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Liberty
At 2:01 AM on Labor Day Monday, the first gunshots ring out inside Liberty gay dance club in Jacksonville, Florida. The next few hours find August Brees and Corey Ross, both eighteen and coming off the most transformative and romantic summer of their lives, fighting against all odds to forge something everlasting out of two ephemeral lives. During a time when the crime of living your truest life can get you shamed, condemned, or banished from public life altogether, Liberty is about the battle to love and survive in a world that may not always love you back.
Graphic content - reader discretion advised
Graphic content - reader discretion advised
271 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 31, 2017
66 people are currently reading
246 people want to read
About the author
Seth King
53 books1,870 followersSeth King is a twenty-eight-year-old American author.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
November 4, 2017
I'll be honest i couldn't read the last 10 pages of this book, cuz I can't stop crying... I will though, once I stop shaking. I don't even know why I'm crying anymore.
This book is a big FUCK YOU to the US president, and to society, and to whoever thinks they make the rules of life.
Um.. I could say a lot of things right now, but it would be useless. Seth King already said everything.
So just READ! ENJOY! And then REEVALUATE!
This book deserves all the stars in the universe.
This book is a big FUCK YOU to the US president, and to society, and to whoever thinks they make the rules of life.
Um.. I could say a lot of things right now, but it would be useless. Seth King already said everything.
So just READ! ENJOY! And then REEVALUATE!
This book deserves all the stars in the universe.
January 16, 2019
Po skończeniu tej książki byłam tak otępiała, że przez dobre 5 minut gapiłam się na nazwiska ofiar masakry, która miała miejsce w Orlando. Teraz, gdy wiem dokładnie o co chodzi w tej książce, nie dziwi mnie, że została przeczytana tak niewiele razy, bo nie każdy ma odwagę, by po nią sięgnąć. Przeglądając komentarze, wiedziałam, że będzie ciężko, ale nie sądziłam, że aż tak. Ta niesamowita historia wyrywa człowiekowi serce z piersi i wdeptuje je butem w ziemię. To, że jest napisana w tak piękny sposób – w moich oczach – dokłada jedynie czytelnikowi cierpienia. Każde zdanie jest napisane w tak emocjonalny i przemyślany sposób, że chce się je czytać wielokrotnie, by zachować każdy cenny fragment jak najdłużej w pamięci. Historia Coreya i Augusta nie tylko przeniosła mnie w czasie do dnia, kiedy dowiedziałam się o tragedii w Pulse, ale również tak samo mocno mną wstrząsnęła.
Z kilku przeczytanych z tym wątkiem książek, ta jest bez porównania inna. Wszystko jest opisane tak realistycznie, że ma się wrażenie, jakby się tam było i czuło ten sam strach i ból.
Będę szczera, ta historia tak głęboko odcisnęła na mnie swoje piętno, że po jej skończeniu jedyne na co miałam ochotę, to usiąść w kącie i płakać przez cały dzień. Nawet jeśli moje oczy nie przestawały produkować łez przez ¾ tekstu.
Daję całkowicie zasłużone 5 gwiazdek, choć chciałabym móc dać o wiele, wiele więcej tej najpiękniejszej, a zarazem najbardziej ściskającej za serce historii, jaką przeczytałam od bardzo długiego czasu. Nie jestem pewna czy jakakolwiek inna książka w tym roku będzie w stanie przebić tę.
Absolutnie mój numer jeden.
✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩
“Oh,” I almost laugh, “and by the way, you’re married now. Long story. I’ll tell you all about it one day.”
Z kilku przeczytanych z tym wątkiem książek, ta jest bez porównania inna. Wszystko jest opisane tak realistycznie, że ma się wrażenie, jakby się tam było i czuło ten sam strach i ból.
Będę szczera, ta historia tak głęboko odcisnęła na mnie swoje piętno, że po jej skończeniu jedyne na co miałam ochotę, to usiąść w kącie i płakać przez cały dzień. Nawet jeśli moje oczy nie przestawały produkować łez przez ¾ tekstu.
Daję całkowicie zasłużone 5 gwiazdek, choć chciałabym móc dać o wiele, wiele więcej tej najpiękniejszej, a zarazem najbardziej ściskającej za serce historii, jaką przeczytałam od bardzo długiego czasu. Nie jestem pewna czy jakakolwiek inna książka w tym roku będzie w stanie przebić tę.
Absolutnie mój numer jeden.
✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩
“Oh,” I almost laugh, “and by the way, you’re married now. Long story. I’ll tell you all about it one day.”
October 30, 2017
5 Stars (I’d give it 50 if that were an option)
You can do this, I know you can. I believe in you. When the ugliness and hatred in this world combine in tragically horrific ways, it’s so easy to look away and pretend it never happened. But we owe it to them to not look away. As hard as that is, everyone of us owe them that much. Because when it was happening to them, when they were in the middle of that horror, they didn’t have that choice. They couldn’t look away because it was all around them, swallowing them whole. And it still is, for some. For some, hiding who they truly are, being terrified to show the world what’s in their hearts, who they are, who they love – that is still an everyday thing. Until it isn’t, until everyone is free to live and love, we can’t look away
’By now I’ve learned to be two different people, and live inside two different worlds. In my bedroom, in my own little bubble, I can watch drag race……Out of that bubble, I am a different August….I know it’s cowardly, but I don’t know what else to do. There’s a big gay world out there, full of colors and acceptance and love. I just don’t know how to reach it.’
‘I open my mouth and sort of explore a little. Painters create masterpieces about moments like this, songwriters craft classics about kisses less than this one. He kisses me in a way that makes me miss tomorrow: if I can’t be with him every day, I don’t want tomorrow to come at all. So I try to hold onto him without looking like I’m holding anything at all.’
I guarantee that being witness to this will be one of the toughest, bravest things you’ve ever done. But I promise you that your heart will be fuller, your head will know more, your eyes will see more and your soul will be forever brighter. Because you didn’t look away. You stayed. Your fingers will shake as you turn the pages, your heart will pound, your throat will try to close and your tears will definitely fall but please stay. Stay because you owe them that much. Stay because they deserve it. Stay because you truly care. Stay and you will witness a love so blindingly beautiful that you will feel it in you, around you, over you, under you….you will feel it everywhere…and it will stay with you forever. And how beautiful is that? I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy.
You can do this, I know you can. I believe in you. When the ugliness and hatred in this world combine in tragically horrific ways, it’s so easy to look away and pretend it never happened. But we owe it to them to not look away. As hard as that is, everyone of us owe them that much. Because when it was happening to them, when they were in the middle of that horror, they didn’t have that choice. They couldn’t look away because it was all around them, swallowing them whole. And it still is, for some. For some, hiding who they truly are, being terrified to show the world what’s in their hearts, who they are, who they love – that is still an everyday thing. Until it isn’t, until everyone is free to live and love, we can’t look away
’By now I’ve learned to be two different people, and live inside two different worlds. In my bedroom, in my own little bubble, I can watch drag race……Out of that bubble, I am a different August….I know it’s cowardly, but I don’t know what else to do. There’s a big gay world out there, full of colors and acceptance and love. I just don’t know how to reach it.’
