Young Adult Week! Review: Safe by C. Kennedy

Review by Susan65

Title:  Safe
Author: C. Kennedy
Heroes: Nicolo (Nico) Caro and Caleb Deering
Genre: M/M YA Contemporary
Length: 89 Pages
Publisher: Harmony Ink
Release Date: October 24, 2013
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: They met at ten; they kissed at twelve, and were madly in love by eighteen.

Caleb Deering is the captain of the swim team and the hottest senior in school. He comes from a loving home with a kind father and a caring, but strict, mother who is battling breast cancer. Nico Caro is small and beautiful, and has a father who rules with an iron fist–literally.

One morning Caleb forgets himself, and he pecks Nico on the lips at school. A teacher sees them and tattles to the Headmaster. The accidental outing at school might be the least of their problems, because the ball set in motion by the school’s calls to their parents could get Nico killed. In the face of that very real danger, Caleb knows he has only one mission in life: to keep Nico safe.

Review:

This was a challenge book suggested for me because I am not normally a YA reader. Has nothing to do with anything that I’ve read before, but more with my own personal preferences and my comfort level of reading about young love and first times. I know it is the beautiful and natural progression of stepping out of innocence and into young adulthood, but it is not normally for me. So with that said,  read this knowing that it is not the kind of story I would choose and make your own decisions on whether or not to read it.

The storyline itself is one that I do like. I love when you have one of the main characters doing everything in their power to keep their lover safe. In this case Nico was raised in an abusive home and was beaten on an almost daily basis by his heavy handed father. Caleb struggles with trying to keep him safe, but it’s very hard to do because this all begins when they are just ten years old.

At twelve they begin to understand that they do not have the same feelings for girls that they have for each other. It is at this stage that they begin to explore those feelings and take their first kiss. They are very secretive because they know, even at this young age, that many will not understand nor accept their growing attraction and love for each other.

The young Nico and Caleb are opposites in many ways. Caleb is large, an athlete, popular and comes from a loving family. Nico is small, quiet, and lives in with an abusive father, and a weak mother who isn’t able to protect him. You don’t really get too much insight or detail to go on; just that life pretty much sucks for Nico.

The timeline in this short story just touches on each phase of their growth and ends with them in their senior year of high school. The prologue and the ending cover their “outing” and the subsequent issues that brings to them both. It’s pretty heartbreaking, as you could already guess, for Nico. And it’s quite nice for Caleb. Caleb has the perfect dad for a gay teen, I just wish he (the dad) had tried harder or done more for Nico.

Almost the entire story takes place in a high school, covering all the issues that gay teens would find themselves in. Even though it was great to see Liam step up and be a true friend, I found Megan to be a bit unrealistic. However, I have been out of high school a long time, so maybe it’s just me.

So overall I survived my challenge book and, on the whole, it was pretty good. I don’t see myself reading another one anytime soon, but I can definitely understand why many love this kind of book. I think for me it mostly deals with my not wanting to read about kids, or especially kids and sex.  Nevertheless the sex is pretty tame, no anal, and definitely inexperienced, so it’s still appropriate for young adults. I would definitely recommend this to those who normally gravitate towards young love and minimal sex…that would be you, Nikyta.

Overall Impression: It was good

*I purchased my own, personal copy of this book for review.*