Something Like Summer: Something Like..., Book 1

Benjamin Bentley came out of the closet when he was fourteen. His parents are loving and accepting, as is his best friend Allison. If only the same could be said of Ben's classmates. Ever since Ben came out of the closet he has been the school piranha - bullied by the jocks, sneered at by the cheerleaders and even his teachers are wary of his open sexuality. It's no surprise that Ben is the only `out' teenager at his Houston school . . . and if he's honest, he can't ever imagine meeting someone and finally having a proper boyfriend.And then Mr Blue Shoes runs by.The summer before senior year Ben spots a new face around town. A tall, dark, handsome senior has just moved into the area and Ben is smitten. But then school starts and Tim Wyman (aka `Mr Blue Shoes') turns out to be just like all the rest. He hangs with the jocks, starts dating the prettiest prom queen and wouldn't look twice at Ben . . . until the day that Ben literally crashes into him.What starts as friendship soon has Ben receiving his first kiss and desperately wishing that Tim would come out of the closet and into the open with him. But where Ben is happy being honest with himself, Tim is wary of his pious parents and becoming a school outcast. Tim is the love of Ben's young life, but Ben doesn't want to be anyone's dirty secret and their affair ends on a sour note. . .Skip ahead four years and Ben is studying in Chicago when he meets Jace. Jace is a twenty-six-year-old air steward who makes Ben's head spin. Until Jace, Ben was still hung up on Tim and what could have been. But Jace makes him forget, and pretty soon the pair fall madly in love and dream of a romantic Parisian holiday together. And then Ben bumps into Tim, again. Tim, who is now openly gay and desperate for a do-over with the one that got away.`Something Like Summer' is an M/M romance from Jay Bell. The book opens in Houston, Texas in 1996 and follows Ben and Tim's various encounters up until the year 2008.I loved this novel. It was a very tender and true examination of first love and second chances, while also being a very earnest examination of young gay love.Tim and Ben are each other's high school sweethearts. But their story is vastly different from the typical heterosexual tale of first love. Usually when a boy and girl embark on first love in high school the romance has an expiration date - it will run its course and end through nobody's fault but moving away for college or simply outgrowing each other. But it's different for gay teenagers, Ben and Tim especially. Ben and Tim's high school romance didn't get to run its course . . . their affair came to an abrupt and painful end because Tim was unwilling to admit his feelings for Ben and be open about his sexuality. In other words, their relationship didn't die of natural causes, and as a result both men spend the next twelve years wondering "what if?" It's the sort of pondering that could send a person insane. Always second-guessing and wondering if you let `the one' get away simply because you (or they) weren't brave enough to admit to that love. This is not the sort of dilemma typical young heterosexual couples ever have to go through.I loved how Jay Bell spanned this love story over yearly intervals. We meet Tim and Ben when they are teenagers - and as a reader, you can see Ben's heartache coming a mile away. I was reading that first stretch of time with my heart in my throat - because Ben was adorable and vulnerable. He felt like he'd found a life-raft in Tim, someone to love and understand him . . . unfortunately, Tim was scared. It's understandable, but I still felt for Ben and for the unfair predicament that being gay in high school put both boys through. Remember, this novel is set in 1996. There's no `Will and Grace' and certainly no Kurt Hummel ballads on `Glee'.I was thrilled when Ben met Jace. Jace, who was uncomplicated, honest and thoroughly infatuated with Ben. Though Ben has been out of the closet for years, Jace marks his first really mature relationship and I loved reading about Ben finally finding happiness. And then Tim reappears - now openly gay and in hot pursuit of Ben. If Jay Bell hadn't written such a tempting character in young Tim, I may have been annoyed by his reappearance and interrupting of Ben and Jace's blissful happiness. But Bell's woven back-story for these men coupled with the undercurrents of lust and longing, mean that it's impossible to begrudge Ben his continued yearning. I never knew who Ben would end up with . . . or who I wanted him to be with. Jace, who was always so honest and loving. Or Tim, who clearly needed Ben's redemptive love. Jay Bell writes a perplexing love triangle that's as frustrating as it is titillating.A good portion of `Something Like Summer' is written from Ben's perspective as a senior in high school. But then the novel jumps ahead to eventually end with Ben in his early thirties. There are a few sex scenes and constant lusting throughout - but I would still recommend this book to young adult readers. Especially young gay readers.The novel is very honest about what it is to be a gay teenager - both `out' and closeted. Aside from some very stark frankness about what young boys get up to at sleepovers, Jay Bell also explores the many facets of being young and gay (without ever sounding like a preachy Lifetime channel movie).Quite a lot of young adult gay romances feature a young person who has yet to come out and admit their homosexuality. In a lot of these novels, you get the impression that coming out is the be all and end all - the magic solution to every problem in a gay teenagers' life. Not the case, as Ben illustrates. Ben is a very well-adjusted young man; he became open about his sexuality at a young age and he is very comfortable with who he is. He has very supportive parents and an amazing best friend. But none of these things equate to an easy time for Ben. He still gets picked on at school. He has no avenues for meeting like-minded gay teenagers. For all of his openness and honesty, Ben is still quite lonely.Meanwhile, Tim is at the opposite end of the spectrum - gay, but unwilling to admit it. He's scared of his parent's wrath and damaged social status.I appreciated the fact that Jay Bell told both sides to the gay story. I can't say that either has a happy high school ending, or that Jay Bell is prescribing one course of action over the other . . . I think it's just more likely that high school is hard for everyone. Nobody really knows who they are and everyone just wants to fit in and not be ostracized.`Something Like Summer' is amazing. Aside from an awesome 90's soundtrack (seriously, everything from Beck to Lauryn Hill is mentioned!) Jay Bell has written one of the most heart-felt and sincere M/M romances I have ever encountered. This is a love story that spans twelve years - a story all about getting a second chance with `the one that got away'.

Jay Bell is an independent author who has created the Something Like series of books with incredible characters and engaging storylines that you never want to end. I'm at the second to last book of the series and I'm already dreading the last page of the last book. I will be going back and re-reading the entire series again, it's that good.

Jay Bell is a remarkable story teller. The author of the “Something Like…” stories, I picture his office with two laptops, one for the project at hand and one for keeping track of the many characters he explores through about twenty books. There are yellow post-its everywhere, a cup of room temperature coffee with current pop music playing and if I were he, an ashtray with at least one cigarette burning. But I suspect that Mr. Bell doesn’t smoke. None of his characters do. They’re young and fit and active. I’ve lived a fairly “straight” life- whatever that means- and never gave much thought to the differences between my family and the families of the LGBT people in my life. Me? I’m bisexual, somewhere in the middle of the Kinsey Scale, a measurement of sexuality that one of Mr. Bell’s characters taught me. What I was moved by is just how normal everyone is. Their lives are important and Mr. Bell writes character driven narrative, his dialogue is real, and any sex scenes (there are several) are comfortable, even hot, but always necessary to the story. Having read a lot of gay fiction lately I find Jay Bell to be the very best, chewing my way through all his “Something Like…” books over the summer. Sixteen of them, each book bringing us closer to his characters. Gay, straight, Bi, Thai, we meet and live with all these characters and we come to love them, like an extended family; not many writers have achieved this. Not that I have found. And fortunately for us, Jay Bell is another Agatha Christie. Or Stephen King. He writes quickly but carefully and during his relatively young life has produced an ample catalog of great fiction. It’s all worth your time, regardless of your sexuality. Begin with “Something Like Summer” and begin with Ben and Tim, the anchors of this series. You’ll know them from puberty to death, both of which are beautiful. The conflicts real, the characters flawed. But familiar. Start with Summer and I would easily bet that you will want to read more. Jay Bell is fantastic. And his husband is responsible for the art work which actually applies to the story. It causes me to sometimes consider Mr. Bell as the main character in all his books. He’s there, just below the surface and we begin to believe that we know him. And so I thank him for normalizing LGBTQ people. Ah, how the world has changed; Mr. Bell has done more than most. My grandfather always said, “It is our job to leave the world more beautiful than we found it.” Bravo, Mr. Bell.

I loved this book. It's really well written, from the heart which I doing think there is any denying of that. The characters are strong and very believable. The setting is easy to picture and the storyline is faultless. It captures you from the beginning and you're almost compelled to keep on reading. It's coming on for 3 am! I couldn't wait until morning or afternoon to finish, it's grips you that hard.The love story between Ben and Tim is incredibly sweet from the get-go, at least until Tim refuses to admit to himself and everyone else that he is gay, and in a committed gay relationship.So, as I guess is inevitable, Ben and Tim fall apart and eventually Ben goes on to meet the beautiful and amazing Jace.This, is where I don't enjoy the story. I'm really not a fan of love triangles and honestly had I known there was more to this than Ben and Tim falling apart and coming back together again I wouldn't have read this book. Love triangles, cheating and one true and passionate love having to 'die' to allow the other to restart is really not what I would go for.Now, here's where the conflict comes in. Once I realised where this was going I would normally have put the book down - well in this case, swiped out of the book and returned it to the KU library stores. I couldn't though. By this point I was too invested. Too hooked.I really wanted to see a happy ending for Ben and Tim, but Jace was just too good for him to be cast aside. Tim's messing shouldn't have been forgiven so easily. It was bang out of order, yet I still wanted Tim to get his man. Just not at the expense of Jace.The fact that the only way for Tim to get this was for Jace to pay the price seems cruel. I hated it.This really is an emotionally, heart wrenching book, but we are warned!The only thing I can honestly say is that I hated this book. Yet I loved it, hence the late - early - finish.Will I read Something Like Autumn? Ask me when my broken, but happy heart has recovered.

It's been a long time since I've found a book that's so compulsively readable. There are certainly a few minor flaws - namely a tendency to rush, through necessity, over a 12-year arc. A couple of times, the author could have inserted dialogue to show rather than tell some particularly important scenes, especially in one blistering argument between two of the main characters.However, "Something Like Summer" is a treat of a romantic novel. By telling the story from the point of view of a seriously flawed lead, in the form of temperamental and vaguely obsessive Ben, Bell manages to pull off a nuanced storyline that unashamedly puts romance at its centre.Tim was, for me, the most intriguing of Bell's characters, but the supporting friendly figure of Allison was a joy. Bell also deserves points for his attention to detail and for capturing the disconcerting lunacy that comes with falling in love.A pleasure to read in the two days it took for me to devour it.

I really enjoyed this book and found it a real page turner. Characters are well constructed and the pace is just right. Some reviews have commented that the final section seemed rushed. I don't agree, and found the final part of the book incredibly moving. I won't spoil it, by telling you what happened! I would definitely recommend this book and am looking forward to reading the others in the series. My only criticism is that I really don't like the cover design, so don't judge this book by it's cover!

This story is entertaining, very well-written and, ultimately, moving. The characters are (generally) funny and complex and it is the desire to find out what happens to them that keeps the reader engaged in the story.However, there is one huge flaw in the work, namely that a lot of the snappy dialogue is lost in the second half of the book in favour of a more narrative style. This makes the second half of the book far less compelling and also means that the reader never really gets a real emotional sense of Jace, the third main character. The result, for me, was that I didn't really care what happened to him, leaving most of the latter part of the book feeling flat. Also, the major events at the end of the book, which redeem the story somewhat, are outlined in a few paragraphs, but should really have been dealt with in a less rushed way.Overall, although it is a very enjoyable read, it falls short of being great.

Perhaps 'Something like Summer' IS a little fanciful and not every young gay lad is able to creep into his boyfriend's home undetected by the sleeping parents but it makes a good read and could encourage others to value themselves as gay and o.k.Jay Bell tells the story of the developing relationship with gritty realism laced with self doubt and teenage pain. 'Something like Summer isn't just another tale of teenage angst and sex behind the bike sheds. The characters really do develop into young adults, with successes and failures in their lives as well as in their hearts. Worth reading? For teenagers certainly, for older readers - the story makes one realise how many kids struggle to find themselves in a world which even now can be cruel and vindictive to anyone a bit 'different'. Happy ending? SURE!