All Boy by Mia Kerick

ABOUT THE BOOK

Seventeen-year-old Callie Canter knows all about screwing up—and being screwed over. After her so-called boyfriend publicly humiliated her senior year, taking a fifth year of high school at Beaufort Hills Academy is her second chance to leave behind a painful past. But her need for social acceptance follows, and going along with the in-crowd is the difference between survival and becoming a target. Staying off the radar is top priority. So, falling for an outsider is the last thing on Callie’s “to-do” list. Too bad her heart didn’t get the memo.

With his strict, religious upbringing and former identity far away in Florida, Jayden Morrissey can finally be true to himself at Beaufort Hills Academy. But life as a trans man means keeping secrets, and keeping secrets means not getting too close to anyone. If he can just get through his fifth year unnoticed, maybe a future living as the person he was born to be is possible. Yet love is love, and when you fall hard enough, intentions crumble, plans detour, and secrets are revealed.

From multi-award-winning author Mia Kerick, comes a powerful, timely, and life-changing novel, which follows two teenagers nursing broken hearts and seeking acceptance, and who together realize running away isn’t always the answer.

MY REVIEW

“Love is love”. Imagine not being able to be who you are.

I couldn’t play softball here, as it’s a women’s sport. And I’m not a woman. I’ve always been Jayden, and I will sacrifice whatever is necessary to live honestly. This isn’t a choice; it’s a necessity for survival.

Jayden has left everything he knew to be himself, but one girl wants him to be all boy. Can he tell her the truth and live with the outcome?

One humiliating, boyfriend-instigated life disaster later, and everything has changed. I’m a different person. I’m just not sure which version of Callie Canter I prefer.

It’s hard for Callie to trust anyone after her devasting past. Can she forgive a boy who wasn’t completely honest with her?

Callie and Jayden are perfect together. Though one may not like Callie in the beginning, she realizes she’s wrong and is determined to make it right by being true to herself and Jayden. Jayden is a boy full of emotion that grabs you and won’t let go. His courage is a model every human being should live by.

It takes a lot of courage for anyone to be one’s self especially when it goes against the “norms” of society. I work at a liberal arts college in the Midwest and have known a few courageous transgendered students who have told me how hard it is to be accepted. Ms. Kerick’s story helped me to understand even more about what these students face. Her books are fantastic, eye-opening reads for everyone. One of my top reads of the year!

Thank you to Ms. Kerick, Lakewater Press, and Xpresso Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to review this story with the no expectation of a positive review.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—one in law school, another a professional dancer, a third studying at Mia’s alma mater, Boston College, and her lone son, heading off to college. (Yes, the nest is finally empty.) She has published more than twenty books of LGBTQ romance when not editing National Honor Society essays, offering opinions on college and law school applications, helping to create dance bios, and reviewing scholarship essays. Her husband of twenty-five years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about this, as it’s a sensitive subject.

Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of troubled people in complex relationships. She has a great affinity for the tortured hero in literature, and as a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with tales of tortured heroes and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She is thankful to her wonderful publishers for providing her with an alternate place to stash her stories.

Her books have been featured in Kirkus Reviews magazine, and have won Rainbow Awards for Best Transgender Contemporary Romance and Best YA Lesbian Fiction, a Reader Views’ Book by Book Publicity Literary Award, the Jack Eadon Award for Best Book in Contemporary Drama, an Indie Fab Award, and a Royal Dragonfly Award for Cultural Diversity, a Story Monsters Purple Dragonfly Award for Young Adult e-book Fiction, among other awards.

Mia Kerick is a social liberal and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of human rights. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology. Contact Mia at miakerick@gmail.com or visit at www.miakerickya.com to see what is going on in Mia’s world.