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    Burnt Reflections
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    Burnt Reflections
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    Burnt Reflections
    Ebook203 pages3 hours

    Burnt Reflections

    By J. Roman

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    For Scotty Riesen, hiding his sexuality in Ma's Trick, Louisiana hasn't been easy, given his secret relationship with his next-door neighbor, football star, and fellow closet case, Jean Lafitte. One night he decides that living in the closet is no way to go through life. He comes out, but he isn’t prepared for the backlash from his parents and friends.

    Scotty takes a bus to New Orleans to make a new life for himself. Playing janitor and dancing boy at the gay bar Burnt Reflections is a lot better than living on the street, but he can’t forget Jean Lafitte no matter how many men throw themselves at him.

    Despite everything, Jean Lafitte may yet prove just how far he’s willing to go to make a relationship with Scotty work. Traveling down to New Orleans to find Scotty is just the start of a courtship that won’t be stopped by anything less than a Louisiana hurricane.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamspinner Press
    Release dateNov 19, 2014
    ISBN9781632162601
    Unavailable
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    • 4/5
      This is one of those stories that really got to me. Realistic in how Scotty deals with being gay in a small town full of narrow-minded people, his parents included, it follows his path to inner freedom as he grows up much more quickly than he anticipated. Way faster than the young men he fell in love with—and ends up leaving behind until he can catch up. Be warned: this is an emotional story without being overly dramatic, and shows the kind of tough times some kids unfortunately have to go through because their parents throw them away.

      Scotty has known he is gay from the time he was thirteen. He also knows that nobody can find out, because being “a fag”, as everyone refers to it, is not an option for him. And how horrible is that? My heart went out to him as he finally decides, more or less on an impulse, to come out. He just wasn’t willing to hide any longer, but, as he puts it, “As terrified and sick as I felt, I was free for the first time in my life.” The consequences are awful. His father kicks him out, his boyfriend Jean outs him at school, all to protect himself, the coward. Scott ends up with his grandmother for a while, but when his tormentors start to go after her, he leaves for New Orleans. He is very lucky that the owner of a gay bar, Burnt Reflections, finds him before he has to sell his body to get some food, but it is still a struggle for him to realign himself with his new life. He is a true fighter, and I loved that about him.

      Jean has a lot to learn. The way he treats Scotty is horrifically heartless. I mean, I get that he believes he has to hide, that he isn’t ready to come out, but he is taking the guise so far that he ends up hurting Scotty tremendously. Jean dates a girl, all, he says, part of the cover. But then, just as Scotty is leaving and hoping for one last intimate encounter, he reveals that he has used all the condoms—and Scotty knows exactly whom with. And that wasn’t the only insensitive thing he did. I was so angry at Jean! Yes, he is young and has a lot to learn, but that one incident just shows exactly how much. Jean is so far in the closet, he cannot admit to himself that he is gay, not even in Scott’s presence when nobody is listening. But he also has hell to walk through, and when he does, he realizes how much he has to make up for. I thought it no more than fair that Scotty lets him work hard for the forgiveness Jean needs so badly.

      If you like realistic stories about young men who stand up for themselves and end up going through hell for other people’s bigotry, if you want to see what it is like to go from “I can’t be gay” to “I love this man, and damn the consequences”, and if you’re looking for an intense, emotional read about two young men who manage to find a happy ending despite everyone else’s best attempts to drive them apart, then you will probably like this novel as much as I did.