‘I open my mouth and sort of explore a little. Painters create masterpieces about moments like this, songwriters craft classics about kisses less than this one. He kisses me in a way that makes me miss tomorrow: if I can’t be with him every day, I don’t want tomorrow to come at all. So I try to hold onto him without looking like I’m holding anything at all.’
I guarantee that being witness to this will be one of the toughest, bravest things you’ve ever done. But I promise you that your heart will be fuller, your head will know more, your eyes will see more and your soul will be forever brighter. Because you didn’t look away. You stayed. Your fingers will shake as you turn the pages, your heart will pound, your throat will try to close and your tears will definitely fall but please stay. Stay because you owe them that much. Stay because they deserve it. Stay because you truly care. Stay and you will witness a love so blindingly beautiful that you will feel it in you, around you, over you, under you….you will feel it everywhere…and it will stay with you forever. And how beautiful is that? I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy.
October 31, 2017
Inconsolably crushed.That's how Seth left me after handing over his tragically beautiful words. There is no doubt in my mind that this piece of art is now my new favorite book. It's been days since I finished reading the last lines, and every time I think about Liberty I tear up. Seth has a way of reaching into the inner sanctum of my heart, ripping out my fears and insecurities, and bringing them to the surface so that I can heal from wounds I'm not sure I was aware that I had. For anyone who has been made to feel inferior or broken because of who they were meant to be, I urge you to soak in this story and take it to heart. And for everyone else, read it anyway.You won't regret it.
August 24, 2018
More than 5 stars
PLEASE READ FIRST MY RATING SYSTEM!!!
To my ratings (thanks to amazon I had to change it again and 'upgrade' it a little bit. 5* is now 5,5* and my old 3* is now a 4*):
5,5* - very very good and rare (it would be a Blow-Away-book like 'Liberty' from Seth King,
'Save the kids' series
from EM Leya or 'Jesse's Smile' from Angelique Jurd), it's like an A+
5* - very good and will be often reread and is a WOW-book with interesting plot and surprises
(like most of Andrew Grey books), it's like an A
4,5* - it's the place between I really like it and I love it, it's like an A-
4* - a really good book, which will be reread a few times (most romances where you can enjoy
for relaxing and during waiting times in hospitals). I can recommend them definitively!
It's like an A-B
3* - it could be more then a one-time-reader, but not really an often reread book
2* - it was ok to read, but it's more a one-time-reader (i wouldn't recommend it heartly, but
it was ok) It's like a C-, D
1* - sorry, but that isn't really a book for me (too many mistakes, not nice plot, unlogical,
NO-GO). It's like failure in the whole line, dismissed, repeat the class
Liberty.
For a few a name, for some a feeling, but for all it should be a human right.
In this book is Liberty the name of a Disco and a Personal development.
If you expect a typical Seth King book, you will get it, but also so much more!
It’s about finding yourself, accepting yourself, finding a love, getting loved, in all aspects of live with tragedy, hope, future.
And it has a HEA, but what kind of HeA? A ‘boy-meets-boy-and-they-live-happy-the-next40-years-together’-HEA or the ‘I-find-myself-accept-myself-love-myself-find-partners-and-be-positive-about-future’-HEA?
I don’t spoiler it!
Maybe it sounds as I would exaggerate with my review, but I don’t give often reviews because not often a book give me these feelings (and not only a good entertainment).
Who knows books of Seth King, followed his growing in writing, knows, he is on the way to the Olymp of writers.
This book will be definitively one of the last steps to climb it! His passion to write about real happen things in his life makes the book vivid.
It’s a great Hommage on the real happened COH (crime of hate) at 2016 at the Pulse Nightclub and remembers on every single victim.
During reading the book you need time, you should be alone (or a place where you could cry), need tissues from early beginning, you will have a strong rollercoaster through all your feelings in a way, you hadn’t felt before at a Seth King Book.
You feel happiness, sadness, pain, fear, panic, love, confusion, sorrow, hope, hopelessness, joy, first love, the full spectrum of feelings in a very intense way.
I had to stop sometimes during reading to calm down and come back to reality. I felt myself inside the book, I WAS August, felt his pain, his love, his joy.
And of course you will learn again some lessons for your life, like in all his books. Not exhorts with his index finger, but by the way fluid in the story.
What Seth King create with that book is his masterpiece! The description of the horror in the disco was touchable! I got nightmares about it!
The changing between horror and the time before of happiness was so a big difference between horror and peace/love, you need that changes to calm down yourself. And it shows on a dramatic way the difference between the feelings.
Chapeau for him! He’s in another genre, but in my opinion you could call him now in a row with J.K.Rowling, Ken Follett, Diana Gabaldon, Dan Brown, Stephen King. The line of Nora Roberts and Patricia Shaw is now behind him.
During reading the scenes at Liberty, you start soon (at around 1/3 of the book) to wish, it would end. The horror, the pain, the hopelessness, the lost. And always when you think, it’s now at the end, it’s just another chapter starting there. Another scene.
But it’s like witness an accident, you don’t want see it, but you can’t stop watching it. Every single detail you notice.
I read it now 2 times and at the second time I thought, I wouldn’t cry as much as before, because I know the story. But the opposite happened. I started earlier to cry, because I know that the next scene would be hurting to read.
This book didn’t end when you finish it.
It will never leave you again. It will change you, settle inside you and accompany you the rest of your live.
As it should be!
To the victims of Pulse: YOU’RE NEVER FORGET!
PLEASE READ FIRST MY RATING SYSTEM!!!
To my ratings (thanks to amazon I had to change it again and 'upgrade' it a little bit. 5* is now 5,5* and my old 3* is now a 4*):
5,5* - very very good and rare (it would be a Blow-Away-book like 'Liberty' from Seth King,
'Save the kids' series
from EM Leya or 'Jesse's Smile' from Angelique Jurd), it's like an A+
5* - very good and will be often reread and is a WOW-book with interesting plot and surprises
(like most of Andrew Grey books), it's like an A
4,5* - it's the place between I really like it and I love it, it's like an A-
4* - a really good book, which will be reread a few times (most romances where you can enjoy
for relaxing and during waiting times in hospitals). I can recommend them definitively!
It's like an A-B
3* - it could be more then a one-time-reader, but not really an often reread book
2* - it was ok to read, but it's more a one-time-reader (i wouldn't recommend it heartly, but
it was ok) It's like a C-, D
1* - sorry, but that isn't really a book for me (too many mistakes, not nice plot, unlogical,
NO-GO). It's like failure in the whole line, dismissed, repeat the class
Liberty.
For a few a name, for some a feeling, but for all it should be a human right.
In this book is Liberty the name of a Disco and a Personal development.
If you expect a typical Seth King book, you will get it, but also so much more!
It’s about finding yourself, accepting yourself, finding a love, getting loved, in all aspects of live with tragedy, hope, future.
And it has a HEA, but what kind of HeA? A ‘boy-meets-boy-and-they-live-happy-the-next40-years-together’-HEA or the ‘I-find-myself-accept-myself-love-myself-find-partners-and-be-positive-about-future’-HEA?
I don’t spoiler it!
Maybe it sounds as I would exaggerate with my review, but I don’t give often reviews because not often a book give me these feelings (and not only a good entertainment).
Who knows books of Seth King, followed his growing in writing, knows, he is on the way to the Olymp of writers.
