Jul 12, Fabi rated it liked it Shelves: mm-romance-gay-lit , kindle , arc , published This is definitely not a romance. I was hoping the author provided some information on the origin of the plot at the back of the book, but there was nothing there in my copy. From the publisher's notes, I gather this may be the fictionalized life story of an adult entertainer.
I kept putting it down, then picking it back up. I was oddly fascinated by Blake's childhood. We meet him as a high school teen and follow along with him as life knocks him around time after time. Some hard knocks are self inflicted, while others are completely random.
You could make a case for everything bad being a result of poor decisions by the protagonist. But, honestly, I've never met anyone with so few second chances in life. I think many of us wouldn't be the adults we are today if we hadn't been given second chances in our youth. In spite of arguably poor decisions, Blake has many positive qualities.
He's smart, driven, sociable, and most importantly, he has a sense of self worth that never allows him to give up. His self-motivation in the face of so many roadblocks left me in awe. The ending felt like a bit of a cliffhanger. I have no idea if his story will be continued or whether the series will move on to another character as the publisher states in their notes. There is no romance in this book. There are hookups and friendships and family, and even a relationship or two, but absolutely no romance.
Sex is mostly fade to black. It's a fascinating story told very badly. The plot lacks cohesiveness. We tumble from one hard-knock for Blake to another with little indication of the passage of time.
Forget trying to figure out who's talking. Other than the text conversations where the characters' names are provided for each line, there is no way to tell when one character stops talking and another starts. I never knew who was saying what. The formatting and editing issues will hopefully be cleared up for the final copy of the book. I tend to ignore them in an ARC copy. But, it was more than formatting that kept me from really connecting. I struggled to read the story.
I wanted so badly to get lost in the plot, but I was held at arms length by the lack of flow and consistency. I wish I could go back in time and offer him all the second chances he was denied as a young adult. I hope he's rich and happy with his life even though it didn't turn out as he'd originally planned. Sep 19, Steven rated it liked it Shelves: lgbtqia , netgalley-or-publisher , mm , naughty , read-in Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
Normally I'd say "review to come upon release" but I got this one after release date, so my review gets to go live pretty much immediately!
I didn't love it. It had a lot of flaws, mostly the real lack of a driving force behind the book. We all knew where it ended up - his career at Helix Studios, since it's based off of a true story - but the path there felt less l Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
We all knew where it ended up - his career at Helix Studios, since it's based off of a true story - but the path there felt less like a story and more like tidbits or chunks of seemingly unrelated sections of his life.
Overall, it was still entertaining, but it was hard to watch him train wreck through his life before he found success. Over and over he made such bad decisions that it made it hard to root for him at all, and honestly, other than Blake, very few of the other players in his story felt fleshed out enough to matter.
Same with his situations It almost felt like multiple short stories in an anthology, rather than one big story. Worth a read, but don't go in expecting it to be the best MM you've read all year.
I did want a little more naughty too, rather than all the fade to black scenes. Jul 20, Isaiah rated it did not like it. To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews. I got an ARC of this book. So I was pretty excited for a book about a bi teen pulling himself up by his boot straps to get out of his dead end town. Those novels usually hit me hard. It is so hard to find a book about a bi man. I want so much more about bi people, but this book fell so far below what I was expecting.
If I heard him call someone a "pussy" again, I would probably scream. Him and his friends, who it is never clear why they are friends at all, are all pretty useless. They do nothing but smoke weed and drink alcohol underage. They whine they can't get laid. They are the 2D view of teenage boys that I never wanted.
I kept thinking it would pick up with time, it did not. I realized about half way through that this book would just tell me Blake was bisexual times, but give me no real emotions or indications about it other then shouting it at me. Blake slept with only men outside of one really weird scene with his ex-gf that was so easy to forget because it was never mentioned again , he only paid attention to men except in the first chunk of the book where he actively "seduced" his ex-gf despite her having a boyfriend and her dumping him , and he pretty much just came out as bi as a way to show him bonding with others who then were promptly written out of the book.
SO many characters came and went before they were fleshed out. Suddenly characters would be pulled in to save the day despite never being mentioned before. Then bam, they were gone. So that is either really bad writing or the main character really was that heartless of a person.
Blake is a drug addict that won't admit he is a drug addict. He had a habit of snorting Adderall and he smoked weed in pretty much every scene in the book. It was ridiculous how much weed was in the book. There was no plot, but there was a ton of weed. Blake had no character development.
His only traits were constantly being yelled about: his bisexuality, his abs, and his large penis. He managed to be a porn star and a cam star, but the book managed to not have a single sex scene that had any details to it. This book overall was a flop. I couldn't care less about the characters, there was no plot, there was no substance.
This book felt entirely useless. I found out that it was commissioned by Helix Studios about one of their models. I am even less likely to use their site now that I have read this story. I would link to them, but I am on my work computer. View 2 comments. Jun 17, Roberta Blablanski rated it it was ok Shelves: bisexual , arc-for-review , porn-models. This book features Blake Mitchell one of my fav Helix models and his journey from a high school junior to his start in the adult entertainment industry.
There were many different characters introduced along the way, and it was hard to get a feel for many of them.. There was one constant friend throughout, Greg, and many hit or miss friends and lovers. I'm not sure how true to Mitchell's life the story is, but if it's accurate, I can understand why the book hops from one scene to the next without establishing plot or character development for me to make a connection..
