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Loading... How We Began (edition 2015)by Alexis Hall (Author), Edie Danford (Editor)
Work InformationHow We Began by Edie Danford (Editor)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I was given an ARC of this book to read- this in no way affects the honesty of my review. I was so excited for this bookā a ton of great authors, writing YA (I love YA) and all of it for an excellent charity? It sounded perfect. But I was a little nervous, too. Shorter stories areā¦ tricky. Some authors do them exceptionally well, but a lot, even authors who can write the most amazing novels, seem toā¦ have a hard time with shorter stuff. Short stuff is difficult. And a lot of the time short stories, even by the best authors, are justā¦ not much fun. So I kind of held my breath when I started reading this. The first story in the book is Alexis Hallās TruNorth, and I figured it would be good, because I know he writes short stuff as well as he writes long stuff. And it was. I mean, it was beyond goodā it was incredible and beautiful and I kind of just wanted to wrap the words around me and live in that story, it was so gorgeous. I was totally in love with this story. It was just amazingā¦ and I figured there was no way all the rest of the stories in the book could stand up to that. But they did. Iāve read a lot of anthologies, a lot of truly great ones, and thereās always stories I donāt like, stuff I end up skimming or just donāt enjoy. Youāre bound to find something that just isnāt your cup of tea, when thereās so many authors writing. But that never happened here. I loved every single story. I couldnāt believe it. Each time I started a new story, I figured that it must be the one I wouldnāt like, because there had to be at least one. Had to be. But there wasnāt. This was easily the best collection of stories Iāve ever, ever read. I think thereās a few reasons for that. First, these are amazing authors. Iāve read most of them before, and theyāre talented and awesome. Like I said, though, that doesnāt always translate to writing shorts. But it does here. Itās obvious that so much care was taken, writing these stories, that so much affection and dedication went into them. You can see it, and it makes the stories so fantastic. The characters are all real and alive, and you care about them right away. The situations are realistic and dramatic and fun and honest. The relationships are so believable. The settings (fantasy, dystopian, modern) are rich. And the writing is lovely. I also loved how sweet these stories were. Maybe itās because theyāre written for a (mainly) YA audienceā¦ but Iām not sure. Iāve read a lot of YA that never comes close to this sweetness. But the love and caring and simple affection the characters showed for each other was just so touching. It was so refreshing to read about people who justā¦ accepted each other and cared about each other in this really honest, tender way. It was never sappy, just sweet and wonderful. And I loved how the authors seemed to have so much respect for their teen characters. So often in YA, even in the best YA, I feel like the authors are still acting as adults 'shouldā act, kind of looking down, even a little, at their characters. Treating them as kids who arenāt fully capable of making choices or doing things for themselves. But that never happens here. These authors seemed to trust their characters, and they treated them as people who were fully capable of determining what they wanted, what the right choices were for them. Yes, there were adults to guide them (or misguide them) in most of the stories, but the authors still give them the freedom to choose for themselvesā you want to be a musician? Donāt want to be a musician? Want to go to college, or not? Want to date this particular person? Want to have a crazy career choice, or a mundane one? All awesome. Whatever you want. Yeah, you might make mistakes, but thatās what happens. Itās your lifeā you make the choice. And all that respect for these characters was so obvious. I loved that. And I loved how different all the characters were and how the stories showed so many different kinds of peopleā gay and lesbian and bi and transgender (and it was definitely awesome to see so much of the LGBTQ spectrum represented,) but also kids who thought differently, who wanted different things, who lived different lives, who were dealing with so many different issues. So many places for readers to relate to characters, but also so much opportunity for readers to invest in situations and ideas they might never have encountered before. And it was all so realistic. I think one of the authors said they wanted to write something like a fairy tale, something that was comforting and presented the idea that everything could, in fact, work out, even when it seems like it canāt. (I totally paraphrased all of that and probably got a lot of it wrongā those are my words, but that was, uh, close to the gist of it.) And these stories do that. They did feel fairy taleālike. They offer this idea that life can be good and good things can happen, even if you feel like everything is wrong, like youāll never fit in, or be accepted, or be loved, or find your path. I think itās so, so very important to tell kids (and adults) that. But at the same time, it needs to be realistic in order to be effectiveā¦ and these stories were all realistic. I believed, wholeheartedly, that they could happen. I wished the teen me had been able to read thisā not because I think adults will enjoy this less than teenagers (I couldnāt have loved it more, and Iām an adult) but because it will be such a comforting, wonderful thing for teens to have, when they need a boost, or a place to belong, or just somethingā¦ positive, without being preachy or sappy or false. Were there some stories I liked better than others? Yes. But I really did like them all. Were there a few places where I thought things could have been written or handled better? Yes. But those places were so minor and so few. Overall, this was justā¦ stunning. Beautiful. Touching. Sweet. Warm. Something that I just want to read over and over again. I loved it. (I also want to mention, because I feel it's important- the fact that this is a book for charity didn't influence how much I honestly enjoyed it, either. I mean, it's a great charity, and I'd probably say you should just buy the book no matter, but I'd have loved this book just as much even if it wasn't for charity at all. The fact that it is just makes it even better.) This review, and others, can also be found on Hot Stuff for Cool People. no reviews | add a review
Romance.
Young Adult Fiction.
Young Adult Literature.
LGBTQIA+ (Fiction.)
HTML: How does love begin? A glance, a gesture, an unexpected offer of help from a strangerā?¦or from a good friend. A smile across a counter at a coffee shop or video store. A secret revealed in a song from another place and time. Or in a love ballad crooned at a high school dance. In this anthology of never-before-published sweet LGBTQ+ stories, six authors explore the beginnings of love between young and new adult couples. All proceeds will support The Trevor Project's work with crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ youth. No library descriptions found. |
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The rest are fairly common stories set in the contemporary world of young men and women discovering first love, coming out to themselves and others, and dealing with the changes that come from growing up.
Alexis Hall's "TruNorth" is told from the first person narrative of a young man named Noah who belongs to a boy band called TruNorth. I never could really get into the story. Noah is a really boring narrator at best and his story just didn't appeal. 2.5 stars
"A Song for Sweater Boy" by Vanessa North is a sweet story about how Jamie and Ash come together. Jamie's nickname comes from his knitting all the time as a way to keep his hands busy during class as it helps him deal with his need to keep moving and functional. Ash plays in his own rock band and accepts Jamie's quirks without a blink. 3 stars
Amy Jo Cousine writes interesting characters, though I find her style a little distancing (present tense tends to do that to me). The MC of "The Taste of Coffee and Cream" is Jude, a young transgender woman who is still in high school, but knows deep inside that she's in a bad place at home. She finds ways to express herself on trips away from home, but it takes the acceptance of almost complete strangers who help her find a safe place to be herself to finally make a break with the past. 3 stars
Annabeth Albert's style is more to my liking and I liked her character Ethaniel in "First in Line". He's away from home for the first time, attending Cathia College, and though extremely unsure of himself, ready to explore what life out of the eyes of his parents, church, and the closet have to offer. I'll go looking for more of her stories. 3.5 stars
"Extinction Level Events" by Geonn Cannon features the only lesbian character of the bunch. Cassandra wants desperately to come out to her best friend, an action daunting and terrifying as she also wants to admit to her big time crush. The title refers to how life can change after graduation (from high school), both inside and out. 3.5
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