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Xander #1
One Two Three, Shatter
This edition is no longer available.
Life was harsh and cruel to Kaleb Xander, and he was never given a moment's rest to breathe in the misery. Finding his way out in the real world from the cage of wrath and perverted lust, he found it to be a mere step up from what he was used to, abuse coming in different ways, through different avenues. One would think all it would take is one person to reach out their hand and save this lost soul -- but Kaleb is more complicated than that. It'll take a miracle, and he's banking on someone to be just that for him before he gives it all up.
CONTENT ADVISORY: This title contains scenes of rape or near rape.
Word Count: 155,517
Life was harsh and cruel to Kaleb Xander, and he was never given a moment's rest to breathe in the misery. Finding his way out in the real world from the cage of wrath and perverted lust, he found it to be a mere step up from what he was used to, abuse coming in different ways, through different avenues. One would think all it would take is one person to reach out their hand and save this lost soul -- but Kaleb is more complicated than that. It'll take a miracle, and he's banking on someone to be just that for him before he gives it all up.
CONTENT ADVISORY: This title contains scenes of rape or near rape.
Word Count: 155,517
724 pages, ebook
First published August 3, 2012
4 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
About the author
Joey James Hook
5 books9 followersHello there! My name's Joey James Hook. I'm a twenty-five-year old man who lives in many different places. Among my favorite things to do are reading, writing, watching TV, eating ice cream, and listening to loud music. I attended three and a half years of schooling at Western Nevada College.
My passions aside from writing are eating, music - particularly going to shows and rocking out - and going to the beach. My biggest inspirations are the bands Dear Silence, Burn Halo, Eighteen Visions, Atreyu, Bleeding Through, Papa Roach, Asking Alexandria, A Skylit Drive and, more than any other, Avenged Sevenfold. My first novel has been dedicated to the loving memory of Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan (RIP, February 10th, 1981 to December 28, 2009).
I am a freelance writer. I have two novels contracted to ebook publishers, Phoenix to Extasy Books, and One Two Three, Shatter to Silver Publishing. I also do write advertisements for two companies called The Content Authority and Interact Media. They both give their employees a broad subject such as men’s watches with specifications to what they want in the article, and ask the writers employed to write engaging, well-researched 300+ word summaries for the product being sold. I have been writing since I was about nine years old, starting with poetry and moving onto fiction.
My passions aside from writing are eating, music - particularly going to shows and rocking out - and going to the beach. My biggest inspirations are the bands Dear Silence, Burn Halo, Eighteen Visions, Atreyu, Bleeding Through, Papa Roach, Asking Alexandria, A Skylit Drive and, more than any other, Avenged Sevenfold. My first novel has been dedicated to the loving memory of Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan (RIP, February 10th, 1981 to December 28, 2009).
I am a freelance writer. I have two novels contracted to ebook publishers, Phoenix to Extasy Books, and One Two Three, Shatter to Silver Publishing. I also do write advertisements for two companies called The Content Authority and Interact Media. They both give their employees a broad subject such as men’s watches with specifications to what they want in the article, and ask the writers employed to write engaging, well-researched 300+ word summaries for the product being sold. I have been writing since I was about nine years old, starting with poetry and moving onto fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 6, 2012
I just finished this book and needed to get this review down now in writing before whatever I needed to say on it passed me by and I'd miss out on some pretty pertinent facts in how to express myself and this story.
Whew! Can I say that I first groaned when I noticed the story is 752 pages long? But would you believe me when I say that when I reached the last page of the story with: The End that I wanted more!
There's no doubt that there is M/F and M/M and I shocked even myself on reading it. In the norm world of reading as you'll see in my bookshelf that everything is M/M, but I gave it a shot. The beginning of the story is all M/F but keep patient and that patience will pay of to being M/M. Hell, just skip the sex scenes if you must, but you must check out this book if you're not to squeamish over the sensitive content to some of you readers.
The story starts from the time Kaleb is 4 years old up until he's 32 for my calculations. There's a whole clusterfawk of shit in his life and I'm surprised that it ended the way it had.
His mother walks out on him right from the getgo at the beginning of the story, promising to return for him, but doesn't. Everything in his life goes to shit from that point on. His father and older brother continually abuse him both physical, mentally and sexually. Yeah you read that last word right. They are pricks, but justice is served against the bastards. The abuse will continue till Kaleb is about 15 when he takes off.
