Elaine White's Life in Books
The Author
Elaine White is the author of multi-genre MM romance, celebrating 'love is love' and offering diversity in both genre and character within her stories.
Growing up in a small town and fighting cancer in her early teens taught her that life is short and dreams should be pursued. She lives vicariously through her independent, and often hellion characters, exploring all possibilities within the romantic universe.
The Winner of two Watty Awards – Collector's Dream (An Unpredictable Life) and Hidden Gem (Faithfully) – and an Honourable Mention in 2016's Rainbow Awards (A Royal Craving) Elaine is a self-professed geek, reading addict, and a romantic at heart.
The Reviewer
I’m an author and reader, who just can’t get away from books. I discovered the MM genre a few years ago and became addicted.
Top #50 UK reviewer on Goodreads
#1 reviewer on Divine Magazine
Growing Up
Book – Growing UpAuthor – Tricia Sol
Star rating - ★★★★☆
No. of Pages – 80
Cover – Very cute.
POV – 1st person, past tense
Would I read it again – Yes
Genre – LGBT, Pansexual, Bisexual, Contemporary, Science, Geek
** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **
*There may be spoilers*
This could easily have been a 5 star read for me, but for a few things. One is that massive cliffhanger of an ending! I wanted to see Kelly confront his parents, find out what they thought and what would happen. So, not seeing that is a total disappointment and frustrating.
Secondly, there was a little too much background, flashback and personality information in places. Mostly when it interrupted the flow of the story, so much that sometimes I forgot where Kelly was and what was happening until he reminded me.
There's also a strange sentence structure here that jars with me. I can't pinpoint what it is, but the sentences either lack some grammar tricks to help them make more sense or I'm missing something. It just doesn't read naturally, but that may also be because of the 1st person POV, which I'm not a fan of.
Regardless, this was a great story. The plot had a lot of promise, even if it didn't always deliver, and the characters were fantastic. I loved the chemistry you could feel sizzling between the two MC's and how awkward it was for Lucas to counter his feelings against the fact that he used to be Kelly's teacher. Also, how weird it was for Lucas to see Kelly as an adult, when he'd only ever known him as a teenager.
There were a few times where I thought I was reading about one event, but it was actually about another. There was some confusion over what was a flashback, due to implications we were about to find out what happened back then, only for it to be present day. I think there were also a few things I'd have liked to have seen in more detail. There was some skimming over of events, understandably so, because this is such a short book.
However, overall it was a great read. Funny, charming and sweet, with a real romance and some hot sex thrown in to boot. Really good stuff. But could have been better. And I hate the cliffhanger that may never be solved.
