Sidecar by Amy Lane

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” – Plato

In the imperfect fabric of Casey’s life, there is rejection and desperation and the physical sacrifices he makes just to survive after his parents’ throw him away. Into that weave comes Josiah Daniels, a man who still believes that doing unto others as you would have others do unto you is more than a simple idiom, it is a moral imperative. Joe is a man who not only believes in but practices the endangered art of respect and empathy, and who ultimately knits together the seams of a sixteen-year-old boy’s threadbare existence. Josiah rescues Casey, gives him shelter, shows him the promise of a future filled with possibilities, convinces him that for every kindness there does not have to be a forfeit, and gives the boy an unintended objective—to prove to Josiah that one day, he and Casey will have a future together as something more than mere friends.

Sidecar is the story of a man who, given the choice between doing what’s right and doing what’s easy, will likely never travel the path of least resistance because true need is born in adversity, and Joe is the sort of man who makes decisions with his heart as much as his head when there’s help to be given. But while Joe always tries to do what’s right, that doesn’t mean he’s always correct, and it’s the mistakes that both he and Casey make along the path they’ve chosen that grounds them and forces Joe to realize that age is just a number and forces Casey to see that love is more than just sex and is so much more than a simple word to describe how they feel, but that it also means home and family and security, and it’s the thing upon which impossible dreams are both made and realized.

This is the story of two people who have empty spaces that need filling, and it becomes evident that the completion of themselves and of each other can only come from wisdom and courage, which isn’t necessarily earned through the number of years you’ve lived but from the kind of living you’ve done in the years that’ve passed—in twenty-five years spent together, growing and transforming and working to discover all the best parts of yourself so those can become the best parts of each other.

It is a story of conviction and the courage to dream, the courage to change, the courage to commit, the courage to continue to hope even in the face of hopelessness, the courage to reach out and claim your destiny, and the conviction that love is enough to see it all through because there’s someone who’ll always be there, not only to have your back but to be by your side every step of the way.

Who better than Amy Lane to build a story of faith and hope upon the delicate foundation of despair that made up the tattered remnants of a boy’s life? Who better to give that boy strength than the man who was raised on the guiding principles of mercy and compassion? Who better than that throw-away boy to become the man whose worth is immeasurable? What better affirmation of that strength and the love and family they built than to continue to pay that mercy and compassion forward as tribute?

Sidecar is pretty much my definition of flawless fiction crafted around two perfectly imperfect characters who, when it’s all said and done, are absolutely perfect for each other.

Buy Sidecar HERE.