Greg Howard (2)Reseñas

Sweet and meaningful.

diverse children's middlegrade fiction (magical realism, 10/11-year old boy who likes boys in South Carolina #ownvoices). The trauma of the death of his mother (cancer) leads Riley to believe she is still out there, and that the Whispers (will-o-the-wisps) can help him find her and bring her back.
He makes friends along the way with Dylan, an older boy whose abusive father has caused him to run away, and a grizzly outcast that lives in the woods away from the townsfolk (who believe him responsible for a small boy's disappearance many years ago), and also comes to terms with his own self (when he suddenly remembers that his mom didn't die because he is queer, that she told him she loved him unconditionally).

nice vocab sprinkled throughout--the 'word of the day' calendar was something he used to do with his mom.

Riley, the main character of the story believes in this fairy tale known as whispers from these magical fairies, in the story we found out that they also grant wishes if you give them tributes. Riley makes wishes in the story to stop being bullied, wishes his crush liked him, and wishes he would stop wetting the bed, and for his mom to come home who disappeared. As riley starts to want to investigate further what is going on and where his mother is he takes matters into his own hands and embarks on a journey to figure this out. In doing this his life changes forever. This book is a good book to implement into an ELAR classroom because one it is a chapter book that it is a good read, but it also is very relatable for the students. Students go through bullying, wanting their crush to like them, and wish weird things like wetting the bed won’t happen to them. This is a fun read and would be very relatable for any 4-8 student.

Everyone should read this novel. It’s a beautiful story about Riley, a young boy whose Mama has gone missing. He remembers a story about the whispers that his mama told him and sets out to find them, and hopefully her.

I won’t spoil the lot for you. This should be read with an open heart and the imagination of an 11 year old (which I think is hidden in all of us)

Thank you for sharing your hear with us Greg Howard.

Riley’s Mama has gone missing for four months. God hasn’t answered his prayers to find her and Frank the detective is useless in his investigation. Riley grew up on Mama’s stories about the Whispers, fairy-like creatures that grant the heart’s desires. He believes that if he can find the Whispers, they will help him find Mama. Unwinds as a bit of a mystery, the reader is caught up in wondering what really happened. Riley turns out to be an unreliable narrator because of his trauma. Riley’s voice is folksy, southern, humorous, lulls the reader into his friendliness.

This was a decent but simple story about a middle grade aged boy who seeks answers to his mother's disappearance in the woods beyond his house. While I didn’t enjoy it a ton, it was a well done look at young gay boy trying to make sense of the world.

Many years ago, Riley’s mom told him a story about The Whispers in the woods behind his house and how they can grant wishes. Riley decides that maybe the Whispers can help find his mother.

More time is spent with Riley going about his day to day life than anything else. Riley has been taught that his “condition” (the fact that he is gay) is something to be ashamed of and something that needs to be fixed. This story tackles the issue of a pre-teen who knows he is gay but is taught to see it as an evil thing.

This book didn't have as much magic or adventure as I was hoping for. It focuses more on Riley and his relationship with his friends and family. It was well done but Riley doesn’t venture into the woods until the second half of the book. It is at this point we find out there’s a twist to the story around Riley’s mom.

Parts of this book were pretty sad, this book was also touted as being funny but it didn’t seem funny to me. As I said this wasn’t really a book I enjoyed reading. It just moved too slow and didn’t have all the magic and wonder I was hoping for. It’s pretty depressing at parts as well.

Overall this is an interesting look at a young gay boy growing up in a rural area. The surrounding mystery about his missing mother is somewhat engaging. The story does a good job of tackling the challenges of a young boy growing up gay in a rural area. I do not recommend to those looking for a magical read but I would recommend if you are interested in themes of grief and growing up gay in a rural area.

Everyone should read this novel. It’s a beautiful story about Riley, a young boy whose Mama has gone missing. He remembers a story about the whispers that his mama told him and sets out to find them, and hopefully her.

I won’t spoil the lot for you. This should be read with an open heart and the imagination of an 11 year old (which I think is hidden in all of us)

Thank you for sharing your hear with us Greg Howard.

Really engaging MG novel covering some heavy topics. Looks like fantasy, but isn't.

Beckett is an out gay teen living with his single dad, desperate to have some relationship experience before he graduates high school. Jaxon is the golden high school quarterback, raised by two moms, one of whom has started dating Beckett's dad. Both Jaxon and Beckett are unhappy with the situation, so they devise a plan to get each of their respective parents back with their original partner. But a different romance starts to brew as the two work on their plans--one that neither of them suspected.

