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Julian is ugly. He knows it. Everyone knows it. He is also a boy with secrets. He’s gay, his family owns the local funeral home, and he’s not certain which secret he more desperately desires to keep. Julian is a wallflower, but tries out for the soccer team to please his father. Beyond all hope he makes the team and there he meets boys who change his life forever and a coach he suspects is trying to kill him.
Julian’s greatest love is music. He slips off at lunch and after school to play the grand piano in the music room. His music attracts the attention of a secret admirer and for the first time ever someone sees beauty in Julian—his music.
The tragic death of teammates forces Julian to realize that he might not have as much time as he believed and leads him to take a desperate chance. Julian is determined to stop sitting on the sidelines of life. Friendship and love is worth any risk.
Julian’s greatest love is music. He slips off at lunch and after school to play the grand piano in the music room. His music attracts the attention of a secret admirer and for the first time ever someone sees beauty in Julian—his music.
The tragic death of teammates forces Julian to realize that he might not have as much time as he believed and leads him to take a desperate chance. Julian is determined to stop sitting on the sidelines of life. Friendship and love is worth any risk.
196 pages, Paperback
First published November 10, 2014
8 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Mark A. Roeder
99 books210 followersMark A. Roeder grew up in southern Indiana - near a small town similar to those that appear in his novels.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 10, 2015
I'd only recommend this one to anyone who has already read Roeder's "The Soccer Field is Empty."
It took place during the same time as Mark and Taylor's double suicide. Julian was on their soccer team, but not in their inner circle of friends, so I enjoyed getting another perspective as all of that was going down.
The big reveal of Julian's secret admirer was kind of funny, but the admirer's "huge secret" felt pretty strange, with the scene coming off as a bit stiff, formal and slightly corny.
Some of the dialogue came across as pretty young and slightly repetitive, but if you're a fan of the series and its insane level of world building (20+ books in the series,) then I'm sure you'll enjoy this one, too.
3.5 stars, but rounding down, because I *HATED* the cover of the book, which did *not* represent Julian, who was a six foot tall high school student and *not* the boy-child on the cover.
It took place during the same time as Mark and Taylor's double suicide. Julian was on their soccer team, but not in their inner circle of friends, so I enjoyed getting another perspective as all of that was going down.
The big reveal of Julian's secret admirer was kind of funny, but the admirer's "huge secret" felt pretty strange, with the scene coming off as a bit stiff, formal and slightly corny.
Some of the dialogue came across as pretty young and slightly repetitive, but if you're a fan of the series and its insane level of world building (20+ books in the series,) then I'm sure you'll enjoy this one, too.
3.5 stars, but rounding down, because I *HATED* the cover of the book, which did *not* represent Julian, who was a six foot tall high school student and *not* the boy-child on the cover.
December 9, 2021
Possible spoilers - This is a M+T book*
This is the flip P. O. V. from Beautiful.
It may be able to stand alone but is way better with its grouping
Cory & Julian’s story part 2
Julian is coming to terms with his sexuality and trying to figure out how he can fit into the world of his peers as himself…. But still not sure who he is (like most teens).
TW - suicide and violence toward lgbtq are VERY heavy in this title. Julian is the son of the mortician so you see a lot of the grief as well.
* This is what I call a M+T book. Meaning it crosses time lines w Mark and Tay and heavily includes them while alive, their deaths, and/or the immediate aftermath of loosing them. This is also a chunk of the series that is heavy with violent homophobia. Roeder is very blunt and raw with the realities of being gay in given time periods. This means that he doesn’t pull punches with how ugly they are treated nor the risks they faced. He does whoever, always try to include light and hope. Even M+Ts actual book tries to be uplifting while being about a tragedy. Physical, emotional, mental, and sexual abuse are all present. Some times on pages, some off. So be mindful Of TRIGGERS. The sad truth is that you can’t give a full honest picture of being gay in these time periods without awareness of these dangers. But, Roeder typically handles them with care and respect as well.
This is the flip P. O. V. from Beautiful.
It may be able to stand alone but is way better with its grouping
Cory & Julian’s story part 2
Julian is coming to terms with his sexuality and trying to figure out how he can fit into the world of his peers as himself…. But still not sure who he is (like most teens).
TW - suicide and violence toward lgbtq are VERY heavy in this title. Julian is the son of the mortician so you see a lot of the grief as well.
