Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Perfect Family
    Unavailable
    The Perfect Family
    Unavailable
    The Perfect Family
    Ebook420 pages4 hours

    The Perfect Family

    By Kathryn Shay

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    ***A book of women’s fiction.

    NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author delivers heartfelt family scenes, biting social commentary and a unique look the healing power of forgiveness.

    “I recommend this book highly. It is a must read for anyone dealing with coming out to their family, friends, and coworkers.” David Parker, PFLAG

    What happens to the perfect family when a teenage boy comes out? That’s the question the Davidson family must deal with. Jamie, the gay son, just wants to live his life out of the shadows. Maggie, mother, teacher and psychologist, will do anything to protect her child, even side with him against her husband. Mike, a loving, giving father can’t reconcile his beloved Catholic Church’s indictment of homosexuality with his deep unconditional love for his boy. And Brian longs for things to go back to the way they were before the jocks at school started to taunt his brother and turn against him. But when tragedy strikes Jamie’s new boyfriend, they all begin to look at their lives differently and work harder to save their perfect family.

    Praise for THE PERFECT FAMILY from people in all walks of life:

    “After twenty years of educating on gay issues, I found THE PERFECT FAMILY a fresh, soulful and enlightening story.” Scott Fearing, Outreach Director, The Gay Alliance of Genesee Valley

    “The book should be in school libraries, psychologists’ offices and on teachers’ book shelves!” Stacy B. Killings, Certified School Psychologist

    "It's been a long time since I've read a book that so comprehensively and compellingly speaks to a teenager's coming out experience." Reverend Lee Ann Bryce, United Church of Christ Minister

    “Warmly poignant, realistic, dramatic and honestly presented, Shay’s story is an engrossing family saga for the modern world.” RT Book Reviews

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKathryn Shay
    Release dateOct 28, 2013
    ISBN9781939501172
    Unavailable
    The Perfect Family
    Author

    Kathryn Shay

    A NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestselling author, Kathryn Shay has been a lifelong writer and teacher. She has written dozens of self-published original romance titles, print books with the Berkley Publishing Group and Harlequin Enterprises and mainstream women’s fiction with Bold Strokes Books. She has won many awards for her work: five RT Book Reviews awards, the Bookseller’s Best Award, Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year and several “Starred Reviews.” One of her firefighter books hit #20 on the NEW YORK TIMES list. Her novels have been serialized in COSMOPOLITAN magazine and featured in USA TODAY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and PEOPLE magazine. There are over ten million copies of her books in print and downloaded online. Reviewers have called her work “emotional and heart-wrenching.”http://www.kathrynshay.comhttp://www.facebook.com/kathrynshayhttp://www.twitter.com/KShayAuthorhttp://www.amazon.com/Kathryn-Shay/e/B000APY3GW/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1463655985&sr=1-2-ent

    Read more from Kathryn Shay

    Related to The Perfect Family

    Related ebooks

    Gay Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      My first year WITHOUT MY MOM

      Mar 16, 2020

      My first year WITHOUT MY MOM
      3 min read

    • Article

      Friend Or Foe?

      Aug 24, 2023

      Sitting on the grass beside my girlfriend Grace, I spotted a familiar face approaching from across the park. ‘Can I join you?’ Chelsea, then 17, smiled, plonking herself down. It was March 2018 and I’d been with Grace, then 16, for six months. I was

      4 min read

    • Article

      Lindsay’s New Lease On Life

      Dec 23, 2021

      Lindsay’s New Lease On Life
      4 min read

    • Article

      Taken At Birth

      Aug 19, 2021

      Taken At Birth
      4 min read

    • Article

      Missing Campers Breakthrough

      Nov 25, 2021

      Police have caught the suspected killer of two campers who disappeared almost two years ago. The special operations group officers took down a 55-year-old Caroline Springs man on November 22 after tracking his movements for several weeks. It’s allege

      1 min read

    • Article

      Showing The Same Talents That Made Her Mum An Icon lola Lennox hits The High Notes With Eurythmics Star Annie As They Collaborate On Her New Single

      Aug 22, 2022

      Collaborating with partners or relatives on a creative project isn’t for the faint-hearted – it requires diplomacy, patience and mutual respect. All of which singer and songwriter Lola Lennox clearly has in spades, having enlisted the help of her Can

      3 min read

    • Article

      Balancing Act: In 'Mrs. Everything,' Jennifer Weiner Explores Her Mom's Sexuality, Evolving Gender Roles And Donald Trump's America. Is It A Beach Read? Maybe!