This book will be definitively one of the last steps to climb it! His passion to write about real happen things in his life makes the book vivid.
It’s a great Hommage on the real happened COH (crime of hate) at 2016 at the Pulse Nightclub and remembers on every single victim.
During reading the book you need time, you should be alone (or a place where you could cry), need tissues from early beginning, you will have a strong rollercoaster through all your feelings in a way, you hadn’t felt before at a Seth King Book.
You feel happiness, sadness, pain, fear, panic, love, confusion, sorrow, hope, hopelessness, joy, first love, the full spectrum of feelings in a very intense way.
I had to stop sometimes during reading to calm down and come back to reality. I felt myself inside the book, I WAS August, felt his pain, his love, his joy.
And of course you will learn again some lessons for your life, like in all his books. Not exhorts with his index finger, but by the way fluid in the story.
What Seth King create with that book is his masterpiece! The description of the horror in the disco was touchable! I got nightmares about it!
The changing between horror and the time before of happiness was so a big difference between horror and peace/love, you need that changes to calm down yourself. And it shows on a dramatic way the difference between the feelings.
Chapeau for him! He’s in another genre, but in my opinion you could call him now in a row with J.K.Rowling, Ken Follett, Diana Gabaldon, Dan Brown, Stephen King. The line of Nora Roberts and Patricia Shaw is now behind him.
During reading the scenes at Liberty, you start soon (at around 1/3 of the book) to wish, it would end. The horror, the pain, the hopelessness, the lost. And always when you think, it’s now at the end, it’s just another chapter starting there. Another scene.
But it’s like witness an accident, you don’t want see it, but you can’t stop watching it. Every single detail you notice.
I read it now 2 times and at the second time I thought, I wouldn’t cry as much as before, because I know the story. But the opposite happened. I started earlier to cry, because I know that the next scene would be hurting to read.
This book didn’t end when you finish it.
It will never leave you again. It will change you, settle inside you and accompany you the rest of your live.
As it should be!
To the victims of Pulse: YOU’RE NEVER FORGET!
November 1, 2017
I am speechless! I honestly don't know what to say about this book. It has my emotions a mess. Actually I am just sad.
This is a hard book to read but a story that must be told.
August and Corey had a beautiful summer love, a young love, a summer of self discovery. I loved that because I am a hopeless romantic. But this book is not just a romance it is also a horror story. A real life tragic horror story. A scary story of life in America.
The authors passion came through so strong at times it took my breath away. I want to hug him it took a lot of strength to write this book and he did it perfectly.
Typical Seth King book I cried, I smiled and I felt every word!
This is a hard book to read but a story that must be told.
August and Corey had a beautiful summer love, a young love, a summer of self discovery. I loved that because I am a hopeless romantic. But this book is not just a romance it is also a horror story. A real life tragic horror story. A scary story of life in America.
The authors passion came through so strong at times it took my breath away. I want to hug him it took a lot of strength to write this book and he did it perfectly.
Typical Seth King book I cried, I smiled and I felt every word!
November 2, 2017
There are not enough stars in the universe to rate this book
I had the privilege of reading an ARC of Liberty by Seth King. I have certain expectations when I read Seth's books. 1. I know it is going to be good. 2. I know I am going to cry…………but,
Good will never be a word I will use to describe Liberty. I don’t think there is a word that exists to describe how I feel about this book. Some I’ve seen call it a masterpiece , and I’d say I have to agree. It is incredible, amazing, brilliant. Think of all the words you can to describe something good and then increase those tenfold.
and as for cry…..well I did plenty of that, and some. I think I need to invest in a tissue company if I’m going to keep reading Seth’s books.
This book ripped out my heart and stomped on it and I have to call it and say its the BEST BOOK I’VE EVER READ. I have tried to think of a better one and I keep on coming up blank.
Now I struggle to tell you why because in doing so will give you too many spoilers. So here are some of Seth’s words about Liberty;
“Liberty, the tale of two teenagers who lock eyes in “conversion therapy” class one Tuesday and instantly feel their lives change forever. Corey and August were born to be together, but in their oppressive and judgmental environments, can they ever truly find liberty?”
August and Corey met in conversion therapy and spent the summer falling in love despite the homophobia and racism that could tear them apart. They decide to spend the last night of the summer together, Labor Day, at Liberty nightclub, just days after Corey’s 18th birthday.
So picture this, you’re dancing with the one you love, openly in public for the first time in a place you feel safe doing so until you hear the shots that will change everything.
Told through August’s eyes we are taken on a journey through the horror events as they unfold within a nightclub under siege, and the aftermath of living after that nightmare.
Thankfully, Seth moves us from future to past events so we have a bit of light among the darkness.
The thing about Seth’s brilliance as a wordsmith is he doesn’t just make you like or love his characters, he makes you feel them, we are on the journey with August and Corey, we felt what they did, the joy, the friendship, the confusion, the love, the anguish, the horror, the despair, the grief. I felt every emotion they felt.
This book took me twice as long to read than it should have because I had to keep stopping, one can’t read when they can’t see through their tears. Needless to say I was up all night, as this is not a book you can put down once you start.
At the end of the book it’s raining, and I think that is fitting because it is the tears of Seth’s readers falling on the pages.
“and for them, I dance……..”
There is so much more I want to say about this book, I want to tell you my favourite part, tell you what will haunt me, my favourite line, but I can’t without spoiling it, and I won’t do that, this book needs to be experienced.
So, I don’t know what else to tell you other than YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK. It is a book that will stay with you for a long long time.
For the full review check out my blog https://somethingonmymind2017.wordpre...
I had the privilege of reading an ARC of Liberty by Seth King. I have certain expectations when I read Seth's books. 1. I know it is going to be good. 2. I know I am going to cry…………but,
Good will never be a word I will use to describe Liberty. I don’t think there is a word that exists to describe how I feel about this book. Some I’ve seen call it a masterpiece , and I’d say I have to agree. It is incredible, amazing, brilliant. Think of all the words you can to describe something good and then increase those tenfold.
and as for cry…..well I did plenty of that, and some. I think I need to invest in a tissue company if I’m going to keep reading Seth’s books.
This book ripped out my heart and stomped on it and I have to call it and say its the BEST BOOK I’VE EVER READ. I have tried to think of a better one and I keep on coming up blank.
Now I struggle to tell you why because in doing so will give you too many spoilers. So here are some of Seth’s words about Liberty;
“Liberty, the tale of two teenagers who lock eyes in “conversion therapy” class one Tuesday and instantly feel their lives change forever. Corey and August were born to be together, but in their oppressive and judgmental environments, can they ever truly find liberty?”
August and Corey met in conversion therapy and spent the summer falling in love despite the homophobia and racism that could tear them apart. They decide to spend the last night of the summer together, Labor Day, at Liberty nightclub, just days after Corey’s 18th birthday.
So picture this, you’re dancing with the one you love, openly in public for the first time in a place you feel safe doing so until you hear the shots that will change everything.
Told through August’s eyes we are taken on a journey through the horror events as they unfold within a nightclub under siege, and the aftermath of living after that nightmare.
Thankfully, Seth moves us from future to past events so we have a bit of light among the darkness.