* This is what I call a M+T book. Meaning it crosses time lines w Mark and Tay and heavily includes them while alive, their deaths, and/or the immediate aftermath of loosing them. This is also a chunk of the series that is heavy with violent homophobia. Roeder is very blunt and raw with the realities of being gay in given time periods. This means that he doesn’t pull punches with how ugly they are treated nor the risks they faced. He does whoever, always try to include light and hope. Even M+Ts actual book tries to be uplifting while being about a tragedy. Physical, emotional, mental, and sexual abuse are all present. Some times on pages, some off. So be mindful Of TRIGGERS. The sad truth is that you can’t give a full honest picture of being gay in these time periods without awareness of these dangers. But, Roeder typically handles them with care and respect as well.
December 20, 2016
This is another perspective on the story that started this whole saga more than 15 years ago. While the new perspective adds some details that weren't in the original and gives us a chance to revisit old friends it's not as great as the original.
Mark has the whole "adolescent gay boy whose thoughts go round like a squirrel in a cage" thing down and this is no exception but in some places it felt repetitive and the attitudes voiced were a bit too modern for a story set in small town America in the early '80's. Thank goodness we've progressed since then but the base story sort of needs that time frame to be believable and some of the side character's attitudes expressed here just felt too contemporary.
Still, there's some good writing here as well and it was enjoyable for a long-time fan to revisit some of this.
Mark has the whole "adolescent gay boy whose thoughts go round like a squirrel in a cage" thing down and this is no exception but in some places it felt repetitive and the attitudes voiced were a bit too modern for a story set in small town America in the early '80's. Thank goodness we've progressed since then but the base story sort of needs that time frame to be believable and some of the side character's attitudes expressed here just felt too contemporary.
Still, there's some good writing here as well and it was enjoyable for a long-time fan to revisit some of this.
July 14, 2017
This is the second book by this author that I've read. He has good ideas for stories but the execution is boring as fuck! This book had too much telling and not enough showing. Too much exposition and not enough meaningful dialogue between characters. Because of this I started to skim fairly quickly.
I was excited about the secret admirer plot but that went on a bit too long and then I found the admirer's secret a bit WTF or "Who cares?" at that age. Also I didn't realize this book was based in 1980 until like 75%. WTF???? Well I got a hint when the author mentioned cassette tapes but still.
I hope I don't have any more free books by this author on my Kindle because I sure as fuck wouldn't buy any of his books at this rate.
I was excited about the secret admirer plot but that went on a bit too long and then I found the admirer's secret a bit WTF or "Who cares?" at that age. Also I didn't realize this book was based in 1980 until like 75%. WTF???? Well I got a hint when the author mentioned cassette tapes but still.
I hope I don't have any more free books by this author on my Kindle because I sure as fuck wouldn't buy any of his books at this rate.
December 20, 2017
Damn good story here
I give this 4 stars because I want the follow on ?
Very believable characters and I love the way
you walk the story with Juliane ..and his self
doubts are slowly removed by a good guy Brandon . Self esteem is built by friendships
Tragedy's occur the pace is good. humour is here
as wel as tears ...
Mark Roeder , What happens next ?
Well worth the time ..it flew
Matt
I give this 4 stars because I want the follow on ?
Very believable characters and I love the way
you walk the story with Juliane ..and his self
doubts are slowly removed by a good guy Brandon . Self esteem is built by friendships
Tragedy's occur the pace is good. humour is here
as wel as tears ...
Mark Roeder , What happens next ?
Well worth the time ..it flew
Matt
October 10, 2020
After reading this book, I am going to read all the books in the Verona Series. I am adicted now.
July 2, 2015
I don't actually have the kindle version, I have this book in AUDIO and the version wasn't on goodreads and it's too tedious to add.
Anyway… I gave it 4 stars. There were moments that were a 5 for me, especially some of the plot I wasn't expecting because I didn't read the blurb. This was a case of binge buying and I love soccer and I bought a couple audio books by the cover and the voice sample of the narrator. The narrator was very good. I cried listening to the book and that was great, but not enough for me to push it to 5 stars.
I found some things in it repeated so often i got annoyed. One moment I thought, "No, I don't see that happening," and it pulled me out of the book. (Well, my listening trance) Therefore, I personally could not give it a five star rating.
I also thought the build up took the entire book. I get the point, but it is over 6 hours.
It IS a good story. It WAS a great book to listen to. I even thought of a person to recommend it to and I shall when I'm done here. I think it would be great in the "Misfits" bookshelf of GGR Reviews. This has some deep subjects and I think they were handled well.
Over all I was pleased with the book and I would recommend it if you are looking for something light--it is YA after all. It is extremely clean. And when I say light, most of it is. The teammates dying part that I didn't see mentioned in the blurb IS NOT LIGHT!!!! It's painful. Do I recommend it? Yes. I liked it a lot.
