Romantic and heart-wrenching story of love and happiness…
Daniels’s emotionally layered, romantic novel takes readers on a teen couple’s journey to love and happiness. High-schoolers Greg and Tyler fell in love the day they laid their eyes on each other. Meeting secretly to spend time together became a norm until a moment of passion during a camping trip turns their lives upside down. When their parents learn about their sexuality, the star-crossed lovers are separated. Meanwhile, Neil has kept his queer status a secret from his parents. But when his secrets are revealed, he finds himself facing a tough dilemma; to pick between his parents’ desire to go for counseling or come out and face a tough fate. Neil must find a way to overcome the many roadblocks to achieving his goals. This achingly romantic novel features sympathetic queer characters, each of whom is given ample space to develop. Greg and Tyler are skillfully drawn, and both teens’ feelings— love, lust, guilt, inner turmoil, pain, and relentless struggle with their sexuality, and, for Neil, anxiety about coming out in front of his parents—are convincing. Equally relatable are the conversations about the different dynamics of being out in the small-Albertan town of Cardston. The third-person omniscient narrative voice follows Neil and Trevor’s stumbling efforts to get together and earnestly showcases George and Tyler’s irrepressible passion for each other and their courage in the face of impossible difficulties. As two adolescents struggling with their queer status, George and Tyler’s intimately rendered hardships feel familiar. Although the teens’ romance is the heart of the novel, Neil and Trevor’s efforts to build a life for themselves form a well-developed subplot as the duo prepare to stand against the world. The pair’s adult anxieties are different from the teen pair’s difficulties but they’re equally weighty. The slowly unfolding twists introduce intrigue and palpable tension intricately rendered characters. Daniels’s straightforward prose highlights conversations around homosexuality and religion, internalized shame, guilt, acceptance, and understanding. He artfully blends Greg and Tyler’s story of star-crossed lovers with the slowly unfurling tragedy that upturns several lives in its wake. Populated by a compassionate, fully fleshed-out cast and variously queer characters, this poignant novel beautifully portrays the hardships queer people face on a regular basis while exploring familial ties, friendship, trauma, and tender first love. A poignant story of heartbreak and love.
Sins of Our Sons
Kristian Daniels
Extasy Books Inc
Pub date May 2, 2022
ISBN 978-1487435646
Price $13.00 (USD) Paperback, $4.78 Kindle edition