Reviewed by Susan65
Title: Get Your Shine On
Author: Nick Wilgus
Heroes: Henry/Sam
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 350 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: September 24, 2015
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: When his mother goes out to party one Saturday night and doesn’t come back, seven-year-old Ishmael Hood is taken in by his estranged uncle Henry and Henry’s live-in boyfriend, Sam. As this unlikely trio begins to build a new life together, they encounter both support and hostility in the small Mississippi town where they live. Seems like just about everybody has an opinion on the matter—and they’re not shy about expressing it.
While this blossoming little family finds its feet, outside forces—and ghosts from the past—threaten to tear it apart. Henry, still trying to deal with the tragic death of his parents, finds himself hard-pressed to open his heart to this needy child.
Just as a little shine begins to come back into their lives, Ishmael’s mother returns, and their world is thrown into chaos.
Review: This is my second Nick Wilgus book and both have knocked my socks off by his creative and brilliant dialogue. One of the most important aspects of any story for me is the dialogue; the more the better, less tell and more show, and his are so genuinely real that I easily fall into the story and become vested in the characters.
As with the first book of his that I’d read, Shaking the Sugar Tree, this story also takes place in the south. A place I’ve not spent much time, but one that I now believe I understand pretty well, and am not wanting to move there anytime soon. Maybe that wasn’t the purpose of his storytelling, but the closed-mindedness that comes from the bible belt is not my idea of utopia. I was like, run, move north, go someplace more accepting. But, of course, that never solves anything.
Hen (Henry) and Sam are an established couple who have no plans to take on a little boy to raise. Hen is well aware of the community’s standing on gay men, let alone gay men near children. Of course, they say they “love the sinner but hate the sin”, but some of these “well meaning” people are simply horrific human beings. Hen has a sister with major drug problems, and even more personal problems that are uncovered throughout the book, but as a mother, she scores a zero on the chart that starts with a one. I’ve never read about a sadder excuse for motherhood than this girl, but her history was created for her, not by her so it was hard to hate her.
This is such a heartbreaking and traumatic story, but it is also very beautiful and loving, a perfect combination of love and life and realism. Nick Wilgus blew me away with all the feels in his first book, Shaking the Sugar Tree, but he proved to the reader that he was consistent, creative, and a brilliant storyteller when he backed it up with, Get Your Shine On. I highly recommend both books and look forward to more.
Overall Impression: I loved it
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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