The Year of Ice by Brian Malloy

147993Title:  The Year of Ice

Series:  None

Author:  Brian Malloy

Genre:   YA

Length:  Novel (272 Pages)

Publisher:  St. Martin’s Griffin (October 11th, 2003)

Heat Level:  None

Heart Rating:  ♥♥♥♥4Hearts

Blurb:   It is 1978 in the Twin Cities, and Kevin Doyle, a high school senior, is a marginal student in love with keggers, rock and roll, and–unbeknownst to anyone else–a boy in his class with thick eyelashes and a bad attitude. His mother Eileen died two years earlier when her car plunged into the icy waters of the Mississippi River, and since then Kevin’s relationship with his father Patrick has become increasingly distant. As lonely women vie for his father’s attention, Kevin discovers Patrick’s own closely guarded secret: he had planned to abandon his family for another woman. More disturbingly, his mother’s death may well have been a suicide, not an accident.

Complicating the family dynamic is the constant meddling of Kevin’s outspoken Aunt Nora–who will never forgive Patrick for Eileen’s death–along with Patrick’s inability to stay single for very long. His loyalties divided between his father and his aunt, between his internal reality and his public persona, Kevin is forced to accept his gay identity and reevaluate his notions of family, and love as painful truths emerge about both.

Product Link:  http://us.macmillan.com/theyearofice/BrianMalloy#buy-the-book

Reviewer:   John

Review:  I absolutely loved The Year of Ice. This novel starred Kevin, a secret closet case who was madly in love with Jon, a straight kid. I fell for Kevin instantly. He lost his mom at a very young age in a car accident and he was left under his dad protection. But as his senior year advances, Kevin becomes a young man and he begins to see his father under a new light.

Kevin, to me, was the bomb. He was the Alpha of his group and loved bossing Jon around just to have him close. In other words, he was simply trying to attract his attention. I also loved Aunt Nora. Yes, she was a little crazy, but she was real and I really liked her. I HATED Kevin’s dad. Yes, he took care of him, but as the story unfolded, we got to see the trash he truly was. Trust me, I was shocked that he was that kind of person because at first glance, he seemed so nice and the perfect dad. Maybe, he was the reason why I fell for Aunt Nora.

You have to read this novel. Kevin’s life was really interesting and entertaining. The one thing I didn’t like was that there were a few spelling errors and missing punctuations throughout the book. Maybe, that happened when they transformed the novel into an eBook format. Overall, this story is pretty awesome since it tells the story of a father and a son as they discover their paths in life.