Title: The Red Sheet
Author: Mia Kerick
Genre: Contemporary YA Romance
Length: Novel (190 pages)
Publisher: Harmony Ink, Dreamspinner Press (February 21st, 2014)
Heat Level: Low (Hinted)
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts
Reviewer: Tams
Blurb: One October morning, high school junior Bryan Dennison wakes up a different person—helpful, generous, and chivalrous—a person whose new admirable qualities he doesn’t recognize. Stranger still is the urge to tie a red sheet around his neck like a cape.
Bryan soon realizes this compulsion to wear a red cape is accompanied by more unusual behavior. He can’t hold back from retrieving kittens from tall trees, helping little old ladies cross busy streets, and defending innocence anywhere he finds it.
Shockingly, at school, he realizes he used to be a bully. He’s attracted to the former victim of his bullying, Scott Beckett, though he has no memory of Scott from before “the change.” Where he’d been lazy in academics, overly aggressive in sports, and socially insecure, he’s a new person. And although he can recall behaving egotistically, he cannot remember his motivations.
Everyone, from his mother to his teachers to his “superjock” former pals, is shocked by his dramatic transformation. However, Scott Beckett is not impressed by Bryan’s newfound virtue. And convincing Scott he’s genuinely changed and improved, hopefully gaining Scott’s trust and maybe even his love, becomes Bryan’s obsession.
With a foreword by C. Kennedy
Purchase Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4725
Review: The Red Sheet is a gay YA story that allows the reader a glimpse into the mind of the both the bully and his target. Then you get to watch as the bully becomes the protector and falls in love with said target, but he’s going to have to work for it!
Bryan Dennison’s life is a memory of a dream. He cannot reconcile the person he used to be, and only vaguely remembers, with the person he is now. The most important person to him now is Scott, but Scott is not so easily convinced of Bryan’s motivations. So Bryan sets out to prove to Scott that he has changed, he loves him and he is worthy of Scott’s love in return.
Scott Beckett doesn’t trust Bryan any further than he could throw him! He doesn’t believe Bryan can’t remember. The superjock or superjerk, either fits, that made his life hell, now wants to protect him and be his friend. Whatever. As the story unfolds Bryan learns more about the person he was; mean, cruel and almost vindictive. And slowly but surely how he becomes more than who he was, and earns Scott’s love in return.
Kerick really conveyed a different side of the bullying in high school aspect than I’ve ever read, and she did it well. The reality of this story was shocking and made my skin crawl. This is a reality that young LGBT YA teens have to deal with from their peers on a daily basis, to the point some believe that dying is better than living. It saddens and sickens me. If just one of these teens could see things from the perspective of Bryan and Scott, I think this book should be required reading in school. Can we turn it into an after school special?
Loved it, if my previous statement wasn’t a given, this is a must read! The topic is dark yes, but the execution is wonderful, taking a different road to explore the highly debated issue of bullying.
** I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through MM Good Book Reviews **
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