Enlightened by JP Barnaby

Title: Enlightened  
Author: JP Barnaby
Publisher: Createspace
Length: 200 pages,
Buy the book: Amazon, eBook

Blurb:

Little Boy Lost is the story of Brian McAllister, the boy next door.

Brian goes to school, does his homework, and helps his foster parents around the house. Brian also has a secret. He is in love with his best friend. In Crayford, Alabama being in love with another boy is the worst kind of sin.

In this first book, Enlightened, Brian and Jamie discover just how deep their emotional bond runs, and at what cost. From fumbling through their first sexual experiences to shrouding every aspect of their relationship from everyone in their lives, Brian and Jamie battle for the one thing that is truly theirs—love.

What will they do if their secret is discovered?

Review:

Enlightened has gotten almost universally positive reviews and the story happily lives up to the hype. The author, JP Barnaby, has a great voice and the first book in a reported six book series offers an authentic and endearing teenage voice that will resonate with readers. The subject matter touches on honest emotions and situations that are still important and affecting. The only potential misstep is the choice to include several explicit sex scenes between teenagers – 16 and 17 – which may or may not bother readers. However, the writing, characters, and story arc carry the book with interest and an engaging tone.

The story follows Brian McAllister, an orphan and foster kid living with a childless but caring couple. Brian and his best friend Jamie are juniors in high school and have been inseparable for close to five years. As the summer rapidly approaches Brian and Jamie realize their feelings for each other go beyond friendship but living in a small town in Alabama, they know they have to hide their relationship. Over the course of several months, Brian and Jamie find love, discover sex together, and ultimately face tough choices when their relationship is threatened.

This is a coming of age for both young men although told from Brian’s first person perspective. The story really shines with great, complex characters as they struggle to understand their own desires and what it means for their future both immediately and long term. The action is mostly character driven as Brian struggles to understand his feelings towards Jamie and worries about condemnation from several sources. There is the local church Jamie’s parents are very active in that actively condemns homosexuals plus their high school, which wouldn’t take kindly to their outing either.

Brian’s almost extreme reactions are honest, authentic, and very telling. The story and writing shines in these interactions and there is a fabulous scene between Brian and his foster mother as he comes out to her, laying out all his fear, shame, and anger to which she quietly replies that she’s disappointed Brian is ashamed of himself. These complex emotions of teenagers come through with honesty and poignant dialogue. The characters are mostly all nuanced with reasons and backgrounds, even if seen in quiet, brief moments. There are no wooden characters or stereotypes, even as some edge into extreme, they all fit with the setting very well. Even the various several secondary characters from Jamie’s beard, Emily, to his parents and other students that all have engaging qualities.

The romance between Brian and Jamie is a main driving force in the story as the two boys find out they share a desire and later, love. They move from quiet, exhilarating hand holding to a first kiss with all the stomach tingling and butterflies that accompany that momentous time. The quiet moments between the two are touching and show that wonder and innocent excitement of first love and overwhelming emotion. Coupled with the need for secrecy, their journey and relationship is intense, emotional, and memorable. This lovely, easy progression also has a raw honesty about it as the story pulls no punches and offers two young, male teens exploring and discovering sexuality. They move from heady kisses to masturbation, then hand jobs, blow jobs and finally sex. Each of these scenes is graphic and explicit, which could turn some readers off or not.

On the one hand, there’s no question that teenagers newly in love at 16 and 17 are going to experiment with sex. The progression Brian and Jamie take is no doubt similar to what teenagers do on their own and in a first, serious relationship. So their awkward, cautious, joyous exploration is real. Yet I wonder why these scenes are included so often and so explicitly. The story doesn’t seem to be geared towards a younger target audience specifically and in fact reads like an erotic romance with teenage main characters, thus the inclusion of numerous graphic sex scenes is somewhat questionable given their age. While not everything has to be fade to black, I think the book would have been equally as powerful and intense without needing to include as much graphic sex. Whether this bothers readers is purely up to individual tastes.

Although the sex is a large, important part of the book, the story remains one that resonates with its honest appeal and charming, confused characters. These young men must deal with additional issues than just growing up and their opposite backgrounds come into play frequently. The deft handling and solid writing create a story that is immediately engaging, sympathetic, and compelling on many levels. Even with the huge, hanging ending, this remains an easily recommended story. I’m personally not a fan of leaving a thread hanging so obviously and baldly in series, but like others I eagerly look forward to the next installment.