Review: YES by Brad Boney

Title: YES

Author: Brad Boney

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Pages/Word Count: 220 Pages

At a Glance: Overall, the writing just feels effortless. It flows perfectly. The dialogue is razor sharp, and the characters all mesh together beautifully.

Reviewed By: Jules

Blurb: What if youth wasn’t wasted on the young?

On the eve of his fortieth birthday, Ian Parker is looking for a reboot. He may be the proud owner of a trendy coffee shop in Austin called La Tazza Magica, but his love life has been MIA for years. During a trip to Denver with his best friend, Mark, Ian buys an enchanted chocolate from a mysterious candy store—then wakes up from a nap two decades younger. After the initial shock, Ian realizes a quirk of the universe has given him a second chance and, with Mark’s help, he devises a plan to start over.

With a new lease on life, Ian sets his sights on handsome architect Bartley James, a regular customer at La Tazza. He pursues Bartley as Ian’s twenty-one-year-old alter ego, Ryan, with decidedly unexpected results. Joining Ryan on his adventures are Matthew, the dreamy new barista, Jeremy, the geeky high-school math teacher, and Sam, the pizza delivery boy. Even as misunderstandings and expectations collide, Ian remains determined to right his past mistakes and find his off-ramp to happiness.

Review: Brad Boney’s talent is immense. What I wouldn’t give to spend an evening at La Tazza Magica – the fictional coffee shop in his new release, YES – with him. If you haven’t read any of his books yet – or, ALL of his books, for that matter – you need to start immediately. The stories are all unique, but they all share a certain magical quality that I’m convinced only he can achieve.

In YES we meet Ian who, as the blurb suggests, on the eve of turning forty isn’t in the happiest of places in his life. After eating the enchanted chocolate and waking up from a nap twenty years younger, he and his friend Mark devise a plan for him to enter his life as his nephew, Ryan. Inside he is still Ian, though, with all forty years of memories intact. I was consistently amazed at the ease with which the author switches between Ian and Ryan, sometimes in a single sentence. It was seamless.

In fact, overall, the writing just feels effortless. It flows perfectly. The dialogue is razor sharp, and the characters all mesh together beautifully, both new and old. If you’re a fan, you’ll enjoy the same quick wit and fantastic conversations you’ve come to love from Boney’s other books. AND, in YES we get the bonus of an education in vintage porn! :D

Ian/Ryan is a fantastic character. I love his earnestness at wanting to make the most of this second chance. I also adored Matthew, who plays a pivotal role in helping clarify things for Ian, and fell completely in love with Bartley James. Along the way we also meet Sam and Jeremy and get lots of time with the Walsh brothers, Topher and Stanton, and the rest of Dime Box. I fell even more in love with Quentin and with Ben. And don’t even get me started on Topher. *sigh* I had a full-body-goosebumps moment involving Topher and the band, and there is an amazing conversation between Topher and Ian that made my heart race.

My reviews on Brad’s books are always more about the reading experience than the actual story because to give things away would spoil it. One needs to experience all the ‘gasps’ and ‘ooohs’ and ‘ahhhhs’ for him or herself, and, as with his other books, YES has plenty of those moments. Boney is able to invoke so many feelings by bringing everything and everyone together. There are so many subtleties from the other books, so many little touches…a re-read should almost be mandatory in order to pick up on everything.The style is so easygoing and readable, yet there’s nothing ‘simple’ about it. YES is a beautifully complex and moving adventure you do not want to miss out on. This is the kind of stuff that favorite books are made of.

You can pre-order YES here: