The Boy Who Steals Houses is a poignant novel about two broken, abandoned boys trying to find a place to belong, and the younger brother who desperately wants to protect his sibling. It’s both a sweet love story between two teenagers with tough pasts and an emotional journey to find people to call family. 

Sammy Lou is a fifteen-year-old boy who has been betrayed and abused by everyone who should take care of him and his older brother Avery who is autistic. Kicked out from his aunt’s house, he does the only thing he can to stay off the streets each night, look after his older brother and create something that reminds him of a home – he steals houses.
 
“I had nowhere to go, he wants to say. I’m the boy of nothing and nowhere. I’m invisible and forgotten, a thief of dust and cobwebs and house keys.”
 
But when Sammy steals a house that is occupied and is still there when the owners return, he somehow finds himself swept up in the big, loud and busy family who lives there. (So busy that they fail to realise they have another live-in friend to the kids.) He also finds himself falling in love with the daughter in the house, Moxie.

Sammy is a somewhat unreliable main character. He makes a lot of bad choices, some that really raises questions of morality, and he has severe trust issues that make him hold back and miss out on chances for happiness. But it broke my heart to learn about his story of abuse and neglect, and how he still kept himself going and taking care of his demanding brother. I just so much wanted to hug him and tell him that everything is going to be fine.
 
The plot is told through present tense with some flashbacks to ‘before’ when Sam and Avery had a home. These flashbacks all held a mystery surrounding Sam and something illegal he’s committed, causing him to run from the police. But when the mystery was finally revealed at the end, it was quite underwhelming unfortunately. But I absolutely loved the family that Sammy strangely became a part of (even though some parts of how that came to be and the reaction when he was found out was slightly unrealistic), how loving and caring the dad was and the fun banter going on between the siblings. Finally Sammy got a taste of what a home and a family really means. And the romance that starts to blossom was so sweet.
 
“I like your eyes,” she says. “They look like infinite blue skies of possibilities.”

The Boy Who Steals Houses is not an easy read; in fact, it’s the absolute opposite of cute and fluffy. It’s a complex and emotionally devastating story that contains abuse, homelessness, betrayal and violence. But it’s also a story about the importance of support, family and belonging, and a story full of hope that will end up stealing your heart the same way Sammy steals houses.

Rating:
4 stars

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​Author info:
C.G. Drews

Only Mostly Devastated is a sweet, fastpaced and gorgeous story about Ollie, who due to a family tragedy is forced to transfer to a new school after summer. A summer where he’s had the perfect summer fling with the hot basketball jock Will.

“Is this okay?” he asked.
“Was water wet? Was the day hot? Were his freckles perfect? Of course it was okay. Nothing had ever been more okay in all of human history.”

So it should be perfect that Will happens to go to the same school, right? Well, not quite, since Will isn’t out and treats Ollie like a real jerk to try and hide it…
 
I love the Grease parallels in this story! Even thought this definitely is its own story, you can really see how Will is the Danny, Ollie the Sandy and Lara the Rizzo of this Grease retelling. The characters are really well written and I adore Ollie, his little cousins, Juliette and Lara. I had problems with Will though, since he acted so unnecessarily cruel and mean at times. But in the end, he kind of made up for it.
 
Overall, this is a sweet, fuzzy and funny read while also dealing with some pretty heavy topics, like family illness, coming out, staying true to yourself and not let anyone walk all over you.
 
“All this time, I’d been wondering when my needs would start to really matter to him. Maybe I hadn’t spent enough time wondering when my needs would start to really matter to me.”
 
Sophie Gonzales made an amazing job combining these difficult topics with the lighter ones while still making it a very easy and joyful story to read. I finished this book in one sitting, ending it with a big goofy smile all over my face!

Rating:
5 stars

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​Author info:
Sophie Gonzales

This book is so difficult to rate. I really, really wanted to love it, but sadly I didn’t no matter how much I tried. This book had the potential of being the THUG for a Muslim main character, but unfortunately it did not live up to that.

I loved the first books in The Shatter Me-series by Tahereh Mafi and her unique, beautiful writing style just blew me off. So when I found out that she had written a new book with a Muslim main character who is completely herself, I had such high expectations of another wonderful breathtaking reading experience. Unfortunately though, the writing style is not at all the same in this book. The language is much more plain and nowhere near the feverish, raw, amazing way in which The Shatter Me-series was written. My biggest problem however, was the main character and the rushed romance.

A Very Large Expanse of Sea is a coming-of-age story following Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl, in the extremely turbulent times after 9/11. Tired of all the rude stares, degrading comments, even the physical violence, she’s met with, Shirin has built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother and his friends. Until she meets Ocean, who sees her for who she is behind the stereotypes and refuses to let her rejection keep him from getting to know her better. Slowly, slowly he manages to break down her walls. (Yes, the title of the book is a very clever and poetic way of naming the book after Shirin’s love interest.)