You'll read how he battles a life of drug and alcohol addiction. He self mutilates to keep in controls and he's quite self distructive, but that's the the character he's portrayed to being in this story. You'll read about his first girlfriend, then his second one who gives him a daughter, a child he wants no part of and finally the one man that steals his heart and teaches him what love is all about.
You'll get so frustrated as hell by Kaleb's cold heart and his attitude, but having known about his past in reading about it you'll get the why. I could have shaken him with my anger at times, I could have cried for him and the injustice of what life served him and I wanted to laugh with his blunt sarcasm and telling you the way it is, no bullshitting around.
Joey, the author, wrote one hellova a book here that deserves the rating I gave it. Perhaps more and I hope this review does the book some justice although, maybe not, but I can only cut it to the best of my ability as a reviewer.
I'm def posting this to my blog and I'm hitting up his next book Phoenix to see if it meets the same high standards I've met with this one.
Two thumbs up all the way!
Whew! Can I say that I first groaned when I noticed the story is 752 pages long? But would you believe me when I say that when I reached the last page of the story with: The End that I wanted more!
There's no doubt that there is M/F and M/M and I shocked even myself on reading it. In the norm world of reading as you'll see in my bookshelf that everything is M/M, but I gave it a shot. The beginning of the story is all M/F but keep patient and that patience will pay of to being M/M. Hell, just skip the sex scenes if you must, but you must check out this book if you're not to squeamish over the sensitive content to some of you readers.
The story starts from the time Kaleb is 4 years old up until he's 32 for my calculations. There's a whole clusterfawk of shit in his life and I'm surprised that it ended the way it had.
His mother walks out on him right from the getgo at the beginning of the story, promising to return for him, but doesn't. Everything in his life goes to shit from that point on. His father and older brother continually abuse him both physical, mentally and sexually. Yeah you read that last word right. They are pricks, but justice is served against the bastards. The abuse will continue till Kaleb is about 15 when he takes off.
You'll read how he battles a life of drug and alcohol addiction. He self mutilates to keep in controls and he's quite self distructive, but that's the the character he's portrayed to being in this story. You'll read about his first girlfriend, then his second one who gives him a daughter, a child he wants no part of and finally the one man that steals his heart and teaches him what love is all about.
You'll get so frustrated as hell by Kaleb's cold heart and his attitude, but having known about his past in reading about it you'll get the why. I could have shaken him with my anger at times, I could have cried for him and the injustice of what life served him and I wanted to laugh with his blunt sarcasm and telling you the way it is, no bullshitting around.
Joey, the author, wrote one hellova a book here that deserves the rating I gave it. Perhaps more and I hope this review does the book some justice although, maybe not, but I can only cut it to the best of my ability as a reviewer.
I'm def posting this to my blog and I'm hitting up his next book Phoenix to see if it meets the same high standards I've met with this one.
Two thumbs up all the way!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2012
This is a hard review. I really liked this book, but sometimes I did not like the main character, but I could not stop reading his story. I understood why he acted like he did, but I didn't always agree with the stuff he did....especially how he was with his daughter, but ultimately it occured to me that he had to get himself together before he had anything to offer and he was right. I read the whole thing in one go...guess I will sleep when I am dead. Hope there will be more as I am interested in seeing where this guy ends up!
December 28, 2015
Sono combattuta se far prevalere la delusione (l'ho corteggiato per SECOLI), la rabbia (ma come si fa a svaccare così un'idea estremamente promettente?!) o l'incredulità (non riesco sinceramente a capire da quale universo parallelo provengano gli altri lettori che hanno dato 5* a questo libro, perché io mi sono sentita spesso presa in giro da tutto ciò!).
Xander è il prototipo di damsel in distress per eccellenza e l'infermierina tutto miele dentro di me scalpitava per avere i suoi cinque minuti di gloria e per prenderlo e coccolarlo come se non ci fosse un domani. La storia poi è di sofferenza/redenzione/difficoltà che io AMO.. Cosa è successo da "Idea geniale che tocca i tasti giusti" a "Ma mi prendi in giro?". Non so, 700 lunghissime pagine e ancora non l'ho capito!
