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Christmas Kitsch, Amy Lane, Dreamspinner Press, 2013
Sometimes the best thing you can get for Christmas is knowing what you really want.
Rusty Baker is a blond, rich, entitled football player in a high school full of them—just the type of oblivious jock all the bullied kids hate. And he might have stayed that way, except he develops a friendship with out-and-proud Oliver Campbell from the wrong side of the tracks. Rusty thinks the friendship is just pity—Oliver is very bright, and Rusty is very not—but then Oliver kisses him goodbye when Rusty leaves for college, and Rusty is forced to rethink everything he knows about himself.
But even Rusty’s newfound awareness can’t help him survive a semester at Berkeley. He returns home for Thanksgiving break clinging to the one thing he knows to be true: Oliver Campbell is the best thing that’s ever happened to him.
Rusty’s parents disagree, and Rusty finds himself homeless for the holidays. Oliver may not have much money, but he’s got something Rusty has never known: true family. With their help and Oliver’s love, Rusty comes to realize that he may have failed college, but he’ll pass real life with flying rainbow colors.
20% of all proceeds from this title are donated to the Ali Forney Center in New York, whose mission “is to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) youth from the harm of homelessness, and to support them in becoming safe and independent as they move from adolescence to adulthood.” To learn more about this charity or to donate directly, please visit http://www.aliforneycenter.org/.
REVIEW: Hi everyone! I really hope you’re slowing down and not going nuts trying to get everything done. OK – so that is what I am doing but hey IT IS the holiday and we all want things to be perfect for the ones that we love. Key being the “ONES WE LOVE”. It’s funny this time of year how you know the people that mean the most to you, blood tie or not, because you go out of your way to see them or talk to them when you are crazy busy and know that will make things more hectic but you LOVE them and well, presents aside, that is what it is all about.
So for my time to myself, I pick out my Christmas story that I am going to read this year after driving through HELL to get back from Connecticut to visit people that I love. This is important, so hang in there – I am back and I want to read a book and write a review and it is Christmas and that is important to me so I push other things back. First though, I have to check my Facebook because I’m getting a puppy and I need to see if they have pictures. Keep in mind that I haven’t touch the book yet. I decide that my puppy’s name is going to OLIVER – coincidence hmmm. So I am on Facebook and I have to read important posts (I don’t go in there often but I want to reconnect a little) and there is a post from SID – God love him. He is the kind of guy that you fall in love with the first time you meet him and just talk for hours. In CT I don’t see the news because when you visit older people they want your undivided time. So, as I am reading my pages, I realize A LOT has happened in four days and people are talking trash about gay marriage and relationships and love. Sid posts a connection to the best article EVER !! I can’t believe that people are so narrow minded and people shouldn’t judge but the article is about the young teenagers that are gay and how hard it is on them and that the suicide rate is so high because while we are arguing with each other they HURT and STRUGGLE and many don’t make it!! Reality is that we aren’t debating an issue – WE ARE TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE!!! And I hurt and get melancholy, but hey I have a Christmas book to read and so I’m good and it will be good so……
ARGHHH -Amy Lane you suck (I hate that word by the way) but you suck in a good way! I start ready the first chapter and I am not sure where this is going or if I will like it. By the second chapter, I am hook and turning the pages – not sleeping because I have to read more – AND THEN it starts. The tears are rolling down my face and they won’t stop. Why you ask, because the book is all about the article. The blurb doesn’t do it justice. Yes, the blurb is right; Oliver (my puppy hehehe) is small, smart, and lower middle class with a loving family. Rusty is a rich jock that has everything he wants except for a loving supporting family. But the book is so much more. It’s about a teenager who leaves for college not even knowing as Amy puts it “what his major is” and a roommate that is a real friend that is trying to help him decided. That part is so funny and you will have a silly grin on your face all the time. College is stressful and I see it – I work at a university - and I talk to the KIDS (you know that are just kids) and then add in the fact that he misses Oliver and could he be “Oliver- sexual”. He has to work on all these issue with a family that won’t understand and professors that hate spoiled rich kids – and then it all crashes in on him.
SOOOO - you have to read the book and I can’t tell you more because you just have to read it and I don’t want to spoil a page of it. But I cried and I hurt for Rusty and I cheered him on and encouraged him to get out of bed because hey “you know that’s a gateway drug, righ?!?!” – (total inside joke that is making me cry harder - sorry). The Christmas Kitsh will wake you up and make your remember to LOVE your family and those that are your family by choice. The story makes your realize that your actions and words can either safe a person or drive them over the edge. Everyone’s opinion has that power! So this holiday think before you speak and LOVE with all your heart. I love you all so much – thanks for saving me when you didn’t realize you did.
RATING: 5 Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries. Amy Lane you are amazing and talented and right on the money. Bye for now and a big hug to go with your very Merry Christmas! This book was provided by the publisher for an unbiased review. Many Thanks!
Great review. That hunk must be cold!!
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