What About Everything? by John Goode Guest Post & Excerpt!

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Hi guys, we have John Goode stopping by today with his upcoming release What About Everything? we have a brilliant guest post and a great excerpt, so check out the post and enjoy! <3 ~Pixie~

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What About Everything?

(Tales of Foster High story 09)
by

John Goode

No matter how fast you run, the past has a way of catching up with you.

When an accident ruins Matt’s parents’ anniversary party, Tyler and Matt decide a vacation is in order, and they book a gay Disney cruise with Robbie and Sebastian. It’ll be the perfect place to relax and do some much-needed soul-searching. A couple of years have passed since they met, but Tyler and Matt are no closer to getting married. They must take a long, hard look at their relationship and decide if they’re happy with the way things are, or if they want more—and if they can find the courage to take the next step. A difficult choice is made even harder when two people they thought they’d left behind show up to complicate the issue and turn the whole cruise upside down.

Release date: 23rd September 2016

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Taking Chances by John Goode

TakingChancesLGTitle:  Taking Chances

Series:  Tales of Foster High, #4

Author:  John Goode

Genre:   Young Adult

Length:  Novel (200 pages)

Publisher:  Dreamspinner Press (August 7th, 2013)

Heat Level:  No Sex

Heart Rating:  ♥♥♥♥3.5-4 Hearts

Blurb:   Fearing the backlash of living as a gay man in Foster, Texas, Matt Wallace runs away to California, only to find it isn’t the Promised Land he’d hoped for. Christmas sees Matt returning to Foster, where he bumps into his old flame, high school jock Tyler Parker. 

Now that they’re older, it doesn’t take Matt too long to figure out that love at first sight is a very real thing. The only problem is neither Matt nor Tyler seems to know what to do after that. They’re both running from the past—and each other—requiring some reverse engineering to actually spur the relationship past the false start.

Product Link:  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4099

Reviewer:   Any

Review:  A sweet story about two lonely guys that are searching for happiness.

I started this story in the morning before work and then was frustrated I had to wait the whole working day before I could get my mitts on it again and read, read, read. I haven’t read any of the other books (save one short story) in the Tales from Foster High series, so I’m reviewing this as a stand-alone—, and it is enjoyable without having prior knowledge of the ‘Foster’ world.

Things that worked for me:

  • The Forward & Postscript – I liked the discussion of hope and love and thought it added a nice touch to the story. It gave the whole story a more . . . polished, professional feel to it.
  • The ‘About the Author’ page at the end was creative and clever, and I had a very good chuckle while reading it.
  • The writing itself is good and the author really gets into the characters heads, so we get their thoughts, responses and emotions. This was particularly well done in the first chapters with Matt.
  • The flashbacks of the boy behind the red door really drew me in to the story and set up the romantic tension.
  •  I really enjoyed how stylistic the author was with the narrative. Some chapters are told from the perspective of other characters in the book, and it fit, because it emphasized the need Matt and Tyler had for space. At that point, they were both so upset, they just couldn’t go on. Very clever writing device.

Thing that didn’t work for me:

The biggest issue for me was that the pacing of the story felt off.

It has a great initial lead in, but as soon as Matt and Tyler meet at Christmas, the splendid pacing hits a snag as the two guys fall for each other immediately without much conflict. The insta-love at this point just didn’t flow well for me. I can understand that both the men are lonely, and maybe that would make them quick to jump into something, but as a reader, I love to have the emotional/and or physical connection drawn out a bit more.

As well as the two getting together too quickly, they suddenly fall apart after a week, and the reasons didn’t feel very mature (especially for characters that are in their thirties). The guys seemed super sensitive, and I never really got what Tyler did that was so wrong that he had to put up with so much crap from Matt and his awful fag-hag toward the end of the book. So he freaked out? Good, I say. It shows some human emotion—this needed to be worked through and not run away from.

I guess from the moment the main characters kiss, the books speeds toward an end with so much happening too quickly. But, to be fair, the blurb does tell the reader what to expect.

It feels like maybe I’m placing a lot of emphasis on what didn’t work for me in this story, but I guess I feel passionate about it because the writing was awesome, and I was/am greedy and just wanted more.

I enjoyed the read and am certainly interested in the other stories set in Foster. Definitely an author to try again!!!

Raise Your Glass by John Goode

Title:  Raise Your Glass

Series:  Tales from Foster High #3

Author:  John Goode

Genre:   Young Adult

Length:  120 Pages

Publisher:  Dreamspinner Press (May 30, 2012)

Heat Level:  Low

Heart Rating:  ♥♥♥♥♥5Hearts

Blurb:   Tales of Foster High – Sequel to The End of the Beginning Kyle Stilleno used to be the invisible student. Brad Graymark used to be the baseball star. Then they fell in love and Brad outed them both with a spectacular public display of affection, and now everything is different. After spending a few days lying low, Kyle and Brad are going back to school. It’s time to face the music and see how Foster High deals with their growing romance. But the school’s reaction-and the staff’s hostility-are not what they expected. Everyone they know seems to be allied against them. Isn’t there anyone they can count on to defend their happiness?

Product Link:  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3005

Reviewer:   John

Review:  Raise Your Glass is the third part from the Tales of Foster High Series by John Goode. The first two were an emotional rollercoaster ride as the characters came to accept themselves and each other. I honestly thought that was the end of it, but John Goode proved me wrong with the latest installment of his series.

Raise Your Glass deals with the emotional aftermath of Brad’s decision after he came out as gay teen to everyone. And let me tell you that the welcoming was not a warm one. Without giving too much of the plot, these two kids basically walked to the pits of hell and fought everyone off just to defend their love and right to be happy. I think that everyone can relate to that at some point in life.

John Goode is an extraordinary voice in the GLBT community. The rawness of the book makes it a must read for parents and gay teens everywhere. There are just a few books that have moved me to tears and this book is one of them. If you want to read this novel, I recommend reading the first two books so you get a better understanding of the story. Rumor has it that there will be a fourth installment of this extraordinary saga and I just simply can’t wait for it!