Il primo grande problema - che avrei potuto superare se la storia fosse stata ECCEZIONALE - è la scrittura. Acerba, direbbe la mia personalità gentile.. Quella più stronza direbbe "Ma forse lo scrittore non era il mestiere adatto a te, ciccio". Tante ripetizioni (vorrei essere meno pigra e fare per voi una ricerca col kindle di quante volte ho trovato "Grin/grinned/smile/smiled"), uno schema che si ripete ogni tot pagine e soprattutto spazi temporali totalmente random, con il povero lettore che non capisce più niente, personaggi che entrano nella storia a gamba tesa e poi, altrettanto repentinamente scompaiono nel retroscena con una nonchalance rara.
Ecco, dicevo, io su tutto ciò avrei anche potuto chiudere un occhio (o entrambi): non di rado ho letto libri che il mio battiscopa avrebbe potuto scrivere meglio a cui ho dato 5*.. Però diamine, CI VUOLE UNA BUONA STORIA!
Il problema è che non ha senso. Non ha senso il percorso che Xander, picchiato e abusato (fisicamente ed emotivamente) dal padre e dal fratello, traumatizzato (stella, la prima parte mi ha fatto male al cuore, giuro! *Sì, l'idea era bella per davvero*), solo e spaventato, percorre. A partire dai due fantomatici zii che lo 'salvano' a 16 anni (MA DOVE ERAVATE PRIMA?!), e gli vogliono così bene che valà, al primo incontro gli danno l'eroina così che il povero disgraziato diventa anche dipendente, continuando con la madre che lo abbandona in quell'inferno domestico a 4 anni perché anch'essa vittima di abusi e che vent'anni dopo (CON CALMA EH) riappare dicendo che "Eh, tuo padre non mi faceva avvicinare a te, mi denunciava per sequestro di minori".. Cioè, ma la polizia? I Servizi sociali? Oprah Winfrey??
Non ha senso il modo in cui Xander è dipendente da eroina 'AD HOC', quando serve un po' di pathos per la storia e mostrando un sintomo ogni uscita di libri di Scott Lynch (Forza, ci serve il quarto volume Scott ;_;).. Un lettore distratto può anche essere fregato dalle astinenze random di Xander, ma se io leggo questi libri, PRETENDO verosomiglianza, dolore, sofferenza, sintomi e via discorrendo. Altrimenti mi leggerei Donna Moderna e via!
E' tutto troppo stupido e irreale, come il fatto che Anna affidi al compagno EROINOMANE e ALCOLIZZATO la figlia di pochi mesi andando a lavoro, quando lui non ha mai nemmeno tenuto in braccio la pupa. Seriamente, con tutto l'amore del mondo.. Chi affiderebbe una creatura ad un personaggio simile?
Non sono riuscita nemmeno a tollerare la storia fra Xander e Trent perché XANDER E' UNA DIAMINE DI VITTIMA DI ABUSI, vogliamo ricordarlo?? L'autore lo fa saltuariamente (e quando si impegna la cosa è decente.. Solo che è troppo impegnato a voler la botte piena - storia strappalacrime - e la moglie ubriaca - sole, cuore amore per Xander - e quindi ciaone alla logica e al buon senso).
La prima parte, a cui sinceramente avrei dato molto più spazio è sicuramente la più bella e riuscita,con tanto dolore e necessità di abbracciare Xander.. Ero partita con 5*, sicura di adorarlo, poi sono scese e scese, senza speranza di redenzione :(
Xander è il prototipo di damsel in distress per eccellenza e l'infermierina tutto miele dentro di me scalpitava per avere i suoi cinque minuti di gloria e per prenderlo e coccolarlo come se non ci fosse un domani. La storia poi è di sofferenza/redenzione/difficoltà che io AMO.. Cosa è successo da "Idea geniale che tocca i tasti giusti" a "Ma mi prendi in giro?". Non so, 700 lunghissime pagine e ancora non l'ho capito!
Il primo grande problema - che avrei potuto superare se la storia fosse stata ECCEZIONALE - è la scrittura. Acerba, direbbe la mia personalità gentile.. Quella più stronza direbbe "Ma forse lo scrittore non era il mestiere adatto a te, ciccio". Tante ripetizioni (vorrei essere meno pigra e fare per voi una ricerca col kindle di quante volte ho trovato "Grin/grinned/smile/smiled"), uno schema che si ripete ogni tot pagine e soprattutto spazi temporali totalmente random, con il povero lettore che non capisce più niente, personaggi che entrano nella storia a gamba tesa e poi, altrettanto repentinamente scompaiono nel retroscena con una nonchalance rara.
