What do you think?
Rate this book
Getting Better
Last Dance
High school teacher Suyai has spent months helping his school’s Gay-Straight Alliance members win the right to attend Prom with the dates of their choice. Now none of them will get out on the dance floor until Suyai goes first. What’s an out and proud, but very single, teacher to do?
This story is part of the 2011 Charity Sip Blitz collection. More than thirty authors have written short fiction pieces and have agreed to donate all proceeds of the sales of these stories to the It Gets Better Project. Torquere Press Inc. will match the authors' donations completely.
This story is part of the 2011 Charity Sip Blitz collection. More than thirty authors have written short fiction pieces and have agreed to donate all proceeds of the sales of these stories to the It Gets Better Project. Torquere Press Inc. will match the authors' donations completely.
17 pages, ebook
First published September 1, 2011
14 people want to read
About the author
Lee Benoit
49 books21 followersBefore dawn and after dark, Lee Benoit is a writer of queer fiction, some contemporary, some speculative, some historical. During the daylight hours she is a professor of sociology & anthropology. In the old days, Lee traveled the world doing field research. Nowadays, she lives in the middle of a New England hayfield where being a two-spirit single parent provides more than enough excitement. Lee also paints watercolors, bakes wild-yeast sourdough bread, and shares her bed with a pair of cats and an abjectly adoring hound-retriever mutt. Whenever she gets itchy feet and misses the world of research and advocacy, Lee invents a new world in her head and takes notes on what happens there.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 9, 2012
A cute story about two male high school teachers/chaperones dancing together at the prom. Very short but sweet.
November 17, 2015
This is a lovely end to the series. The focus of this short story is back on Suyai who’s all grown up and living alone in his dads’ (Haven and Tadeo) old home in the ’hood. He’s teaching math and science at his high school alma mater. It’s senior prom night and Suyai is on chaperone duty.
Suyai has also become a mentor for the LGBTQ kids at the high school, in particular, Andy/André from book three. Andy, now a senior, and his compadres have fought to bring their same sex dates to the prom. But will they really fit in?
Suyai enjoys more at the prom than just supporting his students, and it’s a sweet wrap up to the four stories in the series.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole series. For the full effect, it definitely works best to read the books in sequence. I really hope the author will be able to republish these stories in one volume; it would be great to preserve them in this way.
Follow these links for my reviews of each book in the series:
Haven (book one)
Code Switching (book two)
Vade Mecum (book three)
My thanks to the author for providing a copy of this book as it is out of print. My review was not affected by receiving this free copy (other than I could now write it). The author may be contacted at leebenoit@charter.net about copies.
September 28, 2011
Taking a prom as an example to show GLBT youth fighting for their rights was very fitting. Making the main character a man we had met (as a baby) back in an earlier book of Lee’s, was fun for me, since I still remember reading and liking those as well. Suyai is very much grown up and is now in charge of being an example for his students. I thought it was really funny how they ‘maneuvered’ him into having to find a partner, and the mishaps as he tries, and fails at first made me laugh. But, as his example shows, perseverance pays, and he ends up having the last laugh.
If you like stories that follow up on characters you read about and always wondered what became of the, if you appreciate a little humor with your romance, and if you like seeing people stand up for themselves, you will like this story. I certainly did!
NOTE: This book was provided by Torquere Press for the purpose of a review on Queer Magazine Online
If you like stories that follow up on characters you read about and always wondered what became of the, if you appreciate a little humor with your romance, and if you like seeing people stand up for themselves, you will like this story. I certainly did!
NOTE: This book was provided by Torquere Press for the purpose of a review on Queer Magazine Online
October 25, 2014
Cute.
I didn't realize this was part of a series. Guess I should try to track down the previous parts.
I didn't realize this was part of a series. Guess I should try to track down the previous parts.
November 14, 2011
Review: This was a delightful story, written with a light but poignant touch.
Reviewed for Brief Encounters Reviews: http://briefencountersreviews.com/201...
The style is sure and lyrical, I’ve liked many of the author’s previous stories. There’s plenty of information given about the characters and it was obvious early on that they have featured in another story in the past. However I didn’t find it full of info dump, or “and as you remember…” at all. The segue was natural and the characters came alive in their own right for me as a new reader.
It starts off in the middle of a great premise – a group of high school students going to the prom. But these are different in that they’re all gay and have won the right to take a same-sex partner. Unfortunately, they’re struck with nerves and need someone else to make the first move on to the dance floor. Who better than Suyai Tucker-Neyen – or Mr. T.N. as his pupils call that mouthful! – their gay teacher.
Suyai is totally supportive to them all, it’s obvious he’s become more of a friend over time. He’s a charming, tolerant and determined man. We learn gradually about his dads, who’ve had a chequered life of their own, both obviously strong-minded and charismatic people, who’ve brought Suyai up to be the same. His ambitions have stayed closer to home, though no less important. The scion of two such prominent queers had surprised everyone by becoming a high school science teacher at his alma mater.
The author’s prose flows well and has the necessary balance between dialogue and description to make the most of the short format. The prom scene is vivid, the sights and sounds easy to imagine. There’s wit, too, with the same light touch as Suyai himself. “How do I seem? You never said.” What could Suyai say? Bolder? More familiar? Like sex in a rented tuxedo? Maybe it’s a stretch of the imagination that he should meet a potential life partner so easily, but it wasn’t a hardship as a reader to surrender to that lucky and pleasant happening, and his dance with the new teacher Trevor Ellis is a delight to read.
