Title: Work Boots and Tees
Series: Deep Secrets and Hope 05
Author: Jo Ramsey
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Teen Fiction
Length: Novel (180 Pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (August 15, 2015)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts
Blurb: Sixteen-year-old Jim Frankel has become the thing he loathes, and he can’t stand thinking about what he has done.
After being accused of sexual assault by two girls, Jim serves out his sentence in a juvenile detention facility. He’s shocked by the arrest for what he thought was consensual sex, and terrified his own childhood sexual abuse has twisted him into a predator—just like the man who molested him.
Upon release, Jim is no longer welcome at his family home, and with nowhere else to turn, he travels from Massachusetts to Michigan to live with his father’s cousin, Delia. Keeping his head down, Jim works hard at Delia’s art supply shop and prays no one will find out about the awful crime he committed. It’s his chance for a new beginning, but when he makes his first friend in Man-Shik Park, Jim is afraid to let him get too close. But by walling himself off from the support Manny’s offering, Jim might sabotage the opportunities in front of him.
ISBN: 978-1-61372-834-5
Product Link: Harmony Ink | Dreamspinner Press | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Reviewer: Lisa
Review: I didn’t have the chance to read the four previous books in this series but from what I can tell they can be read as a standalone. Now this is the first book that I have read by this author so I wasn’t too sure what to expect. What caught me was the title, I had assumed that it was going to be humorous but that was not so. It is a story that actually comes close to what many have gone through on both sides.
A teenager starts having sex, they are run by their hormones and feelings. They don’t see the bigger picture at all, but Jim was convicted of a sexual crime by two girls he had been with. It blew him out of the water and made him afraid. After his release, he was abandoned by his family. The only place to go was to a family a few states over. He just didn’t know what to expect there.
Then he meets Manny and is afraid of how he would see him if he knew of his past. He got lucky that Delia and some others were willing to help him recover. You see he had been abused also. However the problem is that Jim did commit the crime, he did his time and is now looking for a new chance. I am not really sure what to think about it to be honest.
I actually felt more for Jim then I did anyone else. Maybe in a way that is not what one is supposed to do, but the fact that he was a teenager and they do make stupid mistakes makes it easier to do so. It has a strong message I suppose which actually did the opposite of what it should have I suppose. I wanted a love story not some story about rape and consequences so it dropped it down in points for me. It was actually a disappointment for me. I was expecting a love story and not what this book represented. After realizing that all of the books have this type of story, I realized that this book was not for me.
It was well written but I didn’t much care for it. I gave it a higher rating because of how well it was but in truth it didn’t do much for me.