When Everything Is Blue by Laura Lascarso

Sometimes the people we need most aren’t bonded by blood but by something deeper.

When they were kids, golden boy Chris Mitcham rescued dweeby Theo Wooten from the neighborhood bullies and taught him how to “be cool.” Now, years later, Theo’s developed romantic feelings for his best friend that “arise” at the most inopportune times. Theo hates lying to Chris, but in coming out, he might lose the one person who understands him best, a risk he’s not willing to take.

When a relationship with another young man goes south, Theo is forced to confront his own sexuality along with his growing attraction to Chris and the stunted, tenuous relationship Theo has with his father. Will Chris abandon Theo when he learns the truth, or will he stand by him in this tumultuous season of self-discovery?

In this quirky coming-of-age romance, Theo’s path to manhood is fraught with several awkward firsts, a few haters, but also the tender comfort of an unexpected lover.

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Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆☆
I loved every moment of Theo’s story. Set in the Florida sunshine, this book manages to capture both the heartbreak and the pure joy of first love. At the start of the story, Theo is an awkward, closeted kid with a crush on his best friend.

The story follows sixteen-year-old Theo through a year of firsts. His first job, his first car, his first sexual experiences, and his first skateboarding competition. As Theo grows into himself, his relationships – with his family, his friends, and his best friend – start to change. Some of Theo’s experiences are heartbreaking. Others are exhilarating.

I think the magic in this story lies in the way the author perfectly captures the emotional intensity of being sixteen. Theo’s life is wonderful in its complete ordinariness. His first sexual experiences are awkward and as exciting as they are misery inducing. His feelings for his best friend are terrifying, overwhelming, and beautifully intense. His relationship with his father is realistically grim. His relationship with his twin sister is complicated.

This is as much a growing up story as it is a love story. Even though the characters are sixteen, it is marketed as a new adult story – probably because it doesn’t shy away from explicit detail. This is a steamy, sexy read, but it is also a wonderfully emotional story and I absolutely loved it.

LAURA LASCARSO lives in North Florida with her darling husband, two children, and a menagerie of animals. Her debut novel, Counting Backwards (Simon & Schuster 2012) won the Florida Book Award gold medal for young adult literature. She aims to inspire more questions than answers in her fiction and believes in the power of stories to heal and transform a society.

Andre in Flight is Laura’s first full-length work with Dreamspinner Press but hopefully not her last.

Connect with Laura

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of When Everything Is Blue by Laura Lascarso to read and review.

The Bravest Thing by Laura Lascarso

High school junior Berlin Webber is about to reap the fruits of his hard work and land a football scholarship—if he can keep his sexuality a secret from his best friend, Trent, and their homophobic coach. Then Hiroku Hayashi swerves into the high school parking lot on his tricked-out motorcycle like some sexy comic book villain, and Berlin knows he doesn’t stand a chance.

Hiroku is fleeing his sophisticated urban scene to recover from drug addiction and an abusive relationship when he arrives in Berlin’s small Texas ranch town. Initially sarcastic and aloof, Hiroku finds in Berlin a steady, supportive friend who soon becomes more. As Hiroku and Berlin’s romance blossoms, they take greater risks to be together. But when a horrific act of violence tears them apart, they both must look bigotry in the face. While Berlin has always turned to his faith for strength, Hiroku dives into increasingly dangerous ways of coping, pushing them in opposite directions just when they need each other most.

Two very different young men search for the bravery to be true to themselves, the courage to heal, and the strength to go on when things seem darkest. But is it enough to bring them back together?

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B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
This is a gritty and emotionally powerful young adult story. At the start, the tension between cowboy football hero Berlin and eyeliner wearing new kid Hiroku suggests a fairly traditional small-town romance. As Berlin and Hiroku’s relationship develops, the story becomes much darker. The story slides from teenage angst to grim and graphic adult themes when the boys experience violence, domestic abuse, and addiction.

Berlin grows up quickly in this book. Small town Texas makes the student athlete a local hero before his sexuality makes him an outcast. Berlin experiences both ends of teenage popularity. By the end of the book, his experiences have made him an adult and given him strength.

Hiroku rides into Berlin’s small town on his motorcycle. His clothes, makeup, skin colour, and unshakeable confidence make him a target from the moment he arrives in town. If Berlin grows up during this book, Hiroku grew up before we meet him. Damaged and still vulnerable, Hiroku is trying desperately for a fresh start in a new place.