      Jun 17, 2019

      Jennifer Weiner, New York Times bestselling author of 16 juicy, layered, courageous books, always knew she wanted to write a novel that followed her characters from birth to death. She knew she wanted that book to be loosely based on her own life and

      4 min read

    • Article

      My Girls Can Never Feel The SUNSHINE

      Nov 24, 2021

      Yvette Walker, 40, Phillip Bay, NSW Peering down at the bundle in my arms, my heart swelled with love. Already parents to our son, Quinlan, then three, my husband, Nick, 32, and I had dreamed of having a girl. Now, our daughter Amielle – Ami – was

      3 min read

    • Article

      Finding Peace—and Briefly, Freedom—at My Grandfather’s Funeral

      Oct 11, 2019

      “Saying goodbye with the people who loved him—and me—I remember that I am not the tomb that imprisons me.”

      6 min read

    • Article

      My Story Told My Way

      Oct 27, 2023

      A TALENTED teen, a troubled adult, a lost soul, an unfit mother, an out-of-control attention-seeker – she’s been called all this and more in the 26 years she’s been in the public eye. During those two and a half decades she’s had her freedom taken aw

      8 min read

    • Article

      Living With The Enemy

      Jun 24, 2021

      Sawaria Sajid, 21, Leeds Fragrant spices filled the kitchen as I tipped extra-hot curry powder into the vegetable biryani. ‘Woah, that’s way too spicy,’ my mum Abida, then 30, laughed, grabbing my hand. It was 2011, I was 11 and Mum was teaching me t

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Head Full Of Colours

      May 4, 2022

      A Head Full Of Colours
      3 min read

    • Article

      Kate Hudson Baby, You’re Looking Great

      Nov 22, 2021

      With a starry guest list and a very worthy cause to support, choosing the perfect outfit for Los Angeles-based children’s charity Baby2Baby’s tenth anniversary gala might have been a thorny problem for some. Not, however, for Kate Hudson, who rose to

      1 min read

    • Article

      Book Extract

      Jan 20, 2020

      My year off was also interesting, in that I didn’t feel any less loved, or cherished, or wanted. Why? Because my life is already rich with soulmates, and I got the chance to behold that. You don’t have to shag someone for them to be a soulmate. We do

      7 min read

    • Article

      Lucky Breakbreak

      Nov 25, 2021

      Lucky Breakbreak
      4 min read

    • Article

      A True Monster

      Apr 13, 2023

      A True Monster
      5 min read

    • Article

      Estella’s Fate

      May 17, 2023

      Estella’s Fate
      7 min read

    Reviews for The Perfect Family

    4/5

    2 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Do you want to cry? Have your heart squeezed tight? Well, this is the book for you! There is no way you can read this book without crying, absolutely no way... at least for me. I started reading this book this morning and could not put it down. I cried on the train, I cried on my conference call (was totally not paying attention), I cried during lunch, I cried on the way home... I have the biggest headache right now O_o

      This is the story of a family that had their foundation rocked when the youngest son (Jamie) openly declares his sexual orientation as gay. The father (Mike), a devout Catholic, struggles with this; the mother (Maggie), a psychologist, knows all the right things, but struggles with what this means to her son and family; the older brother (Brian), the star high school athlete, struggles with how this affects him and his standing in school and how it clashes with how his father is raising them as devout Catholics. And most importantly, Jamie... how this declaration affects him personally, his family, his friends and his future.

      It is an EXTREMELY emotional story. It hurt to read this family struggling. It also shows how religion can really affect a person's ability to cope with revelations in their lives. Although there was a happy ending, you know there are so many times that there isn't. It hurts the heart to think of all those struggling with no one in their lives to affirm that they will be OK and that living a life of true self is always best and fulfilling.

      This family story touched me deeply. There has been no similar circumstance for me, but such is the gift of this author that she made me want to hug this family and tell them they had people on their side.

      I highly recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      From My Blog...The Perfect Family by Kathryn Shay is a novel based on the Davidson family and what happens within the family when they learn their son is gay. Jamie is 17 years old and believes it is time to inform his family and friends that he is gay. Jamie is looking forward to being able to be himself around those he cares about, yet unprepared for the intense and diverse reactions to his announcement from family and friends alike. The Perfect Family takes a look at how one announcement; a boy speaking the truth, can change an entire family, friends and neighbours. Shay does an excellent job in portraying the differing opinions to Jamie’s announcement and through dialogue, descriptions and realistic characters, the story comes across as an honest look inside one family’s life with a wonderful ending. Thankfully all families are different and some handle the news far better than the Davidson’s initial response. I think The Perfect Family would make for an excellent choice for book discussion groups due to the controversial issues and I would not hesitate to recommend The Perfect Family to any reader.