The thing about Seth’s brilliance as a wordsmith is he doesn’t just make you like or love his characters, he makes you feel them, we are on the journey with August and Corey, we felt what they did, the joy, the friendship, the confusion, the love, the anguish, the horror, the despair, the grief. I felt every emotion they felt.
This book took me twice as long to read than it should have because I had to keep stopping, one can’t read when they can’t see through their tears. Needless to say I was up all night, as this is not a book you can put down once you start.
At the end of the book it’s raining, and I think that is fitting because it is the tears of Seth’s readers falling on the pages.
“and for them, I dance……..”
There is so much more I want to say about this book, I want to tell you my favourite part, tell you what will haunt me, my favourite line, but I can’t without spoiling it, and I won’t do that, this book needs to be experienced.
So, I don’t know what else to tell you other than YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK. It is a book that will stay with you for a long long time.
For the full review check out my blog https://somethingonmymind2017.wordpre...
October 31, 2017
Forewarning: Parts of the book are extremely violent in nature
First off, this may be the best book to date by Seth King. While not a true story, you can tell a *lot* of research went into this book both on a personal and professional level. I really enjoyed and actually appreciated how the time jumps back and forth from when they met, until the night at the club. It keeps you on your toes and at no time did I feel lost while reading. This book is hauntingly beautiful and devastating to where your life will be changed forever or I hope it does, but in a positive way.
August is sent to a teen "revival camp", Mr. Jack’s Prayer Group for Confused/ Misguided Teens by his father who wants him to be more "manly". This camp is actually run by a creepy counselor, Jack Sparrow. From the beginning you just feel creepy when this counselor talks at the meetings. The revival is actually a conversion camp for kids who are LGBT+ or if the parents question their child's sexuality. August is biding his time because he's afraid his dad will be called and make matters worse. Four months later, life changes in an unforgiving way.
One day in walks Corey, who is exotic and beautiful looking half black, half native american. His father is racist against white people just as August's dad is racist against anyone who isn't white. They bond over racist parents who are also homophobic.
August can't understand someone like Corey, so nice, interesting and sweet would be interested in him. August is just... boring. Nothing special. Corey helps slowly push August out of his comfort zone. Shows him what he sees, what August is missing. They go places and see things, making the most of the summer. Together try and convince the other members in Jack's special cult errr class, his ideology is wrong.
One night, at the end of the summer, August really wants to go dancing at a newer club. Corey isn't so sure, but he is heading off to college next week, so off they go. Little did either boy know the nightmare that lies ahead, the damage done forever. One life lost, one changed forever and several people saved in more ways than one.
First off, this may be the best book to date by Seth King. While not a true story, you can tell a *lot* of research went into this book both on a personal and professional level. I really enjoyed and actually appreciated how the time jumps back and forth from when they met, until the night at the club. It keeps you on your toes and at no time did I feel lost while reading. This book is hauntingly beautiful and devastating to where your life will be changed forever or I hope it does, but in a positive way.
August is sent to a teen "revival camp", Mr. Jack’s Prayer Group for Confused/ Misguided Teens by his father who wants him to be more "manly". This camp is actually run by a creepy counselor, Jack Sparrow. From the beginning you just feel creepy when this counselor talks at the meetings. The revival is actually a conversion camp for kids who are LGBT+ or if the parents question their child's sexuality. August is biding his time because he's afraid his dad will be called and make matters worse. Four months later, life changes in an unforgiving way.
One day in walks Corey, who is exotic and beautiful looking half black, half native american. His father is racist against white people just as August's dad is racist against anyone who isn't white. They bond over racist parents who are also homophobic.
August can't understand someone like Corey, so nice, interesting and sweet would be interested in him. August is just... boring. Nothing special. Corey helps slowly push August out of his comfort zone. Shows him what he sees, what August is missing. They go places and see things, making the most of the summer. Together try and convince the other members in Jack's special cult errr class, his ideology is wrong.
One night, at the end of the summer, August really wants to go dancing at a newer club. Corey isn't so sure, but he is heading off to college next week, so off they go. Little did either boy know the nightmare that lies ahead, the damage done forever. One life lost, one changed forever and several people saved in more ways than one.
November 1, 2017
This book destroyed me! It was so devastatingly beautiful! It hurt so badly.
"When someone leaves, saying goodbye to their light is the first step- finding your way in all your new darkness is the next", well, I feel like I need to find my way now in all my new darkness you've created with your words!
Thank you Seth💚
If people are going to read only one Seth King novel (which would truly be horrible), at least make sure it's this one! I mean I love every book by Seth but this one...just WOW! The first love of August and Corey, intertwined with a similar experience of the Orlando Pulse massacre, will truly move you!
"When someone leaves, saying goodbye to their light is the first step- finding your way in all your new darkness is the next", well, I feel like I need to find my way now in all my new darkness you've created with your words!
Thank you Seth💚
If people are going to read only one Seth King novel (which would truly be horrible), at least make sure it's this one! I mean I love every book by Seth but this one...just WOW! The first love of August and Corey, intertwined with a similar experience of the Orlando Pulse massacre, will truly move you!
October 30, 2017
This is not a book. It's a masterpiece.
When I was asked to read this book my immediate answer was yes. I will never say no to a Seth King book. But I wasn't aware of what I was signing up for.
Now I read the blurb, I thought I was prepared. But nothing can truly prepare you for a read like this. This is the heaviest thing I have ever read. And it rocked me to my core.
Liberty is about a boy named August. A boy named August who fell in love with a boy named Corey. And together they faced the reality of what our country is.
I'll admit y'all early on the tears came. Why? Because I knew whatever the end result was going to be it was going to hurt.
You see the love between August and Corey develops in a shy organic way. After all, they live in the South where a love like theirs is so out of reach it's insanity. But they make it work. Oh do they make it work their way and I love the way Seth describes love. He hits on all the points. All of them.
I was a smiling fool as these characters were discovering each other.
August was the shy bookworm that made my heart ache and I just wanted to hug him.
Corey was strong but he was also vulnerable. He was passion and love. He was also the sad reality of different-ness.
And then came the other part of Liberty. The part that is so close to reality it made me shake. It made me sick. Not because I couldn't handle reading it, but because it reality masked as fiction.
It's a story of two boys who just wanted to love each other. Two boys who fell in love in the wrong place and ended up visiting the wrong club on the wrong night.
And I have never felt more honored to have a platform to help share this.
Because let's face the facts things like the shooting described in Liberty happened. And Pulse really did happen last year. And those are truths we have to live with.
Liberty is the best book I've ever read. And I don't say that lightly. It's the most meaningful. The most real.
Seth King is using his platform to tell a reality that most are too afraid to. And I'll be damn sure to support him and whatever he does. I have so much admiration for it.
I hated Seth for a few pages. I changed my mind about where the story was going about three times over the nine and a half hours I spent reading. In the end I understood why the events played out the way they did. That doesn't mean I have to like him for it.
I hated the truth even if it was supposed to be disguised as fiction. And it touched me and made me cry. I fell in love with a love story and got sick over the reality. And this is a book that is going to turn people's minds and I am so so lucky to have been able to read it.
Liberty was a joy to read. Sounds weird to say that given the content, but it really was. Because it's not a tragedy. But real life that just happens to host a tragic event.