I also had trouble connecting with Mitchell's feelings as he experiences ups and downs. I felt very detached from the story from the beginning to the end.. Sep 09, Demitri rated it did not like it. I think it's important to take this book at face value, a book about an adult actor for Helix Studios, written by the screenwriter using that term loosely for Helix Studios, and bankrolled and published by the owner of Helix Studios, Keith Miller. So the book and its book tour was a great way for all of the above to make more money for Keith--and I'm sure they succeeded on that front.
Blake Mitchell is a great performer and pretty loquacious guy, so he makes a good subject. If you hear him tel I think it's important to take this book at face value, a book about an adult actor for Helix Studios, written by the screenwriter using that term loosely for Helix Studios, and bankrolled and published by the owner of Helix Studios, Keith Miller. If you hear him tell his story directly, such as when he's interviewed or when he makes videos for his YouTube channel, it's actually pretty inspiring and he seems like a level headed, albeit cocky, guy.
Unfortunately, this book doesn't do him justice and faces a predicament--it's about an adult film actor, but is written at about a seventh grade level.
Taylor Saracen is not a good author. The level of skill needed to write some of Helix' hits, such as "Book Tour Score," "Goodbye Creampie", or "Hit It" certainly doesn't equate with the level of skill needed to write an enthralling and poignant novel. The writing style is sophomoric and scatters around basically to various vignettes of Blake using the people around him as some means to an end much like the Helix crew is using the attractiveness of Blake to sell a book that never would garner attention if it was about a totally fictional character , with no character development of any of the people in his life.
Taylor basically turns Blake--who in real life is a dynamic and pretty interesting guy--into a caricature of what many people think LGBT folks are like, hypersexed, morally depraved druggies. I guess this is what happens when a straight woman gives her perspective on life as a queer man. Jun 22, Kyra Hay rated it really liked it. The main character, Blake, is not only a strong, original bisexual character not seen often in fiction but also one who is highly relatable. You will find yourself rooting for him as he navigates his way t - This ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review - His Own Way Out by Taylor Saracen is powerful for a first novel.
You will find yourself rooting for him as he navigates his way through life, making choices for himself and dealing with the consequences of said choices. Some of his choices were frustrating to me because I could tell they would lead to trouble or wouldn't be the best for him in the long run, but it was interesting to see how the choices he made shaped the person he was and how for the most part, he tried to learn from his mistakes and better himself.
The writing was exceptional as well, easy to get lost in and very descriptive as Blake goes through many ups and downs. View 1 comment. Almost two years into the global Covid pandemic, Australia's borders are reopening for fully vaccinated student and skilled worker visa holders. More than half of Lebanon's families had at least one child who'd missed out on a meal amid a "dramatic deterioration of living conditions", according to the UN's children's fund.
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Malaria Mukt Bharat. Wealth Wise Series How they can help in wealth creation. Honouring Exemplary Boards. Deep Dive Into Cryptocurrency. Largely, because way back then , no one knew much about the behavior. What the Bible says and why you disapprove of homosexuality every time you are with your child, friend, co-worker, etc. However, do make sure the individual knows the following:.
Put even this crisis in its proper context. Embrace the promise of Romans that God makes everything — even calamities — work for our good. Oct 31st, by His Way Out Ministries. Oct 28th, by His Way Out Ministries. In attempting to right some of the wrongs of the past, have we gone much too far the other way? Is it possible fear and intimidation are now being allowed to guide our lives, ministries, and churches? Use me in any way necessary to respond to what is happening to what is around me.
Clearly, if you and I are going to be effective by going into our present culture and addressing sin, first and foremost, God is calling us to look at our own sins, repent of the immorality that exists within our own ranks and…recommit to the biblical standards of holiness.
Today, at least in some circles, one might think the ultimate priority is to politically defeat homosexuals rather than to see them won into the Kingdom of God. That said, with Jesus as our Perfect Role Model, never once did He ever compromise the truth, and never once did He legitimize sin. And yet, He was able to serve people and also relate to them. Paul reminded Timothy that he was not given a spirit of fear and neither are we. I would submit that extreme caution must be exercised when endeavoring not to be anti-gay nor being a gay rights promoter and succumbing to just traveling the middle-of-the-road.
Personally, I support basic civil rights for all people. That said, I know all too well the pain of homosexuality. It is completely and totally irresponsible for counselors, teachers, or pastors to tell men and women that homosexuality is an option with no consequences. Therefore, please do not stay out of the river because of the political climate regarding homosexual practice and related issues.
Admittedly, there are deep, critical, and vital issues before us today with raging political theological currents doing their utmost to submerge the Church. Clearly, real and vital issues about the healing and transformation of sexual brokenness have and continue to sharply divide with many lives hanging in the balance. We, the Church, will not serve humanity, unity nor the cause of Christ Jesus by ignoring the differences that exist or by sticking our heads in the sand.
It is an undeniable fact this issue has wounded many people. Everyone, no exception, that has been or is currently caught up in the cultural chaos over homosexuality needs the understanding and compassion of the Church.
Oct 24th, by His Way Out Ministries. Email Address. Donate Partners. Feed on Posts Comments. Listen online or download the podcast. Facebook Twitter Pocket Email Print. True or False? The person struggling with same-gender attraction is often confused about the Christian viewpoint? A child raised in church and a Christian family…a has no chance of becoming homosexual, b must reject the church in order to practice homosexuality, c can develop homosexually, d becomes gay when they reject God.
After becoming a Christian, the individual will…a become heterosexual at some point, b become heterosexual, c still never be free or same-gender attraction, d still experience temptation from time to time.
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