Story-wise, I feel that this book could have been so much more. I have settled for a 3 star rating of this book, since it on the one hand was very emotional and heart-breaking, showing Shirin’s anger and frustration at all the injustice and prejudice she’s suffering, but on the other hand, I didn’t connect with Shirin and the story was written in a tell-not-show-way while leaving too much out to make you fully invested in the story. There was so much more I wanted to know; like how could her parents be both so controlling and yet so disturbingly uninterested in her struggles, how was Shirin’s connection to her faith, did she pray, what did she think about kissing and being with a non-Muslim boy from that perspective, and more about the friendship with her breakdance-crew. I understand why Shirin kept everyone at arm’s length, but as a reader it was frustrating not to learn more about her thoughts and considerations. It also made the romance less real, less emotional, than it could have been. Ocean was adorable, so sweet and kind, but you never got really close to him either. It was as if he was too perfect to be a real person somehow. I wish it could have been more of Shirin actually seeing Ocean playing basket and being with his friends, to allow us readers to see him through her eyes. The romance and the story felt rushed, and I couldn’t invest emotionally in it as much as I’d like to, especially considering that it was such a huge part of the book.

Still, A Very Large Expanse of Sea is an important, emotional book dealing with racism in post-9/11 America, showing the anger, pain and struggle that a Muslim teenager may have to deal with and how horrible, hateful, mean and prejudice people can be. And even though the romance part wasn’t one of my favorites, the sibling relationship between Shirin and her older brother Navid was. I think Navid is now one of my favorite book brothers of all time. He was so protective of her, but also so supportive in the decisions she made. I just wish that the book had been MORE. More of Shirin’s sense of identity, her religious and cultural beliefs. More of her friendship with the breakdancing crew. More of the relationship with her brother and parents. So even though this book did not live up to my expectations, I’m still, really happy that it exists for Muslim teens to identify with and for opening the eyes of readers to all the horrible islamophobia in the world.

​Rating:
3 stars

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​Author info:
Tahereh Mafi

Seventeen-year-old Luke is a player, the boy who always get girls without even trying. His one true passion is surfing. Until he meets his girlfriend’s cousin, Theo, and is overtaken by a desire he’d never experienced before.

I absolutely loved Theo from the start. He’s so fragile and wounded that you just want to hug him and tell him everything will be fine.

Luke on the other wasn’t just as likeable in the beginning. He felt so selfish, immature and lazy. And the way he treated his girlfriend, Zara, was not okay. Not even before he started betraying her. So, I definitely don’t agree with many of the choices Luke made, or the way he treated people around him. But on the other hand, I do understand how he felt unsure of what was going on between him and Theo and that he needed to let it go a bit further first. That the thing between them was too new, too fragile, to leave unfinished, and that Luke needed time to question everything he thought he knew about himself.

I also do have a sweet spot for bad boys and am willing to forgive them quite a lot, if they show a big heart in the end… And it truly is a beautiful, heart-wrenching love story. I read it in one sitting, it completely drew me in. It’s so full of tension, angst, passion and heart-breaking decisions that it was impossible to put it down. I read it with a beating heart, desperately needing to know what would happen to Luke and Theo.

Rating:
5 stars

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Beaten Track Publishing

​Author info:
Jamie Deacon

After reading Defensive Play, I was so excited to find out that there was an extra Boys on the Brink short story available for free for Jamie Deacon’s newsletter subscribers! I dived into Off Course right away, and I loved it just as much as I did Defensive Play!

Off Course is an adorable short story about seventeen-year-old Jason Connor, the star of the cross country team, and his arch enemy Tarek “Taz” Bahrani. The first time Jason laid his eyes on the new team mate Taz, he was immediately intrigued by him; suddenly his stomach was full of butterflies just because Taz smiled at him. But the connection Jason thought they had, turned out to be a scheme to gain competitive advantage. Taz’s betrayal at their first race made Jason retaliate in a way that turned them into sworn enemies ever since. So when an injured ankle leaves him stranded in the woods with no means of calling for aid, the last person he wishes to find him is Taz… But what really happened that day six months ago? Who betrayed who? Forced together in the woods as a thunder storms breaks lose, they can’t avoid talking about the event that drew them apart, and maybe, maybe find a way back to each other again.

Just like Defensive Play, this is another lovely, sweet and heartwarming story about first love. Even though it’s a short story, Jamie Deacon manages to craft characters that you immediately root for. After reading two of the books in the LGBT YA series Boys on the Brink in just one day, I recommend this series with all my heart and can’t wait to continue reading more of Jamie Deacon’s adorable books!

Thank you to the author Jamie Deacon for providing this free story, which I have voluntarily reviewed! 

Rating:
5 stars

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​Author info:
Jamie Deacon