With the way Seth King writes I have no doubt every single person who picks up this book is going to be exactly like me. Will there be haters? Probably, because many don't like being confronted with the truth. But that's okay. Because it's out there and those who read and understand and take in the beauty along with the tragedy are the only ones that matter.
Seth King pushes boundaries and I respect him so much for that. With his poetic writing style and his determination to write what is real-this book is going to make beautiful waves. They might be choppy, but they'll still be beautiful.
I thank Seth a lot in my reviews. This time is no different. I thank him for being brave enough to speak up. For using the voice he has. As every time he uses his voice I get to read it, I get to share it, and I get to show and share my voice as well.
Do not take this lightly. Do not read this and cast it off as fiction.
Embrace it.
Embrace our history that isn't even history yet.
Embrace the beautiful, flawed, messy life we all could have if more saw past the bullshit and faced the truth.
That is what Liberty is for me.
What is it for you?
When I was asked to read this book my immediate answer was yes. I will never say no to a Seth King book. But I wasn't aware of what I was signing up for.
Now I read the blurb, I thought I was prepared. But nothing can truly prepare you for a read like this. This is the heaviest thing I have ever read. And it rocked me to my core.
Liberty is about a boy named August. A boy named August who fell in love with a boy named Corey. And together they faced the reality of what our country is.
I'll admit y'all early on the tears came. Why? Because I knew whatever the end result was going to be it was going to hurt.
You see the love between August and Corey develops in a shy organic way. After all, they live in the South where a love like theirs is so out of reach it's insanity. But they make it work. Oh do they make it work their way and I love the way Seth describes love. He hits on all the points. All of them.
I was a smiling fool as these characters were discovering each other.
August was the shy bookworm that made my heart ache and I just wanted to hug him.
Corey was strong but he was also vulnerable. He was passion and love. He was also the sad reality of different-ness.
And then came the other part of Liberty. The part that is so close to reality it made me shake. It made me sick. Not because I couldn't handle reading it, but because it reality masked as fiction.
It's a story of two boys who just wanted to love each other. Two boys who fell in love in the wrong place and ended up visiting the wrong club on the wrong night.
And I have never felt more honored to have a platform to help share this.
Because let's face the facts things like the shooting described in Liberty happened. And Pulse really did happen last year. And those are truths we have to live with.
Liberty is the best book I've ever read. And I don't say that lightly. It's the most meaningful. The most real.
Seth King is using his platform to tell a reality that most are too afraid to. And I'll be damn sure to support him and whatever he does. I have so much admiration for it.
I hated Seth for a few pages. I changed my mind about where the story was going about three times over the nine and a half hours I spent reading. In the end I understood why the events played out the way they did. That doesn't mean I have to like him for it.
I hated the truth even if it was supposed to be disguised as fiction. And it touched me and made me cry. I fell in love with a love story and got sick over the reality. And this is a book that is going to turn people's minds and I am so so lucky to have been able to read it.
Liberty was a joy to read. Sounds weird to say that given the content, but it really was. Because it's not a tragedy. But real life that just happens to host a tragic event.
With the way Seth King writes I have no doubt every single person who picks up this book is going to be exactly like me. Will there be haters? Probably, because many don't like being confronted with the truth. But that's okay. Because it's out there and those who read and understand and take in the beauty along with the tragedy are the only ones that matter.
Seth King pushes boundaries and I respect him so much for that. With his poetic writing style and his determination to write what is real-this book is going to make beautiful waves. They might be choppy, but they'll still be beautiful.
I thank Seth a lot in my reviews. This time is no different. I thank him for being brave enough to speak up. For using the voice he has. As every time he uses his voice I get to read it, I get to share it, and I get to show and share my voice as well.
Do not take this lightly. Do not read this and cast it off as fiction.
Embrace it.
Embrace our history that isn't even history yet.
Embrace the beautiful, flawed, messy life we all could have if more saw past the bullshit and faced the truth.
That is what Liberty is for me.
What is it for you?
November 2, 2017
I haven’t been this emotionally moved by a book in a long time and I experienced the full gamut of emotions while reading it. I had to get up periodically and take a step back because it almost got to be too much. Just needed to take a few deep breaths before diving back in to this amazing book. I know this is a book that will stay with me for a long, long time. I think it will with you too.
Full review on my blog.
Full review on my blog.
March 27, 2020
Muy buen libro y una crítica bestial a la América profunda, esa que vota a los republicanos del actual presidente.
No le pongo cinco estrellas porque lo alarga un poco de más y la primera parte acaba haciéndose un poco eterna. La segunda lo mejora con creces, pero para mi gusto, también podía ahorrarse unas cuantas páginas del final.
Super-recomendable
No le pongo cinco estrellas porque lo alarga un poco de más y la primera parte acaba haciéndose un poco eterna. La segunda lo mejora con creces, pero para mi gusto, también podía ahorrarse unas cuantas páginas del final.
Super-recomendable
November 9, 2017
Full review at :
https://optimumm.blog/2017/11/09/review-liberty-by-seth-king/
I don’t know how to start my review. This book is more than a book; this book is a testiment. The testiment of our youth. The testiment of our failure.
June 2017, August is at the “therapy conversion” group listening to Jack, a self-hating guy, who explains to him and the kids in the group how bad and wrong they are for being gay.
It’s in this room, in this “therapy conversion” that he meets Corey.
Corey and August will spend their summer together, loving each other, until Liberty. Until this fateful night where 2 young souls in love decided to go dancing at the club and the worst night of their life happened.
Telling you that I love the book is obvious. Telling you that this book is a must-read, is also obvious.
Corey and August are beautifully heart-breaking.
August is shy, a bookworm, and he’s terrified. Terrified of his dad, a pure homophobic, racist man. Terrified to be him, terrified to love Corey, to be loved by him. All his life, August had to hide who he truly is. Until Corey.
Corey is a beautiful mix-race young boy. All his life he has to face the racism, the judgment, the assumptions, but he fights back. He’s gay, he’s proud and wants to live his life, no matter what his parents want or say. Corey will live his life and August will be by his side.
Like I said, this book is the testiment of what happens right now in our world. The testiment of our failure.
Seth King writes a heart-breaking story, his writing is beautiful, fluid, he didn’t write words, he wrote feelings. He wrote love, fear, pain, joy. He wrote what we can’t fully feel, only understand.
The book is from August’s POV. the entire book, we’re with him, in his heart, his soul. We fall in love with them, we’re terrified with him, and we suffer and cry with him. We are August.
This book needs to be shared, needs to be offered. YOU need it as parents, uncles/aunts, teachers, godfathers/mothers, you need to share Corey and August’s story, you need to read it to fully understand what our youth around the world live with. You need to see our responsibility in this disaster.
I’m the single mother of mix raced son (he’s black, and I’m white). I raised him with love and tolerance, but I also raised him to be ready for the racism, it’s sad but true. But I didn’t stop there, I also tried to educate people around me. I can’t be okay with someone in my entourage saying something homophobic or racist, and not intervene. Why do I tell you that? Because that’s what the book is about too. It’s about how people turn their heads and refuse to acknowledge that something is wrong. It’s about how people who aren’t part of a minority (I hate this world) turn their heads when thing start to be ugly or weird. And No, it’s not because you didn’t think the same, it’s that you’re complicit letting this happen.