Anyway… I gave it 4 stars. There were moments that were a 5 for me, especially some of the plot I wasn't expecting because I didn't read the blurb. This was a case of binge buying and I love soccer and I bought a couple audio books by the cover and the voice sample of the narrator. The narrator was very good. I cried listening to the book and that was great, but not enough for me to push it to 5 stars.
I found some things in it repeated so often i got annoyed. One moment I thought, "No, I don't see that happening," and it pulled me out of the book. (Well, my listening trance) Therefore, I personally could not give it a five star rating.
I also thought the build up took the entire book. I get the point, but it is over 6 hours.
It IS a good story. It WAS a great book to listen to. I even thought of a person to recommend it to and I shall when I'm done here. I think it would be great in the "Misfits" bookshelf of GGR Reviews. This has some deep subjects and I think they were handled well.
Over all I was pleased with the book and I would recommend it if you are looking for something light--it is YA after all. It is extremely clean. And when I say light, most of it is. The teammates dying part that I didn't see mentioned in the blurb IS NOT LIGHT!!!! It's painful. Do I recommend it? Yes. I liked it a lot.
September 25, 2015
One of the latest written, but set almost at the beginning of the chronology, Ugly tells both the story of Julien, the title boy, and the key story of Mark and Taylor that set the chronicles in motion. I'm not sure how it would effect a reader who hasn't encountered The Soccer Field Is Empty (and vice versa), but for me, but seeing those events from an outside perspective was just as powerful as when I first encountered them. This does overshadow Julian's story a bit, but in the end his story does give hope that things have changed in Verona.
August 4, 2019
Could have done more
This book just feels like filler. It shares so much with other books in the series, but too little of its own substance. Was going through and rereading all the Roeder books in chronological order, but now I feel like I could just skip the next one. If you hadn't already, read The Soccer Field is Empty before Beautiful or Ugly. You will be horribly spoilered.
I would have liked to see more from this book than the same scenes from yet another perspective.
This book just feels like filler. It shares so much with other books in the series, but too little of its own substance. Was going through and rereading all the Roeder books in chronological order, but now I feel like I could just skip the next one. If you hadn't already, read The Soccer Field is Empty before Beautiful or Ugly. You will be horribly spoilered.
I would have liked to see more from this book than the same scenes from yet another perspective.
October 19, 2015
Another great one by Mark Roeder! The great thing about this story was the story being told by an observer of what happened to Taylor and Mark (The Soccer Field is Empty). That was absolutely brilliant! It took me back to when I first read Soccer Field and the grief I felt over Mark and Taylor for the first time all over again. I absolutely loved it.
June 1, 2015
This was a story of tragedy, friendship and most importantly hope... I loved Juillan and the way he saw the world.. I didn't like the way he saw himself but I loved how he opened himself up to friendships and hopefully love... I hope to read a novel on how him and the rest of the. Boys turned out in adulthood... Kudos to the author on this coming to age tale!!
May 6, 2017
A Mark A. Roeder super well written novel. The second in the Verona Gay Youth Chronicle. Not to spoil the story, this is the complete chronicle of Mark and Taylor. It also shows when homophobe coaches/teachers can be responsible for the disasters of minority's. The story also shows there is someone for everyone, though it is difficult determine who this might be.
September 17, 2015
this story is about a boy who does everything the father wants just to please him but his self esteem is very low and the boy considers himself UGLY- but is he the ugly one???? read and see what happens
January 16, 2016
Nice book,enjoyed it and liked very much the beginning but faded out a bit at the end... I found it was too rushed and exaggerated...
A sequel would be interesting though
A sequel would be interesting though
April 22, 2017
One of the best books I've ever read!
Mark Roeder is a natural born storyteller!
Ugly is a story filled with characters that you can relate to... Especially if you're a young person who's struggling with being gay, or physical insecurities, or the pain of high school!
The only thing I wish is that the coach who outed Mark and Taylor had been fired, and/or brought up on charges!!!
But hey, he was one of the villains in this story... And every good story needs someone to hate!
Thanks for such an inspiring story!
Mark Roeder is a natural born storyteller!
Ugly is a story filled with characters that you can relate to... Especially if you're a young person who's struggling with being gay, or physical insecurities, or the pain of high school!
The only thing I wish is that the coach who outed Mark and Taylor had been fired, and/or brought up on charges!!!
But hey, he was one of the villains in this story... And every good story needs someone to hate!
Thanks for such an inspiring story!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews