14 year old New Jersey Armenian teen Alek is forced to go to summer school if he's going to remain on the honor track. During Algebra class he meets junior Ethan and discovers he's attracted to boys.
The long version:
This is one of those books that's structurally fine but substantively average. I found all the characters pretty one dimensional and unconvincing. The plot thin and full of highly convenient plot points. The main character inexplicably discovers he likes boys out of nowhere, without much convincing build-up.The story was also peppered with lessons in Armenian culture in forced moments injected into the plot. I found the pop culture references indicative of an author substituting his own cultural references (My Fair Lady, The Object of My Affection) for his current day teenage characters'. I wish the author had read his characters' dialogue out loud, as much of it didn't sound verbally true. Long spoken sentences, phrases that don't sound natural to teenagers, people speaking in paragraphs. .
In all it was a decent first effort, but thin and lacking credibility. One of those books where I find myself asking where was the editor.
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