Book Review - "Something Like Summer" by Jay Bell

I'm a big fan of well done gay fiction. The problem is I haven't found more than a dozen well done gay fiction stories in the years I have been searching. Everything is over the top camp “comedy”, mystery novels, or erotica. This usually leads me to Young Adult gay novels, which I am somewhat embarrassed to say I enjoy. “I was young once”, I tell myself “Lets see if this is anything like what I went through?” Usually the case is no, but once in awhile I'll stumble on a novel that strikes a cord.

Such is the case with “Something Like Summer” by Jay Bell. The story of Benjamin Bentley, an out and proud gay teen trying desperately to make it through his Senior Year of High School, SLS follows Ben as he grows up and learns how complicated love is. While I cannot connect with being out in school, I can connect with the young man's desire to find someone. Anyone like him in the pool of adolescent ignorance that is High School. The fact Ben is gay and proud of it already hurdles the usual YA “coming out” story as our main character already knows what he wants and is out to every other character in the book. Ben lusts after a fellow student, Tim Wyman, the kind of cocky and privileged jock I would have daydreamed about during the lazy final days of Senior Year.

Tim likes to jog and soon Ben finds himself walking his dog through the park for hours hoping to bump into Tim. When their paths do cross, Tim forms a shaky but blossoming friendship with Ben that leads to more one frenzied night when Tim has a fight with his girlfriend. From there, rather than pulling away as is usually the case in these sort of stories, Tim cultivates a real (although secret) relationship with Ben. Rather than being his “gay secret” Tim is loving and even vulnerable to the other boy, showing him his secret love for art and telling him deep secrets, even though they keep their budding romance from everyone and don't even speak at school. He tells Tim he prefers him to anyone else, but he is reluctant to break up with his girlfriend or lose his pack of blockhead friends.

While this part is contrived, it all plays realistically and while Tim is a closet-case, he isn't one you grow to hate as the story wears on. Ben, young and in what he thinks is love, jumps through all the secret hoops Tim sets before them. Pressure mounts for the two boys and eventually the fact Tim refuses to own up to his feelings for Ben leads to a nasty split. One that Ben doesn't feel he will ever recover from.

Fast forward to College and after a string of horrible relationships Ben falls in love with a debonair young flight attendant named Jace. Jace takes Ben around the world and shows him a different kind of love than he has ever known. One that isn't secret or one-sided. One where the man beside him at night is an open book and their future together is a sure thing. Right on cue, however, guess who returns to Ben's life to shake him back into the scared teenager he was at the books start?

Tim has blossomed. Out of the closet and proud of it, he is living a lonely life after the death of an older “friend” who may or may not have been a sugar-daddy to the sexy jock. Having been left a large sum of cash in an inheritance Tim is wealthy and now free to come into Ben's life and be everything the unsure teen wanted when they were sneaking around in High School. Problem is, as exciting and gratifying as these thoughts are for Ben he is deeply in love with Jace and isn't willing to give that up. He has grown angry at Tim for the way he was treated as a young vulnerable teen and while he feels bad for his lonely ex-lover he isn't sure what to do.

The fact Jace is usually out of town as a flight attendant leads to no good as Tim reinserts himself into Ben's life. Jace is Ben's perfect man, but in another but equally appealing way so is Tim. This leads to a love triangle that is surprisingly transparent as Jace is quick to catch on to Ben's confusion. Things come to a head when Ben suspects Jace isn't being totally emotionally faithful as well and Tim is ready and waiting to take Ben back.

Through some spy work, however, Ben realizes Tim really isn't as “ready” as he claims. He's still in the closet to his parents. He still hides his art away in a garage away from everyone. He even suspects Tim might have purposefully sabotaged his relationship with Jace. This leads to a painful separation yet again. Ben telling the man he first experienced love with that he doesn't want to ever see him again.

The book skips ahead again here and we find Ben “grown up” and working as a speech therapist and back living with Jace. The two's love has only grown deeper and more profound and Jace has even married Ben. Jace's character might be described as “too perfect” in this book. He never gets angry with Ben even when the reader thinks he has every right to. He is always there to catch Ben when he falls. As our hero's best friend Alison describes the situation, Jace is like Ben's keeper. Keeping him in check. Ben played that roll for Tim and now he is the one being “forgiven” for not having his life or his feelings totally sorted out. Aside from working as a therapist Ben loves performing at a local Dinner Theater.

It is here once again that Tim Wyman enters Ben's life. Not to sweep him off his feet but to jolt him with his appearance. Tim looks out of shape, sleep deprived, and drunk. It seems Tim has been dating a younger man who has all sorts of the “teenage problems” Tim himself suffered from, as well as a drug habit that he has sucked Tim into. The two mens time together this time isn't romantic at all as Ben helps his former love cut ties with his seriously messed up boyfriend, leaving Tim once again all alone. Despite it all however, when Tim exits Ben's life this time he still cannot let the other man totally go. He still feels like a teenager sneaking in a bedroom window when Tim is around. Still remembers the way they loved one another, even as he has grown and felt a wonderful and equal if not greater type of love with Jace.

I will leave the final “jump” of the story a mystery as I feel I have already covered a bit too much of the plot in this recap. I will say the final section becomes a tad melodramatic as Ben struggles with what to do about his feelings. The end of the story left me satisfied, however, and glad I got to experience the growing up of a funny and surprisingly complex character like Benjamin Bentley.

“Something Like Summer” does have a few pitfalls. While the story isn't all sex, sex, sex, there are a few sex scenes when the boys are young that left me feeling a bit skeevy. Not 10 page orgies, but quick bits here and there. The fact the boys “grow up” in this book makes me wonder if it was truly intended to be a YA novel at all actually so maybe the sex is OK? There are some of the usual staples of “coming out” fiction I didn't like. The supportive girl/best friend who comes and goes when it is convenient to the plot. The fact that the two boys kind of run roughshod over their parents and do whatever they please. Overall I think the cons are very much outweighed by the pros here and would recommend “Something Like Summer” to any gay reader or anyone who is open-minded and likes a good love story.

This novel struck a cord with me because it reminded me of an early fumbled attempt at romance with someone I thought I loved right out of High School. It explores the affects these “heartbreaks” have as well as the realization that while there will always be “your first” that doesn't always mean it will be “your best”. Ben has a good head on his shoulders and eventually, through trial and error, he figures this out. It's always “Something Like Summer” when Tim is around, but maybe that isn't all its cracked up to be when compared to a loving man with a forgiving heart.

Buy it on Amazon!