There were many characters in the story, probably too many for this short format, and I didn’t feel they all had to be mentioned by name. I expect if you’d read the previous story you’d have appreciated revisiting the characters, but sometimes I had to re-read to catch up with who was who. I was also bemused over some of the US school terms and habits. But I enjoyed the story no less for that. Suyai is summed up very aptly and charmingly as: There he’d been, a sexually ecumenical kid with worldly, supportive gay parents, and he’d turned out to be a homebody with dreams of true love forever. And maybe at the end of the story, he’s on his way towards those dreams. It was a perfect romance and a charming addition to the Getting Better theme. I rate it A.
by pettyprose…my opinion alone.
Reviewed for Brief Encounters Reviews: http://briefencountersreviews.com/201...
The style is sure and lyrical, I’ve liked many of the author’s previous stories. There’s plenty of information given about the characters and it was obvious early on that they have featured in another story in the past. However I didn’t find it full of info dump, or “and as you remember…” at all. The segue was natural and the characters came alive in their own right for me as a new reader.
It starts off in the middle of a great premise – a group of high school students going to the prom. But these are different in that they’re all gay and have won the right to take a same-sex partner. Unfortunately, they’re struck with nerves and need someone else to make the first move on to the dance floor. Who better than Suyai Tucker-Neyen – or Mr. T.N. as his pupils call that mouthful! – their gay teacher.
Suyai is totally supportive to them all, it’s obvious he’s become more of a friend over time. He’s a charming, tolerant and determined man. We learn gradually about his dads, who’ve had a chequered life of their own, both obviously strong-minded and charismatic people, who’ve brought Suyai up to be the same. His ambitions have stayed closer to home, though no less important. The scion of two such prominent queers had surprised everyone by becoming a high school science teacher at his alma mater.
The author’s prose flows well and has the necessary balance between dialogue and description to make the most of the short format. The prom scene is vivid, the sights and sounds easy to imagine. There’s wit, too, with the same light touch as Suyai himself. “How do I seem? You never said.” What could Suyai say? Bolder? More familiar? Like sex in a rented tuxedo? Maybe it’s a stretch of the imagination that he should meet a potential life partner so easily, but it wasn’t a hardship as a reader to surrender to that lucky and pleasant happening, and his dance with the new teacher Trevor Ellis is a delight to read.
There were many characters in the story, probably too many for this short format, and I didn’t feel they all had to be mentioned by name. I expect if you’d read the previous story you’d have appreciated revisiting the characters, but sometimes I had to re-read to catch up with who was who. I was also bemused over some of the US school terms and habits. But I enjoyed the story no less for that. Suyai is summed up very aptly and charmingly as: There he’d been, a sexually ecumenical kid with worldly, supportive gay parents, and he’d turned out to be a homebody with dreams of true love forever. And maybe at the end of the story, he’s on his way towards those dreams. It was a perfect romance and a charming addition to the Getting Better theme. I rate it A.
by pettyprose…my opinion alone.
December 30, 2014
I loved this sweet and hopeful story. We first met the protagonist, Suyai Tucker-Neyen, as a baby in “Haven,” but now he’s all grown up, teaching high school, and advising the LBGT student group, the Rainbow Posse. “Last Dance” takes place on Prom Night and when Suyai realizes none of the Rainbow Posse are dancing, he knows it’s up to him to set the example. The one challenge is that he’s dateless. Lucky for Suyai, he doesn’t have to look far; new math teacher Trevor Ellis is more than willing to be Suyai’s partner.
The author cleverly weaves Suyai’s own search for love around the around the It Gets Better theme, letting him serve as an example to his students while navigating the adult social and dating world. The reader is subtly reminded that there’s still work to be done through the careless words by one of Suyai’s colleagues, a situation that Suyai handles with poise.
Overall, there’s a strong sense of Suyai’s world and extended family in Sister City. The ending was a perfect fit as it looks towards Suyai’s future with just the right amount of romance.
January 2, 2012
A sweet story about a high school teacher who helps the gay students get the right to take a date to the prom and then has to break the ice by finding someone to dance with as well. He's shocked to find one of the new teachers he never clued in was gay right there and more than willing to take that step. I probably would have enjoyed this even more if I'd read the previous stories about the two gay dads who raised Suyai, but it's still a sweet story.
October 25, 2011
3.75 stars
Very cute story about a gay teacher and faculty adviser for the GSA who needs to find a male dance partner fast in order to ease the tension and make his gay students feel safer to dance.
Very cute story about a gay teacher and faculty adviser for the GSA who needs to find a male dance partner fast in order to ease the tension and make his gay students feel safer to dance.
October 26, 2011
A sweet happy story, just what I needed... I loved it.
November 16, 2011
Lovely short story about a teacher and a prom that has same sex couples attending for the first time. Now I want to read more by this author.
March 10, 2012
Cute, sweet short with a very hopeful ending.
November 3, 2012
3,5* upgrade for being free.
November 29, 2012
A sweet story about an openly gay high school teacher who chaperons the LGBT youth at a prom. Quirky and humorous. I liked Suyai's fathers, the way he talked about them.
September 8, 2013
3.5 stars - Fun & sweet. I'll have to check for more work by this author.
owned-to-read
January 1, 2014*downloaded free on ARE
August 19, 2021
I want to get all of the Haven books now.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews