Title: Better Together
Author: BL Maxwell
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 322 Pages
Category: Contemporary, Teen Fiction
At a Glance: I fear I am going to be in the minority here when I say that this novel had some very real issues that needed to be addressed before it was ever published. There was simply too much of Better Together that was unbelievable.
Reviewed By: Sammy
Blurb: Since being thrown out of his home by his parents, Caden has been struggling to survive on the streets. He lives in constant fear, stresses over his next meal, and dreads trying to find a safe place to sleep at night. He eventually finds an unlocked car and settles in to sleep, but is soon interrupted when someone steals the car. With little choice but to ride along, Caden soon learns that first impressions aren’t always correct.
Seventeen-year-old Damario has been raising his little brother and sister by himself since his parents were deported. He never knew how hard it was going to be paying the bills and making sure there was always food on the table. Or how hard it would be to hold his family together when they all depended on him to do it. He finds himself stealing cars to make ends meet, but he never expected to find someone sleeping in the back of one of them. And he really didn’t expect this stowaway to change his life.
When Damario brings Caden home, it was supposed to be just for a shower and a hot meal, but he can hardly kick him out onto the streets again. There is no way he could have seen that by saving Caden that night, he was also saving himself. When Damario’s world starts to fall apart, they both realize that the answer to all of their problems is helping each other, and although the world tries to drive them apart, they really are better together.
Review: Upon discovering gay romance novels in his bedroom, Caden’s mother and father turn their back on him and throw him out of their home, at the age of seventeen and just a few months shy of his high school graduation. After being driven miles away and left in a parking lot, Caden finds himself alone, homeless and terrified. Now he must fend for himself after having never had to before.
Stealing cars for cash was never Rio’s game plan for his future, but after his parents were deported, leaving him to take care of their home, his two siblings, and trying to finish his senior year in high school, Rio had to find additional income to supplement his part-time job at the deli. When he comes across the filthy young man hunkered down in the back of the very car he was attempting to steal, he couldn’t stop himself from taking the guy home. Little did Caden and Rio ever imagine that decision would change their lives forever.
I fear I am going to be in the minority here when I say that this novel had some very real issues that needed to be addressed before it was ever published. Yes, it was a lovely story of hope and second chances, and yes, it definitely offered a young adult, coming of age, first love trope that worked on some levels. The slow burn of affection that developed between Rio and Caden was done just right and allowed for them to fall in love gradually rather than end up in some silly insta-love trope that would have made this novel even more unrealistic than it already was. Unfortunately, their falling in love was one of the few things that felt real about this story.
From the stilted and very adult language to the idea that a seventeen-year-old was left with a mortgage, two siblings—one of which was only six years old—to the fact that he never got caught boosting cars, it was a bit farfetched, to say the least. Add to that the idea that Caden had never so much as learned how to use the washing machine and had no idea of how to survive on his own, and you have the recipe for a story that had more holes than airtight seams. It wasn’t just that these boys had incredible situations thrust at them and somehow survived without ever really seeing it fall apart, but the idea that no one ever caught on that Caden was essentially thrown out of his house and driven miles away to be abandoned just didn’t quite gel. Also, how exactly did Rio manage to keep the school, social services, and the world at large from finding out that he and his siblings were left to their own resources after their parents were deported?
There was simply too much of Better Together that was unbelievable. Add that to the stilted delivery of much of the dialogue, and you have a novel that just never really got off the ground. The premise of the story was a good one, the love story was a sweet one, but the surrounding tissue that should have made this a cohesive and believable saga was lacking. I think this author has real promise, but if you are going to write about teens, then you need to make sure they at least occasionally sound and act their age.
You can buy Better Together here:
[zilla_button url=”http://authl.it/B07CZD8286?d” style=”blue” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon/Kindle Unlimited [/zilla_button]