Ecco, dicevo, io su tutto ciò avrei anche potuto chiudere un occhio (o entrambi): non di rado ho letto libri che il mio battiscopa avrebbe potuto scrivere meglio a cui ho dato 5*.. Però diamine, CI VUOLE UNA BUONA STORIA!
Il problema è che non ha senso. Non ha senso il percorso che Xander, picchiato e abusato (fisicamente ed emotivamente) dal padre e dal fratello, traumatizzato (stella, la prima parte mi ha fatto male al cuore, giuro! *Sì, l'idea era bella per davvero*), solo e spaventato, percorre. A partire dai due fantomatici zii che lo 'salvano' a 16 anni (MA DOVE ERAVATE PRIMA?!), e gli vogliono così bene che valà, al primo incontro gli danno l'eroina così che il povero disgraziato diventa anche dipendente, continuando con la madre che lo abbandona in quell'inferno domestico a 4 anni perché anch'essa vittima di abusi e che vent'anni dopo (CON CALMA EH) riappare dicendo che "Eh, tuo padre non mi faceva avvicinare a te, mi denunciava per sequestro di minori".. Cioè, ma la polizia? I Servizi sociali? Oprah Winfrey??
Non ha senso il modo in cui Xander è dipendente da eroina 'AD HOC', quando serve un po' di pathos per la storia e mostrando un sintomo ogni uscita di libri di Scott Lynch (Forza, ci serve il quarto volume Scott ;_;).. Un lettore distratto può anche essere fregato dalle astinenze random di Xander, ma se io leggo questi libri, PRETENDO verosomiglianza, dolore, sofferenza, sintomi e via discorrendo. Altrimenti mi leggerei Donna Moderna e via!
E' tutto troppo stupido e irreale, come il fatto che Anna affidi al compagno EROINOMANE e ALCOLIZZATO la figlia di pochi mesi andando a lavoro, quando lui non ha mai nemmeno tenuto in braccio la pupa. Seriamente, con tutto l'amore del mondo.. Chi affiderebbe una creatura ad un personaggio simile?
Non sono riuscita nemmeno a tollerare la storia fra Xander e Trent perché XANDER E' UNA DIAMINE DI VITTIMA DI ABUSI, vogliamo ricordarlo?? L'autore lo fa saltuariamente (e quando si impegna la cosa è decente.. Solo che è troppo impegnato a voler la botte piena - storia strappalacrime - e la moglie ubriaca - sole, cuore amore per Xander - e quindi ciaone alla logica e al buon senso).
La prima parte, a cui sinceramente avrei dato molto più spazio è sicuramente la più bella e riuscita,con tanto dolore e necessità di abbracciare Xander.. Ero partita con 5*, sicura di adorarlo, poi sono scese e scese, senza speranza di redenzione :(
November 21, 2012
ONE TWO THREE, SHATTER is a dark and poignant tale of an abused boy's life through adulthood. It's angsty, thought-provoking and gut-wrenching.
Kaleb Xander's life has been no fairy tale. Abandoned by his mother at the age of 4, he is left to endure the sadistic torture his father and older brother enjoy doling out. His life of pain includes severe beatings with belts, whips and chains, as well as sexual abuse (that is mostly fade to black) and mental abuse. Kaleb's life story is not for the faint of heart, but as a reader, the journey through darkness is definitely worth the discomfort experienced and certainly makes you appreciate living a life free of such extreme suffering.
As a victim of abuse, the lingering effects of a stolen childhood and loss of innocence constantly plagues Kaleb's adult life. Each loving relationship he is involved in is overshadowed with self-doubt – in fear of hurting and being hurt by the ones who are supposed to love him. In his battle to understand what love is, he successfully alienates himself from each lover he encounters, unable to comprehend what positive attributes he could possibly bring to the relationship. As an escape, he succumbs to darkness with a string of destructive behaviors, perhaps the most debilitating of all - his heroin addiction. As a reader, his pattern of self-destruction was, at times, difficult to read but certainly necessary to the story and rewarding in the end.