This was such a fun read! A lot of the scenes throughout the novel reminded me of Parent Trap at times, as Beckett and Jaxon concoct this scheme in order to actually stop their parents from dating each other. The story itself is also different than a lot of LGBTQ books I've read; instead of focusing on Beckett and Jaxon's coming out stories, the core conflict is focused on something complete different, and I found that really refreshing.

Despite the refreshing story line, there were some problematic moments throughout the book as well. There were some stereotypes that were perpetuated, specifically with Jaxon and his moms, though Beckett also embodies the typically feminine gay stereotype. There also aren't a lot of female characters throughout the story, which can be fine, but the ones that are presented are generally flat. If they were more complex, it wouldn't have bugged me so much.

Though there are some problematic aspects within the story, it was still an overall fun read, though probably not one that I'll revisit again. If you're looking for a fun, LGBTQ romance for the summer, this one is worth picking up!

There were a few things about the book that I wasn't thrilled about but overall I enjoyed this YA novel featuring lgbt characters. Teenage boy Beck loves watching The Golden Girls with his straight and single dad. Being out and proud isn't very easy when you live in a conservative Southern town. Jaxon, is the star athlete at his high school and his two mothers have recently split up. When Beck's father and Jaxon's mother, Tracee, start dating, neither boy is very happy about it. They set out to break up the relationship but nothing seems to go according to plan.

I absolutely loved the chemistry between the two boys. And I do like the message of the book which was love who you love and don't worry about labels. While the book tackled lgbt issues there were also other topics brought up including divorce and adoption. I do think the author was overly ambitious and tried too hard to include every single issue a lgbt teen might face. The weakest part was the story line involving the pastor as it just didn't seem to fit in as well with everything else.

There are definitely some things about this book that were hard to read. Beck in particular was very hard to like at times as he was very shallow and misogynistic. I guess you can decide for yourself if it was a realistic depiction of a teenager or he was just a jerk. At the very least there did appear to be some growth by him by the end of the book. I also wasn't a big fan of Tracee and some of the things she said about her son to other people and the scene where she is waiting in Beck's bedroom is a complete wtf moment.

This is the type of book that I would love to hear more from the author about the writing process and it would make an excellent book club selection because I think everyone is going to take away something different. It's also one of the few books in which I would love for there to be a sequel as I felt very invested in the characters by the end and would love to see what the future holds for the both of them.

I won a free copy of this book from a ShelfAwareness giveaway but I was under no obligation to post a review. All views expressed are my honest opinion.

This paranormal mystery has some Southern Gothic flair to it while also being set in the modern day world. Cooper Causey starts off as a bit of a man whore, flitting from man to man in a string of one-night stands. Part of him knows he wants a deeper relationship yet he runs from the idea of it. Then he gets a very strange and a little frightening voicemail from his granma, his only family left, and he hightails it to South Carolina and then Warfield to rescue her. Turns out Granma Maymay (as the locals call her) had some secrets! I can’t recall her real name – Anne-May? Lilly May? I think it was Granma Lilly May so I’ll just call her that.

What a treat this book was! The dark Gothic style to it pulled me right in. I love that there’s family secrets Cooper has to dig up even as he has to decide whether or not to keep his own secrets. He’s gay and he doesn’t know how Lilly May will take it. Silly Cooper! You’ve got much bigger problems on your hands!

So he calls the cops to help locate Lilly May and in walks 6 ft 4 in tall, all muscle, Chief of Police Randy. Yep, Cooper had a crush on him in his teen years and it seems that crush hasn’t faded. Definitely a complication when Cooper doesn’t need one, but a very handsome complication. So, the police are doing their thing when Betsy swoops in and rescues Cooper from Alexander and Stephen (our two main nemeses).

That’s when Cooper has to learn all about the Anakim, which are basically vampires, and how Betsy and her crew have been working hard for centuries to eradicate them from the planet. Cooper’s bloodline has special powers and are called the Divinum. Cooper’s blood does special things for the Anakim.

The story becomes a bit of a hostage swap game as Alexander demands Cooper submit to him as a blood slave in exchange for whoever he has captured at the moment. Yes, there’s plenty of flirtatious and lascivious comments, some double entendres, and some outright compliments between all the men. They often lightened up the mood, putting a little humor into the story line.

I especially liked the two old lady ghosts that set up watch and info center at the Phipps house (Lilly May’s place). Now these ladies don’t like to be called ghosts as that’s an out dated term and considered a little insulting. They prefer to be called spirits. So even as Cooper is learning his ethereal political correctness, one of these old ladies uses out dated terms, such as Negro, which was commonly used when she was alive. Cooper tries to bring them up to speed but eventually shelves it for more important matters. This whole situation gave me a bit of a chuckle.