Here, Seth King writes it, and show us, how we all failed. And this book is the testiment of all the Augusts and Coreys in the world, all the Maritza, Alonzo, Anne, Blaines in the world. How strong they are, How they resist every day and fight for their future, to be free, to be who they want to be.
This book is one of the best emotional reads I ever had in the last 2 years, and even if it’s hard, even if it’s broken your heart, you need to read this amazing, beautiful love story.
Hats Off Mister King. I’m humbled and amazed in front of your talented.
5 breathtaking OptimuMMs starts. I will let them know your names
***I would like to thank the author for the privilege and opportunity of reading this ARC. My review is an honest opinion of the book ***
https://optimumm.blog/2017/11/09/review-liberty-by-seth-king/
I don’t know how to start my review. This book is more than a book; this book is a testiment. The testiment of our youth. The testiment of our failure.
June 2017, August is at the “therapy conversion” group listening to Jack, a self-hating guy, who explains to him and the kids in the group how bad and wrong they are for being gay.
It’s in this room, in this “therapy conversion” that he meets Corey.
Corey and August will spend their summer together, loving each other, until Liberty. Until this fateful night where 2 young souls in love decided to go dancing at the club and the worst night of their life happened.
Telling you that I love the book is obvious. Telling you that this book is a must-read, is also obvious.
Corey and August are beautifully heart-breaking.
August is shy, a bookworm, and he’s terrified. Terrified of his dad, a pure homophobic, racist man. Terrified to be him, terrified to love Corey, to be loved by him. All his life, August had to hide who he truly is. Until Corey.
Corey is a beautiful mix-race young boy. All his life he has to face the racism, the judgment, the assumptions, but he fights back. He’s gay, he’s proud and wants to live his life, no matter what his parents want or say. Corey will live his life and August will be by his side.
Like I said, this book is the testiment of what happens right now in our world. The testiment of our failure.
Seth King writes a heart-breaking story, his writing is beautiful, fluid, he didn’t write words, he wrote feelings. He wrote love, fear, pain, joy. He wrote what we can’t fully feel, only understand.
The book is from August’s POV. the entire book, we’re with him, in his heart, his soul. We fall in love with them, we’re terrified with him, and we suffer and cry with him. We are August.
This book needs to be shared, needs to be offered. YOU need it as parents, uncles/aunts, teachers, godfathers/mothers, you need to share Corey and August’s story, you need to read it to fully understand what our youth around the world live with. You need to see our responsibility in this disaster.
I’m the single mother of mix raced son (he’s black, and I’m white). I raised him with love and tolerance, but I also raised him to be ready for the racism, it’s sad but true. But I didn’t stop there, I also tried to educate people around me. I can’t be okay with someone in my entourage saying something homophobic or racist, and not intervene. Why do I tell you that? Because that’s what the book is about too. It’s about how people turn their heads and refuse to acknowledge that something is wrong. It’s about how people who aren’t part of a minority (I hate this world) turn their heads when thing start to be ugly or weird. And No, it’s not because you didn’t think the same, it’s that you’re complicit letting this happen.
Here, Seth King writes it, and show us, how we all failed. And this book is the testiment of all the Augusts and Coreys in the world, all the Maritza, Alonzo, Anne, Blaines in the world. How strong they are, How they resist every day and fight for their future, to be free, to be who they want to be.
This book is one of the best emotional reads I ever had in the last 2 years, and even if it’s hard, even if it’s broken your heart, you need to read this amazing, beautiful love story.
Hats Off Mister King. I’m humbled and amazed in front of your talented.
5 breathtaking OptimuMMs starts. I will let them know your names
***I would like to thank the author for the privilege and opportunity of reading this ARC. My review is an honest opinion of the book ***
November 1, 2017
When I was asked if I wanted to read this book, I was shown the synopsis and it immediately stirred up all my emotions. I knew from those few sentences that I was about to read something special and I immediately agreed to read it. However, you don't just read this book. You feel it, you live it and you'll never, ever forget it.
I have read Seth King's other books and loved them all, but he takes "Liberty" to a whole new level and it is without a doubt, not only his best work to date, but it is the best book I've ever read. The way he has written it, is pure brilliance. I was captivated from the very first page and when certain parts get hard to read, he switches it around just at the right moment, so as not to break us too much.
This is the love story of August and Corey. 2 teenage boys that meet in a "conversion therapy" class that their parents are making them attend to try and brainwash them into not being gay.
We learn throughout the book about the characters battles they have faced and hatred they have dealt with through their lives from their parents and in the schoolyard. August and Corey's personalities are so different, but they are so perfect for each other in every way.
BUT, this is not only a love story. There's another side to the book that had me holding my breath, clutching my heart, and sobbing big, fat ugly tears. Liberty is fiction, but this very emotional and sometimes hard to read part of the book had me remembering similar events that have happened in our society and continue to happen, and this reason right here, is why this book needs to be read by everybody, all over the world. I can only imagine the research the author must have done for this book, because every scene felt so real, like I was watching it happen. Liberty will rip your heart out, stomp on it, and it will etch August and Corey's story into your soul forever.
Seth King's writing is such a shining light here. The storyline is brilliant, the love story is absolutely beautiful, the hard to read scenes are heartbreaking, and the writing is nothing short of phenomenal.
I hope my review does this book justice, because I am struggling to find the right words to explain my love for this story. I ask you to please one-click this book, because your life will be so much better for it, but be warned you'll need some tissues, or maybe a lot of tissues like I did. I cried buckets, especially that ending.
One more thing, please read right to the end for the author's note. It's beautiful, as always.
"And for them, I dance..."
I have read Seth King's other books and loved them all, but he takes "Liberty" to a whole new level and it is without a doubt, not only his best work to date, but it is the best book I've ever read. The way he has written it, is pure brilliance. I was captivated from the very first page and when certain parts get hard to read, he switches it around just at the right moment, so as not to break us too much.
This is the love story of August and Corey. 2 teenage boys that meet in a "conversion therapy" class that their parents are making them attend to try and brainwash them into not being gay.
We learn throughout the book about the characters battles they have faced and hatred they have dealt with through their lives from their parents and in the schoolyard. August and Corey's personalities are so different, but they are so perfect for each other in every way.
BUT, this is not only a love story. There's another side to the book that had me holding my breath, clutching my heart, and sobbing big, fat ugly tears. Liberty is fiction, but this very emotional and sometimes hard to read part of the book had me remembering similar events that have happened in our society and continue to happen, and this reason right here, is why this book needs to be read by everybody, all over the world. I can only imagine the research the author must have done for this book, because every scene felt so real, like I was watching it happen. Liberty will rip your heart out, stomp on it, and it will etch August and Corey's story into your soul forever.
Seth King's writing is such a shining light here. The storyline is brilliant, the love story is absolutely beautiful, the hard to read scenes are heartbreaking, and the writing is nothing short of phenomenal.
I hope my review does this book justice, because I am struggling to find the right words to explain my love for this story. I ask you to please one-click this book, because your life will be so much better for it, but be warned you'll need some tissues, or maybe a lot of tissues like I did. I cried buckets, especially that ending.
One more thing, please read right to the end for the author's note. It's beautiful, as always.
"And for them, I dance..."