ONE TWO THREE, SHATTER is a dark, but wonderfully emotional story of perseverance. If you can push through the inhumane scenes in the first few chapters, then this is an awesome book, especially if you are looking for a great read outside the realm of fairy tale romance novels.
✳✳ Copy provided by the author/publisher for an honest review.
**Reviewed on I ♥ Bookie Nookie Reviews and The Romance Reviews.
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Erotic Enchants
Bookie Nookie's Erotic Lending Group
Kaleb Xander's life has been no fairy tale. Abandoned by his mother at the age of 4, he is left to endure the sadistic torture his father and older brother enjoy doling out. His life of pain includes severe beatings with belts, whips and chains, as well as sexual abuse (that is mostly fade to black) and mental abuse. Kaleb's life story is not for the faint of heart, but as a reader, the journey through darkness is definitely worth the discomfort experienced and certainly makes you appreciate living a life free of such extreme suffering.
As a victim of abuse, the lingering effects of a stolen childhood and loss of innocence constantly plagues Kaleb's adult life. Each loving relationship he is involved in is overshadowed with self-doubt – in fear of hurting and being hurt by the ones who are supposed to love him. In his battle to understand what love is, he successfully alienates himself from each lover he encounters, unable to comprehend what positive attributes he could possibly bring to the relationship. As an escape, he succumbs to darkness with a string of destructive behaviors, perhaps the most debilitating of all - his heroin addiction. As a reader, his pattern of self-destruction was, at times, difficult to read but certainly necessary to the story and rewarding in the end.
ONE TWO THREE, SHATTER is a dark, but wonderfully emotional story of perseverance. If you can push through the inhumane scenes in the first few chapters, then this is an awesome book, especially if you are looking for a great read outside the realm of fairy tale romance novels.
✳✳ Copy provided by the author/publisher for an honest review.
**Reviewed on I ♥ Bookie Nookie Reviews and The Romance Reviews.
If you like this type of book, you might enjoy one of these groups. Check us out!
Menage Readers
Erotic Enchants
Bookie Nookie's Erotic Lending Group
January 1, 2021
Well, I finished this book with a good deal of skimming. By a young author and it shows, overly long and in need of some editing. However I did find myself caring for the prime character Kaleb. Abandoned by his mother aged four and abused by his father and older brother until he runs away from home at sixteen. He turns to drugs to forget about his hateful past. He then progresses through a series of relationships throughout the book.
'He started drawing the drug into the syringe. The liquid looked like heaven and hell to him as he stared dazedly at the lack of color swirling ominously in the vial.'
'He started drawing the drug into the syringe. The liquid looked like heaven and hell to him as he stared dazedly at the lack of color swirling ominously in the vial.'
Read
August 21, 2012This is one of the few books I truly don't know how to rate. It's the story of an abused man coming to terms with his life through years and years of drifting into relationships, and being haunted by his past. For me, reading this was like watching a train wreck. It was realistic, but hard work to get through, and emotionally utterly draining.
I did not like the book for purely personal reasons, but imagine others will love the raw emotions and the detailed narration. It was an experiment for me, based on an interesting blurb, but the book itself turned out not to be my cup of tea.
I did not like the book for purely personal reasons, but imagine others will love the raw emotions and the detailed narration. It was an experiment for me, based on an interesting blurb, but the book itself turned out not to be my cup of tea.
September 15, 2013
3.5 stars
Definitely not your average romance, as the MC is a very flawed character, mostly as a result of the major abuse he received throughout his childhood. Life has certainly dealt him a hard hand, but eventually he does turn it around and manages not only to find peace within himself, but someone to share it with.
(A warning: the MC does have an M/F relationship in this novel - though it is non-explicit. Only the M/M sex scenes contain details)
Definitely not your average romance, as the MC is a very flawed character, mostly as a result of the major abuse he received throughout his childhood. Life has certainly dealt him a hard hand, but eventually he does turn it around and manages not only to find peace within himself, but someone to share it with.
(A warning: the MC does have an M/F relationship in this novel - though it is non-explicit. Only the M/M sex scenes contain details)
September 6, 2015
The writing by the author is just amazing. You can just feel Kaleb’s pain and sadness. The characters are so real. There is little “prettying” them up. It’s a raw story. There are times you hate Kaleb and wonder why he has to go the hard route and others you hurt for him. I loved the story. I’m not sure I would call this a romance as such though there is that in the story.
Kaleb talks a lot of his uncles saving him but I have a hard time with that. I wondered why they couldn’t do more but they were criminals so a mistrust of police and a credibility issue would have been there. Also the whole of the account of his mother, that portion of the story isn’t very credible. Now I won’t say it couldn’t happen that way, I’m not that familiar with the system but I really doubt that his mother couldn’t have got him, that she was jailed for attempted kidnapping. That with the information you get at the end of the story makes me doubt it.
This small niggle isn’t enough to put me off the story because it to me is fairly insignificant. So rating this was different for me because of the fact to me it wasn’t a romance and that is what I read. This was such a story though I have to give it a high rating because of how it drew me in and produced so much raw emotions with me without making it unrealistic.
Kaleb talks a lot of his uncles saving him but I have a hard time with that. I wondered why they couldn’t do more but they were criminals so a mistrust of police and a credibility issue would have been there. Also the whole of the account of his mother, that portion of the story isn’t very credible. Now I won’t say it couldn’t happen that way, I’m not that familiar with the system but I really doubt that his mother couldn’t have got him, that she was jailed for attempted kidnapping. That with the information you get at the end of the story makes me doubt it.
This small niggle isn’t enough to put me off the story because it to me is fairly insignificant. So rating this was different for me because of the fact to me it wasn’t a romance and that is what I read. This was such a story though I have to give it a high rating because of how it drew me in and produced so much raw emotions with me without making it unrealistic.
April 17, 2017
Originally posted to Barnes & Noble:
I'm a huge fan of Joey Hook's work! In Shatter, he creates a wonderful and sympathetic character in Kaleb that your heart goes out to. Its a great story about overcoming hardship and adversity, about discovering yourself and learning to love yourself and be happy with who you are. Kaleb has become a huge inspiration to me and I am glad to have been able to meet him through this novel. Heed the warnings presented, because they're accurate. This novel contains scenes of severe abuse, sexual assault, and drug use. However, if you aren't one to be triggered by such things, I wouldn't advise letting them deter you. This is a FANTASTIC piece of work, if at times troubling and hard to stomach. It is completely worth it, in the end. Seriously: five stars. Can't WAIT for more of Joey's work to become available.
New to GoodReads:
I've noticed a trend in the comments regarding the repetition of the book. The book does become a bit circular, but largely because we do not conquer our demons in one round. Kaleb is very human, one of the most human characters I've ever encountered in reading. He makes mistakes, he makes the same mistakes again and again, he struggles with the same thing again and again, because he is only human.
I'm a huge fan of Joey Hook's work! In Shatter, he creates a wonderful and sympathetic character in Kaleb that your heart goes out to. Its a great story about overcoming hardship and adversity, about discovering yourself and learning to love yourself and be happy with who you are. Kaleb has become a huge inspiration to me and I am glad to have been able to meet him through this novel. Heed the warnings presented, because they're accurate. This novel contains scenes of severe abuse, sexual assault, and drug use. However, if you aren't one to be triggered by such things, I wouldn't advise letting them deter you. This is a FANTASTIC piece of work, if at times troubling and hard to stomach. It is completely worth it, in the end. Seriously: five stars. Can't WAIT for more of Joey's work to become available.
New to GoodReads:
I've noticed a trend in the comments regarding the repetition of the book. The book does become a bit circular, but largely because we do not conquer our demons in one round. Kaleb is very human, one of the most human characters I've ever encountered in reading. He makes mistakes, he makes the same mistakes again and again, he struggles with the same thing again and again, because he is only human.
October 14, 2012
This review was originally written for Hearts on Fire Reviews and can also be found there.
Sometimes even when the page count screams at you not to take the plunge into a week-long adventure (depending on how fast you read) taking the risk might surprise you. The blurb for this book promises a lot of heartache, a long struggle and plenty of situations that might push your limits, and for the most part the book delivers. At the end of this life story you’ll most likely either love it or walk away with mixed feelings. I can’t say either of the two is bad.
This is primarily a story about Kaleb. The side characters, while a big part of the main character’s life aren’t much of a focus because Kaleb tends to look inward most of the time and his thoughts take a huge amount of page space.