I enjoyed these two together. Hiroku is as damaged as Berlin is innocent. When tested, Hiroku’s strength is only superficial while Berlin proves himself able to care for them both.

This is a very adult story. Even though it is about school age teenagers, it is published by Dreamspinner as a New Adult – not a Young Adult – book. As a disclaimer for young readers, the author never attempts to protect readers from the reality of Hiroku and Berlin’s experiences. Drug addiction, domestic abuse, and horrific violence are explored in very graphic detail. Similarly, the sex is more explicit than readers expect from young adult writing. I felt uncomfortable reading some of the more explicit passages about high school juniors. I think this story would sit easier with me if both boys were 18.

This story is so gritty that I’m reluctant to say I enjoyed it. I appreciated it. I’m glad I read it. There are some beautifully written passages in this book. The connection between Berlin and Hiroku is special and there are some very moving moments between the two. This is a difficult and haunting book.

LAURA LASCARSO lives in North Florida with her darling husband, two children, and a menagerie of animals. Her debut novel, Counting Backwards (Simon & Schuster 2012) won the Florida Book Award gold medal for young adult literature. She aims to inspire more questions than answers in her fiction and believes in the power of stories to heal and transform a society.

Andre in Flight is Laura’s first full-length work with Dreamspinner Press but hopefully not her last.

Connect with Laura

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Bravest Thing by Laura Lascarso to read and review.

Andre in Flight by Laura Lascarso

When up-and-coming Miami painter Martin Fonseca encounters youthful pretty boy Andre Bellamy washing dishes in the kitchen of La Candela, he swears he’s known him before, intimately. But Andre only arrived in Miami weeks ago, after running away from small-town Alabama and his abusive father. When Martin discovers Andre trading sexual favors for a place to stay, he offers him a room in his studio apartment. As roommates only.

What starts as a playful friendship turns into something more as Andre begins posing for Martin, whose true passion is painting fantastical portraits. Martin’s obsession with Andre grows until they are sharing more than just flirtatious conversation. But when an eccentric art collector buys one of Martin’s paintings, Martin’s past jealousies resurface and threaten to destroy what he and Andre have so lovingly built.

Buy Links

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ARe  ~  B&N  ~  Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆☆
To be totally honest, I'm not entirely sure how to review Andre in Flight – so bear with me, please.

Laura Lascarso is a new-to-me author, and I was more than surprised at the levels of emotion woven into the story. The main reason I'm finding difficulty reviewing is simply because I don't wish to give anything away.

The best thing an author can do for me is surprise me – being a writer myself, I can usually see the path the author is taking, along with the Band-Aids covering plot holes. I usually have to read a book rather quickly so I don't stumble and begin editing or plotting. It's a rarity when I can just read and find enjoyment along the way, instead of the tedium as if I'm working.

Lascarso surprised me because I didn't know where she was going with this, but I knew it wasn't an average romance novella with some heavy between-the-sheets action. There was something roiling beneath the surface, and I read feverishly to find out.

On the surface, Andre in Flight looks like the usual waiter meets dish-washer trope – one an artist and the other an aspiring chef. Thrown in is the age difference, the adult and the runaway minor, giving off a taboo vibe. The artist and his muse, on a journey of stardom... but that is not what the book truly is.

This is a fast-paced novella, for which I'm thankful. I believe if the book was any longer, it would have thrown the pacing off, then delved into fluff territory. I appreciate the ability to tell so much story in so few pages, without being beholden to word-count for the sake of word-count. For those who only enjoy longer books, know it was a fully fleshed-out concept from start to finish, with a beginning, middle, and end, leaving the reader to use their imagination by mulling over the emotions and reasons behind them without pages upon pages of redundant inner monologues.

This is a thinker piece. If a reader looks deeper, there are many layers to Andre in Flight, with a twist in which I won't describe. I'll be thinking about this novella even as I'm reading other books.

I look forward to reading what Laura Lascarso creates next.

LAURA LASCARSO lives in North Florida with her darling husband, two children, and a menagerie of animals. Her debut novel, Counting Backwards (Simon & Schuster 2012) won the Florida Book Award gold medal for young adult literature. She aims to inspire more questions than answers in her fiction and believes in the power of stories to heal and transform a society.

Andre in Flight is Laura’s first full-length work with Dreamspinner Press but hopefully not her last.

Connect with Laura

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Andre in Flight by Laura Lascarso to read and review.