November 1, 2017
Seth King did it again... He wrote a story of love , finding your self ? Standing up for what you believe in and tragedy but in the best way. I love how Seth brings things into the store that are really going on today in this world (Politics) among other things. Liberty had me laughing and had me Bawling like a baby. This book will stay with my Always .... The story of Corey and August is a beautiful love and of courage. Three of many favorite parts in this story goes like this
“but love is never wrong.It’s just love. Right now, I would rather be with Auggie than anyone in the world.”
“You taught me…” I say into his frizzy hair, my throat choked to hell and back. “You taught me how to be myself. Without hating myself, I mean. And that’s a big distinction. You taught me…everything.
“I love you, Corey,and…even though we ended, in a way wedidn’t end. Inside of whatever I am, there’ll be a place for you. Always. Until always isn’t a thing anymore. I promise.” I swallow one last time. “And I know this sounds cheesy, but…don’t ever stop dancing like you were that night. Just…don’t stop dancing. Ever.”
Just picking these 3 my eyes are watering, I am in love this story .This story is well Written you feel as though you are there watching this unfold. You can feel the passion in the lives of these boys and girls, men and women.
Don’t stop Dancing ...
“but love is never wrong.It’s just love. Right now, I would rather be with Auggie than anyone in the world.”
“You taught me…” I say into his frizzy hair, my throat choked to hell and back. “You taught me how to be myself. Without hating myself, I mean. And that’s a big distinction. You taught me…everything.
“I love you, Corey,and…even though we ended, in a way wedidn’t end. Inside of whatever I am, there’ll be a place for you. Always. Until always isn’t a thing anymore. I promise.” I swallow one last time. “And I know this sounds cheesy, but…don’t ever stop dancing like you were that night. Just…don’t stop dancing. Ever.”
Just picking these 3 my eyes are watering, I am in love this story .This story is well Written you feel as though you are there watching this unfold. You can feel the passion in the lives of these boys and girls, men and women.
Don’t stop Dancing ...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 1, 2017
Liberation takes many forms
This is not a romance, though it is in part romantic, I mean, young love is so special.
This is what happens when a boy falls in love with a boy , in a world not quite ready to afford everyone the same Liberty to love who they want to love
I apologize because I realize this review is kind of all over the place which is what I was from the moment I finished reading this very important book .This is a story about young love, about Corey and August, who met in conversion therapy .And then they became friends and then they fall in love and then they just wanted to go dancing. This book was so hard to read at times but it's even harder to realize that these are events that happen in this country and around the world as I'm writing this!
Seth king wrote his most important book so far and I speak from experience his and those of his friends. This book should be required reading on the same level as The Outsiders, it's an important book for our times in educating in offering empathy and offering acceptance .
This book you angry, it will make you think, it will make you cry and up until the very last word it will actually offer hope that things can change .
This is not a romance, though it is in part romantic, I mean, young love is so special.
This is what happens when a boy falls in love with a boy , in a world not quite ready to afford everyone the same Liberty to love who they want to love
I apologize because I realize this review is kind of all over the place which is what I was from the moment I finished reading this very important book .This is a story about young love, about Corey and August, who met in conversion therapy .And then they became friends and then they fall in love and then they just wanted to go dancing. This book was so hard to read at times but it's even harder to realize that these are events that happen in this country and around the world as I'm writing this!
Seth king wrote his most important book so far and I speak from experience his and those of his friends. This book should be required reading on the same level as The Outsiders, it's an important book for our times in educating in offering empathy and offering acceptance .
This book you angry, it will make you think, it will make you cry and up until the very last word it will actually offer hope that things can change .
September 2, 2020
Where were you when the shooting started?
After a short life as hated, Corey changed his friends and the world. Only his boyfriend knows for sure, but no one else cares. This book is not for the faint-hearted. It is for parents who hate, families who fight, leaders who blame, bullies who hurt, homophobes who destroy gays for fun and profit.
But they will never read it. Because they will never change from their bigotry and hatred. It is what gives them the feeling of power over others. And they do not care.
The gays who do read it will be changed as the again witness the crushing hatred of religious fanatics.
The Pride and unity of support and dignity are not enough to convince the deaf opposition to listen. Calm reasoning is impossible. The only thing certain is that the crimes will be repeated and the victims will be blamed with gods' wrath and punishment. After a short media frenzy, things will be the same. Only some will be dead and all the rest scared for the rest of their lives.
After a short life as hated, Corey changed his friends and the world. Only his boyfriend knows for sure, but no one else cares. This book is not for the faint-hearted. It is for parents who hate, families who fight, leaders who blame, bullies who hurt, homophobes who destroy gays for fun and profit.
But they will never read it. Because they will never change from their bigotry and hatred. It is what gives them the feeling of power over others. And they do not care.
The gays who do read it will be changed as the again witness the crushing hatred of religious fanatics.
The Pride and unity of support and dignity are not enough to convince the deaf opposition to listen. Calm reasoning is impossible. The only thing certain is that the crimes will be repeated and the victims will be blamed with gods' wrath and punishment. After a short media frenzy, things will be the same. Only some will be dead and all the rest scared for the rest of their lives.
October 31, 2017
This book!!! (insert open mouth emoji here.) Where do I even begin? I wish I could give this book a billion stars. This is Seth's best work yet and I wish I could make everyone in the world read this book. This book shattered my heart into a million pieces, but its definitely worth the read! I have so much respect for Seth and his way of writing and the way he always brings to light the things that we as LGBT+ people face on a daily basis. I devoured this book in less than 24 hours!!! This book will suck you in and have you crying from beginning to end. You'll be thinking about his book long after you are done reading it. Will this book change your life? Absolutely!! Should you read this book? 100% yes. This book is a masterpiece that should be plastered in every library, every office, every building across the world!!
November 3, 2017
I don't know how to put this book into words or even rank it. Stars don't apply to Liberty but a broken heart and tears certainly do. This book is a tragic masterpiece. Seth King took something that is so controversial and made it relateable on an entirely different level.
August and Corey's story is everyone's story. It is for every single person who has ever been afraid of who they were or how they felt. Who has ever had to hide their heart. Who has ever been afraid to love out loud in the sunshine. And wrapped up in the madness and devastation is a love journey in it's purest form.
Seth King always finds a way to break me. And this book was no different. It was emotional overload and profound. It was in your face and so worth fighting through the harshness to finish. Liberty made me think and it made me feel. It made me angry and sad and hopeful all at once. Especially watching how much August grew. He bulldozed his own walls and turned his pain into purpose because "love is never wrong. It's just love."
August and Corey's story is everyone's story. It is for every single person who has ever been afraid of who they were or how they felt. Who has ever had to hide their heart. Who has ever been afraid to love out loud in the sunshine. And wrapped up in the madness and devastation is a love journey in it's purest form.
Seth King always finds a way to break me. And this book was no different. It was emotional overload and profound. It was in your face and so worth fighting through the harshness to finish. Liberty made me think and it made me feel. It made me angry and sad and hopeful all at once. Especially watching how much August grew. He bulldozed his own walls and turned his pain into purpose because "love is never wrong. It's just love."
November 20, 2017
Liberty is not an easy book to review. It is expressive, powerful, educational and intense!
Seth King is a revolutionary. He is taking M/m Romance to a whole new level. He could quite possibly be saving people's lives and definetly opening a few eyes. Seth has very strong opinions and is not afraid to voice them. His voice comes through loud and clear in Liberty. Which may or may not turn people off... But I think his ultimate goal was to be the voice for those who can not speak.