We see his life from an early age, a memory that marked his life when his mother left and later on the abuse that followed. It isn’t until almost the end of the book that Kaleb truly starts to heal and all that happened before is like an explanation to why he is the man that chooses badly and keeps others at a distance.
Fair warning, something that was listed after the blurb, this book contains male/female relationships, two to be exact and sex does happen. While this might be a tiny bit of a spoiler, the story does end happily and the final pairing is Kaleb and another man. The only thing is, the females do dominate Kaleb’s life and while that might be mostly in a negative way, they do keep our hero afloat at some of his hardest times. Another thing to keep in mind is that the editing isn’t perfect. I caught quite a few mistakes, which I think is normal considering the length, but since I don’t care about such stuff, those who do might find more.
Sexual and physical abuse is shown as well as told many times over and heroin plus alcohol abuse will be hard to kick. None of it makes this story an easy one to read, but for those of us who pick the books precisely because of it, I have to say none of it was to the extent I was expecting. I don’t mean the explicitness or intensity, just the writing that somehow kept me at a distance from the worst of it. The author has a certain writing style where he turns the scenes that should have a powerful impact into something that seems almost told from a third party and is essentially much weaker. That is a positive as well as negative, depending on the reader, but for me it was only a vague dislike.
My biggest issues were the amount of introspective with the very length of the story as a result of it and the inconsistencies that drove me insane. I love long books, but length isn’t always a good thing. A lot of the stuff here could have been shortened and instead replaced with the situations and crucial times that were glazed over. Some parts of Kaleb’s life that were cut seemed more important to me than the others I could have easily done without. Combine it with the amount of questions I had that were never answered and you get a very frustrated reader.
Now I understand that this is only the first book in a series, but a lot of issues could have been solved even in the first part of the book and some I would have rather left for the second book than forced a weak solution just to give the ending a happier note. That bugged me a lot of the time as I read (and it took me a while to actually read it), the author gave explanations or stated past events too long after the subject/situation was active that it seemed almost as an afterthought.
Kaleb’s relationships were strong as far as the plot goes. The differences between Sid, Anna and Trent were very distinctive and Kaleb took the best from all of them. But what I liked the most was the way he acted with each of them. How he changed and opened up and how he finally got what he needed. The last sex scene in the book was just beautiful and really touching after everything Kaleb went through that I don’t think it could have been written better.
As far as positives go, Kaleb is a truly remarkable character. There are so many sides to him and I loved how the author chose to present some of them. From his outlets to his talents, he is someone worthy of seven hundred pages.
I can’t really say much about others potentially liking this book. Tastes are so different and this is a heavy read, even more so for someone who doesn’t stray into these subjects often. But there is talent and intensity in this author’s work that is sure to find an audience.
Please keep in mind that the part with the spoiler is not a part of the official review. Thank you.
December 25, 2013
I very seriously liked this LONG-assed 724 page book. Yes, I know that I say I like a lot of books, but that's because I hate reading shitty books and tend to do my homework to pick decent ones. :- )
If you want to read the Encyclopedia of Fucked Up, the main character, Kaleb, is the Mega Walmart of one-stop-shopping of head cases, so this read will fill that bill. But Trent's journey is cool and uses every one of those 724 pages to take you on a very long, enthralling, trip.
It isn't your average gay fiction, as you're literally a good 350'ish pages in before Kaleb even kisses his first guy. Also, 'love story' would be about the 5th or 6th way that I'd describe the book. That being said, the book is unique and enlightening in more ways than one.
My one constant eye-rolling pet peeve about this book is how many times you're told that Kaleb bites his goddamn lip. Yes, it's a nervous habit, whatever. You're told usually once and, sometimes, up to FOUR times on EVERY SINGLE PAGE of the book that he's biting his lip again. (I just counted and 'lip' is in there 553 times, so yes, enough already with the lip biting.)
One very significant pet peeve aside, I highly recommend the book, even if I roll my eyes for a very long time when I hear of someone biting their lip. Maybe the author is trying to replace the seemingly-required 'released the breath he didn't even know he was holding' in most books these days with lip biting. ;- )
Either way, rushing on to read book 2 in the series as we speak.
