Always Joey is a sweet, heart-warming story of two high school boys, Jimmy and Joey and the discovery of themselves and each other. Their personalities jumped from the page as soon as I read them. I can’t believe that such a great story is a free read.



Jimmy is gay and is ostracized by his classmates. This has led to Jimmy withdrawing into himself and he becomes a loner, quiet and at times terribly sarcastic to protect himself against other students’ harassment and ridicule. Under Jimmy’s bitter exterior lives a funny, romantic, intelligent young man who craves the friendship of other kids, something he hasn’t had for the last three years.

Joey is popular, he makes friends easily, and like most teens in high school just wants to fit in with the ‘normal’ kids. Jimmy is the last person he wants to associate with. Joey thinks his life has truly gone downhill when he is assigned to work with Jimmy on a homework assignment. Worried his friends might see him with Jimmy and think he himself is gay or a loser, Joey agrees to work on the project at Jimmy’s house.

At first the tension is high and awkward between the boys and Joey acts like a typical rude teenager who doesn’t want to be around someone who they consider a loser. Jimmy wears his heart on his sleeve and just wants to know why everyone hates him, while Joey just wants to get away from Jimmy. But we see a glimpse of why the teacher was happy that Jimmy was paired with Joey. Joey has a good heart. Joey sees the pain Jimmy is in and wonders what happened to the grinning, laughing boy he knew in kindergarten. Under the advice of their drama teacher Joey gives friending Jimmy another try and as he does, he finds out how exceedingly funny Jimmy really is. Jimmy is very open with his feelings and his attraction to Joey, constantly teasing Joey and trying to shock him. For Joey’s part he tries to get Jimmy to laugh and smile and as he does so, he realizes that Jimmy still has his wonderful smile. Little revelations start to happen for Joey as he learns more about Jimmy and grows more comfortable in his presence. The two boys eventually develop a friendship.

This is mostly a story of Joey and his self-discovery as much as it is about Jimmy and Joey together. It’s touching, heart-warming and I love Joey’s character growth. I’ve read it four times already and every time it brings me to tears. It is one of the best coming out stories I’ve read. I recommend this highly to everyone and give this 5 stars


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394 pages? I got only 67 - there are two little chapters to it. Is there more somewhere?

Such a sweet read! My heart broke for Jimmy. Joey was such a jerk...a regular kid but still a total jerk. And then he started to listen and wasn't such a jerk anymore. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them interact and getting reacquainted with each other. Lovely! ( )

Young love. 3.5 stars. Sweet tale of boy meets boy. ( )