn and Alex decide to lie to avoid being thrown out of school. But someone else saw them at the river that day and watched them pull Thomas’s body from the water: Haley Dovecott, the brand-new fifth form English teacher.

Glenn is convinced that Miss Dovecott, an extremely perceptive young woman, knows more than she says she does, and he’s determined to eliminate that threat. The problem is that Alex is falling in love with her as she encourages his poetry, and he doesn’t want to hurt her. It’s also possible that Glenn is hiding other, more terrible secrets that played a role in Thomas’s tragic death. Uncertain and grief-stricken, Alex retreats to the library each day, writing his thoughts, confessions, and poems in a small journal that he hides behind the school’s copy of Moby Dick.

Paper Covers Rock is this narrative, through which we trace the tale of a young man coming to terms with death, his own emerging sexuality, and the cruelty of a world that encroaches on even the most remote and sheltered places. A difficult, but poetic and thought-provoking read for young adults.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Comments Off on Jenny Hubbard. Paper Covers Rock. New York: Delacorte Press, 2011.

Filed under 2010-2019, 2011, Buncombe, Children & Young Adults, Mountains

H. Leigh Aubrey. A Keen Edge. New York: iUniverse, 2009.

Scott Davan is the man with everything: he is a partner in his father’s successful architectural firm, has a supportive wife and three loving sons, and at thirty-seven, is still in peak physical condition. Poised to run for state senator, he is Charlotte, North Carolina’s golden boy in every way. There’s no reason for him not to be happy…but he isn’t. Randall Davan is a controlling man who refuses to relinquish his hold on both his son and the business, and in reality, Scott’s relationship with his wife Paula has been cold and distant for years. When the senior Davan hires Scott an assistant without his knowledge, it’s the last straw, but not in the way he thinks. Instead of plunging Scott deeper into his father’s stifling grasp, Neil Phelan will free him.

Because Neil turns out to be just what Scott needs: he’s an excellent architect, a competitive jogging partner, and incredibly easy to talk with, not to mention handsome. There is an undeniable connection, and the two men fall for one another instantly. Neil has identified as gay for some years, always struggling with the fact. Scott has denied that he is anything but heterosexual for his entire life, and must now embark on an inner journey to find his true self. The outside world is little help. The Davans have always held conservative views on certain topics, homosexual relationships included. When Paula and Randall are faced with Scott’s self-discovery, a painfully difficult time ensues for all involved, especially the children.

H. Leigh Aubrey, a pen name for an author who has written over forty romances for straight audiences, has tackled some of the most charged issues in his first novel for “romantic gay men.” He fits a great deal into 288 pages, but the result is a combination of many different types of love: romantic, sexual, familial, and most importantly, the love and acceptance of oneself. Romance readers everywhere will enjoy Neil and Scott’s budding relationship, and applaud their courage in the face of so many trials.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Comments Off on H. Leigh Aubrey. A Keen Edge. New York: iUniverse, 2009.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Aubrey, H. Leigh, Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship

Lauren Myracle. Shine. New York: Amulet Books, 2011.

Patrick Truman was never afraid, or if he was it never showed. When his classmates called him a pansy or a fairy, when they stole his pants and left him trapped in the bathroom, when they knocked into him or threw the word fag in his face, it never stuck. He cast off their darkness and let his light shine, just like his grandma, Mama Sweetie, told him to. But some people are so infected with hate and anger that such strength, such survival in another is unbearable. A tourist finds Patrick one Sunday morning at the gas station where he works, beaten and left for dead with a nozzle shoved down his throat. He lies in a coma, an object of gossip and fascination to the entire community of Black Creek, his small, conservative mountain town.

Cat Robinson knows she has to get to the bottom of it. Despite their statements to the local paper, the sheriff’s department isn’t doing anything, and many people even whisper that Patrick was asking for it, maybe even deserved it. Though they haven’t spoken in years, Patrick was her best childhood friend, and Cat aches for the distance that grew up between them in high school. She starts asking questions, opening old wounds, and examining herself and her class-divided, embittered town with a critical and unsparing eye. Filled with a fire and bravery she had forgotten, Cat rediscovers herself in the search for her friend’s attacker. She remembers how to shine, even in the face of the intolerant, the mentally destroyed, and the beaten down. Even in the face of her own victimization. Undaunted and unwilling to remain silent any longer, Cat is an excellent example of how we hope our children will learn to respond to hate.

Native daughter Lauren Myracle has written an engrossing tale that acknowledges human nature’s strange capacity for both chilling evil and inestimable grace. While aimed at young adults, older readers will also find that the finely crafted characters, well-written narrative, and overarching themes of friendship, acceptance, and courage make for an excellent read. It is an apt message for our times.

UPDATE July 27th, 2012: Congratulations to Shine for winning the 2012 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult fiction!

Check the availability of this title in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

 

2 Comments

Filed under 2010-2019, 2011, Children & Young Adults, Mountains, Myracle, Lauren

Tamar Myers. The Glass Is Always Greener. New York: Avon Books, 2011.

Abby Timberlake Washburn, proprietor of the Den of Antiquity in Charleston, South Carolina, is delighted when she is invited to a soiree in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is not just any party – Jerry Ovumkoph, the eccentric and elderly aunt of Abby’s friend Rob, is hosting her own going-away party. Rather than being a sorrowful event in which family members and dear friends share their happy memories of Jerry, she uses the occasion to express her disappointment in her family and to announce the minimal gifts she will leave them. She also makes the peculiar bequest of her enormous emerald ring to Abby, a complete stranger.

Therefore, when Aunt Jerry is found lifeless in the freezer, the people closest to her become the prime suspects. Unfortunately, it was Abby who made the discovery, and the fact that the prized ring was missing from the deceased’s finger does not help Abby convince people that she is no murderer. As theories begin to form with her at the center, Abby enlists the help of her mother, best friend, and former sister-in-law to get to the bottom of the situation. Along the way, she befriends Aunt Jerry’s family members, leading her to uncover upsetting Ovumkoph family secrets.

The Glass Is Always Greener is the sixteenth and final novel in Tamar Myers’ “Den of Antiquity Mystery” series. The series began with Gilt by Association in 1996, and the first eight novels were set in Charlotte before Abigail moved her shop to Charleston, South Carolina. It’s nice to see our intrepid heroine come full circle.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Comments Off on Tamar Myers. The Glass Is Always Greener. New York: Avon Books, 2011.

Filed under 2010-2019, 2011, Mecklenburg, Myers, Tamar, Mystery, Novels in Series, Piedmont