If you want to read the Encyclopedia of Fucked Up, the main character, Kaleb, is the Mega Walmart of one-stop-shopping of head cases, so this read will fill that bill. But Trent's journey is cool and uses every one of those 724 pages to take you on a very long, enthralling, trip.
It isn't your average gay fiction, as you're literally a good 350'ish pages in before Kaleb even kisses his first guy. Also, 'love story' would be about the 5th or 6th way that I'd describe the book. That being said, the book is unique and enlightening in more ways than one.
My one constant eye-rolling pet peeve about this book is how many times you're told that Kaleb bites his goddamn lip. Yes, it's a nervous habit, whatever. You're told usually once and, sometimes, up to FOUR times on EVERY SINGLE PAGE of the book that he's biting his lip again. (I just counted and 'lip' is in there 553 times, so yes, enough already with the lip biting.)
One very significant pet peeve aside, I highly recommend the book, even if I roll my eyes for a very long time when I hear of someone biting their lip. Maybe the author is trying to replace the seemingly-required 'released the breath he didn't even know he was holding' in most books these days with lip biting. ;- )
Either way, rushing on to read book 2 in the series as we speak.
August 24, 2012
3.5 (wish there were half stars)
I liked this book and had the potential of loving it but that sort of crumbled. The characters were my favorite part but the story could have been half the length and the author could have spent more time building it up. The end felt sort of "Bam! Now everything is settled and happy!" It was a good ending and the one I'd been hoping for I just wish it would have seemed less like the author got tired of writing the book.
I liked this book and had the potential of loving it but that sort of crumbled. The characters were my favorite part but the story could have been half the length and the author could have spent more time building it up. The end felt sort of "Bam! Now everything is settled and happy!" It was a good ending and the one I'd been hoping for I just wish it would have seemed less like the author got tired of writing the book.
August 21, 2012
The first in a series and I can NOT WAIT til the next one comes out. VERY well written, but very hard to read due to some of the material. I did have to put it down a few times and walk away to re-group. Of course, that was when I wasn't bawling my eyes out.
Will be going on my favorites list and I will be re-reading this many times, I'm sure. I highly recommend this book, but not for the faint of heart.
Will be going on my favorites list and I will be re-reading this many times, I'm sure. I highly recommend this book, but not for the faint of heart.
February 5, 2013
While I love a good dark read I ended up skimming most of this book. It was good overall but a lot could have been cut - which is the reason why I gave it 3 stars. It dragged a lot in places and got a little repetitive here and there. Loved the real life issue feel that most dark books don't achieve.
Great plot and I feel that this author could end up doing a great book in the future with just a bit more work. I will definitely keep my eye out for future books.
Great plot and I feel that this author could end up doing a great book in the future with just a bit more work. I will definitely keep my eye out for future books.
November 7, 2013
Haven´t read the whole book yet. Only downloaded the reading extract from amazon - which already consists of Xanders life from 4 till 15 and many chapters. For a reading extract it´s quite long and in itself a complete story.
I don´t know whether I´ll buy the rest though. At times it got pretty lengthy and I really can´t stand Sid and his uncles leaving him there although they knew sth was going on.
I don´t know whether I´ll buy the rest though. At times it got pretty lengthy and I really can´t stand Sid and his uncles leaving him there although they knew sth was going on.
Currently reading
August 22, 2012I started liking this book until I started noticing the m/f scenes. I am not a fan of mixing m/f and m/m within a book. If that was the case then I would read a book that has m/f only. I don't know if this will be a book that I finish.
December 5, 2012
Dark!
December 31, 2015
I’ve owned this book for a long time and debating if I wanted to read it for an equally long time. Normally I do not read book that are this long. One, Two, Three Shatter is a very difficult book for me to rate. There were things I loved: the story. There were things I hated: that the book covered so much ground that even with 724 pages I felt it wasn’t enough to make me feel complete. I felt like we just started into something interesting and then the next chapter would be six months to two years later and whatever happened to what we were just talking about?! Overall, I am pleased I read it. Yes, the story is raw and gritty and yes, I don’t really understand why Trent liked Kaleb because there is no in-depth explanation of their love, but it was still good. I just can’t think of it as a romance.
September 13, 2012
1.5 звезды. Книга с большими претензиями, но в которой нет ничего, чтобы эти претензии оправдать. Бросила читать на трех четвертях.
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