I want to like author Murphy's books. I truly do. That he is well-meaning and has a good heart shines through his writing. The only problem is that his style tends to be overly journalistic, which doesn't translate well to romance or to relationship stories. This book is a case in point.

When his older brother Stephen dies in a hit and run accident while he's out running, his 16-year-old brother Patrick is left abandoned to a mother who dislikes him and a father who is seemingly indifferent in a New Jersey suburban neighborhood. To help the family, Patrick goes with his father to the morgue to identify his brother's body and ends up providing the ID when his father can't.

But despite his willingness to step up and help bind the broken family together, Patrick is stunned when his mother bluntly tells him, "It should have been you who is dead." When his mother embraces a fundamentalist store-front church and then finds out that Patrick is gay, she decides her son is controlled by the devil and throws him out of the house.

On his way out of town on a business trip, Patrick's father gives his son a credit card and makes a hotel reservation for him. Doggedly, because he doesn't know what else to do, Patrick lives at the hotel and continues to go to school. This becomes impossible when Patrick is kicked out of the hotel when the credit card is cut off and he can't find his father.

Now on the streets, Patrick starts living a hand-to-mouth existence, finally ending up at an old Catholic church which harbors the homeless at night. But the first night there, he's nearly raped by an older homeless man. Scared, he races away from the church until reluctantly he returns out of necessity.

Read the rest of my review at AAR: http://www.likesbooks.com/cgi-bin/bookReview.pl?BookReviewId=9706

"Patrick felt as if someone had kicked him in the middle of his soul. He wanted to double over in pain, pain more intense than what he would have felt if someone wearing combat boots had just kicked him hard in the stomach.
How was it possible that just a few words could hurt so much? How? Simple. They were hateful words from one of the two people who were supposed to love him more than anyone else in the world."

Patrick's story was such compelling reading, a story that I read with a sense of disbelief. I mean, how could a mother turn her back on her child? I know it happens, I know there are many, many boys like Patrick, denied their homes and families, but this really brought it home. I just wanted to open my arms and my home to Patrick and give him a safe place to grieve and to live.

Patrick's journey isn't easy but his attitude was outstanding. He may have been homeless and without a place to lay safely, unable to bathe and no food to eat but he is resilient! I was quietly cheering as he stood up to the ridiculous authority figures at school, who said they were unable, but more like they were unwilling, to help. Who turns their back on a child!

Luckily for Patrick, he does find people with kind hearts and souls who help him and his friend Juan. They experience the ultimate challenges life throws at them and resort to doing things no boys should have to do, but they are courageous and strong and together, find a happier path in life.

I publish all my m/m reviews on my blog so if you want to see all my m/m reviews in one place come visit at Because Two Men Are Better Than One!

DNF - I felt the writing was too over the top and the story was a bit unbelievable even though it was based on true events.