All together, it was a very good listen. I liked the mystery, and the mystique, the jokes and the underlying seriousness to many of them, the bad guys and their minions, the good guys and their complicated motivations. The story wraps up several major points but leaves plenty open for a sequel. I do so hope things work out OK for Cooper!

The Narration: Gary Furlong is the reason I decided to give this book a listen and I’m very glad I did. The story was engaging and Furlong added to that with his excellent narration. He was perfect as Cooper while also keeping all the other characters distinct. He performed a few regional accents and his female characters were believable. I really liked his voice for Randy both when he was pissed off and in his softer more intimate moments.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Greg Howard. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

"The memory no longer seemed like it was his. It belonged to an innocent boy full of life."

Blood Divine is one of those books where it's hard to identify the main genre. It's m/m but it's not a romance focused story. Not Urban Fantasy either - I'm settling on a blend of horror/fantasy with some m/m romance thrown in. Paranormal elements abound.

After a creepy prologue that shows a strange experience that happens to a group of children, chapter one opens the main story years in the future where main character Cooper Causey is an unsettled man returning to his hometown to check on his grandmother after she left an alarming voicemail. All is not well at home in a small, creepy Georgia town - but Cooper apparently had no idea how twisted things really are, nor how unique he actually is. Enter a long-lost love opportunity that never settled, some new 'team members' who show him the light (kind of), and you have an interesting story.

The first half may have been the best part - Howard is excellent with words and I fell into the story right away. The build-up was especially intriguing because there's no way for the reader to know what's going on. The prologue ended in a way that sort of cut-off, leaving that a mystery that isn't revealed until later. There's an ominous feel about the grandmother with clues that don't add up in the house, and even the romantic figure is better in the build-up part because of the awkward memory moment and things left unsaid. Even if the firs thalf is the best part, the rest of the novel has a lot going for it too. I will say I pegged this as a weird ghost story but didn't expect it to have another supernatural regular pop up. I won't reveal what it is since that would take away from the story a little.

The story came apart at some of its seams later, especially during some action sequences. The romance didn't stay as strong as I'd like since the characters had a pre-existing emotion that the reader learns about right away instead of experiencing and growing up to. There's the potential of heat but it's not shown in the first book either. Some of the dialogue lost me at times during the ending, but overall the writing stayed solid. Pacing is dependable and doesn't sag at any time.

While the world-building isn't ultra unique, it does put in some inventive issues - namely in dueling groups. There's a twist on who to trust. The ending thankfully didn't dish out a cliffhanger, but it did leave an opening for a sequel, which I'll definitely be reading. Love the combination left standing together at the end and I'm intrigued about future possibilities. The villain feel is a bit cheesy and needs some work, but the writing style flows well, the main character is easy to like, and it's a paranormal themed ride set in Haunted Georgia (which gives extra brownie points automatically.)

An honest review has been given after acquiring this arc from netgalley

Admittedly this is a new genre for me (I've never read it), but I think I've fallen in love with both the genre and Greg Howard's writing. A true thriller with a sprinkling of romance, "Blood Divine" will have you on the edge of your seat and dying to know what happens next.

Received for review

I'm going to start by addressing the genre, because I think it's an important issue for this book. The title and the cover caught my attention, and then the blurb hooked me. It wasn't until after I requested this from NetGalley that I noticed the book is marketed as "gay mainstream". Of course, it's clear in one line of the description, but the same-sex pronouns didn't really register in my muddled mind. The main character is a gay male. I am a straight female, and therefore I'm probably not considered the author's target audience. I'm glad labels aren't an issue for me, and I hope they aren't for you, because this book is an excellent read regardless of your sexual orientation.

Now, on to the writing. Greg Howard has that certain something, an indefinable storytelling magic that hooked me right at the start and held me captive throughout. The story moves at a perfect pace, pulling us along at full-speed, then giving us moments to breathe and absorb. Howard strikes an excellent balance, giving us lots of action and suspense, which he sprinkles with humor and just the right amount of tenderness.

I loved the realism of the supernatural aspect. Howard takes bits of historical writing - fable or fact depending on your viewpoint - and launches an absolutely believable "what if" scenario.

The underlying romance adds depth to the story and the main character. While there are some sweet love scenes, there are no sex scenes.

Cooper is a fascinating, complex, memorable, lovable character. In fact, all of the characters are fantastic. I'm hoping the author brings Cooper back for a sequel.

*I was provided with a complimentary copy by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*