To be honest in the beginning of Liberty, I almost gave up. I was not prepared for it's content. I felt like in parts of it I was being preach to... It is filled with current politics and a lot of facts. It did force me to view things through someone elses eyes. I usually read to escape reality and this was too real for me. Although, I am so happy I stuck with it. It really did show me how many people within the LGBTQ+ community live, suffer and feel... And just how ignorant and hateful people can be. How far things have come for LGBTQ+ Community and much further they need to go!
Liberty took me on a rollercoaster ride... I felt a plethora of emotions.
Within it's pages, you can feel how personal this book was to Seth. Whether you agree with his opinions or not these are his thoughts, views and feelings that need to be respected. As always Seth's writing is stellar. The extraordinary love story between Cory and August took my breath away. Some of the scenes were down right heart wrenching to say the least... Seth certainly knows how to write books that will stay with his reader forever.
Put your personal beliefs on the side, Liberty is a book that needs to be read.
Seth King is a revolutionary. He is taking M/m Romance to a whole new level. He could quite possibly be saving people's lives and definetly opening a few eyes. Seth has very strong opinions and is not afraid to voice them. His voice comes through loud and clear in Liberty. Which may or may not turn people off... But I think his ultimate goal was to be the voice for those who can not speak.
To be honest in the beginning of Liberty, I almost gave up. I was not prepared for it's content. I felt like in parts of it I was being preach to... It is filled with current politics and a lot of facts. It did force me to view things through someone elses eyes. I usually read to escape reality and this was too real for me. Although, I am so happy I stuck with it. It really did show me how many people within the LGBTQ+ community live, suffer and feel... And just how ignorant and hateful people can be. How far things have come for LGBTQ+ Community and much further they need to go!
Liberty took me on a rollercoaster ride... I felt a plethora of emotions.
Within it's pages, you can feel how personal this book was to Seth. Whether you agree with his opinions or not these are his thoughts, views and feelings that need to be respected. As always Seth's writing is stellar. The extraordinary love story between Cory and August took my breath away. Some of the scenes were down right heart wrenching to say the least... Seth certainly knows how to write books that will stay with his reader forever.
Put your personal beliefs on the side, Liberty is a book that needs to be read.
November 6, 2017
Have tissues you'll need them. 😢
First off if you are looking for a Happily Every After...there isn't one here. This is a tough book to read. It is very emotional, tugs at your heart, and makes you think. I'm the first to admit that I was ignorant and misguided in a lot areas and a lot of it is learned behavior. I have always supported the gay pride movement, but being a straight white woman, a lot of my beliefs were just sorted into certain agendas and I admit to being wrong. I'm not going to say I saw the light and I'm cured of all my misguided ways. It'll take time and a lot of hard work on my part, but I'm open minded. Always have been.
That said this book guides you through the love of two teenage boys, (August Brees and Corey Ross) abusive and misguided home life, biracial relationships, conversion therapy, a LBGTQ club shooting, and loss of a soul mate. I have never cried so much in one book before and been sent onto an emotional rollercoaster of myself as well as the characters. My eyes were raw from the tears I shed. I cried driving down the road as I continued to think about this story even when I wasn't reading. I highly recommend you pick this book up. Whether it be in paperback or ebook you will not be disappointed.
I hope that Seth brings August back in a future story and gives him a HEA but if not then that's okay too.
First off if you are looking for a Happily Every After...there isn't one here. This is a tough book to read. It is very emotional, tugs at your heart, and makes you think. I'm the first to admit that I was ignorant and misguided in a lot areas and a lot of it is learned behavior. I have always supported the gay pride movement, but being a straight white woman, a lot of my beliefs were just sorted into certain agendas and I admit to being wrong. I'm not going to say I saw the light and I'm cured of all my misguided ways. It'll take time and a lot of hard work on my part, but I'm open minded. Always have been.
That said this book guides you through the love of two teenage boys, (August Brees and Corey Ross) abusive and misguided home life, biracial relationships, conversion therapy, a LBGTQ club shooting, and loss of a soul mate. I have never cried so much in one book before and been sent onto an emotional rollercoaster of myself as well as the characters. My eyes were raw from the tears I shed. I cried driving down the road as I continued to think about this story even when I wasn't reading. I highly recommend you pick this book up. Whether it be in paperback or ebook you will not be disappointed.
I hope that Seth brings August back in a future story and gives him a HEA but if not then that's okay too.
May 26, 2022
The fact that conversion therapy still exists today is abhorrent. I was shocked to find after a quick google that conversion therapy still happens in my country, (Australia), in 5 out of our 8 states and territories. Hopefully it will be banned right across our country 🙏🏻
Why is it that some people can’t stand the thought of allowing another human being to be free to make their own life choices! Surely we’re just people and not our sexual preferences! Unfortunately these are questions we will never get the answers to.
I found this a very thought provoking, challenging and sad read but I also felt some hope for a better future. This story will stay with me for a long time.
Why is it that some people can’t stand the thought of allowing another human being to be free to make their own life choices! Surely we’re just people and not our sexual preferences! Unfortunately these are questions we will never get the answers to.
I found this a very thought provoking, challenging and sad read but I also felt some hope for a better future. This story will stay with me for a long time.
April 3, 2022
This book moved me in so many ways. It’s clear, passion filled, and written beautifully. You quickly fall in love with characters as you are taken for a ride with the plot. The book is a gem.
In short, this is Seth’s best book to date. And it’s a must read.
In short, this is Seth’s best book to date. And it’s a must read.
February 5, 2018
I don't know if ever will be a Seth King book that doesn't brake me into tiny little pieces... It was outstanding and beautiful but also shocking and painful. This is a story that I'll never forget.
November 6, 2017
I will never be able to say enough about this story. I got my first taste of Seth King's writing with "Straight" a few months ago. At the time, it was the first time I'd read LGBT+ fiction written by someone who was dedicated to telling a real story. Not a true story necessarily, but one that encompasses every aspect of what it is to work through the complicated element of life that is sexuality and relationships. When I heard this book was coming out, I picked it up immediately and started reading the second I downloaded it on my Kindle. To be perfectly honest, this was a hard book for me to read. That's not a bad thing in any way and it shouldn't be taken as any sort of negativity toward the author's writing style or subject matter.
This book was incredibly difficult to read because it's so honest. It's raw and open and real and it's utterly impossible to ignore the state of our nation and our society while reading it. The characters are so real that you can't help but connect with them, and in connecting with them, you fall in love with them. You ache with them. You need with them. You feel every bit of their elation, their fear, and their devastation. I'm not going to lie. It's a tough journey. I had to stop reading several times because I was crying too hard to focus on the words and even more times because my heart just needed a break. It's not very often that I come across an author from this area (I live an hour away from where this story was set) who really and truly knows what it is to grow up as a queer person in a state many people swear isn't Southern. August's story was so close to my own in so many ways that it was painful to read what he went through.
Difficult as this story was at times, though, it comes at a time when we all need so greatly to be reminded of the hate that is so easily brushed aside as freedom in our world. Yes, we do have freedoms and we all have opinions, but that does not excuse hateful and damaging behavior. As a Christian, I found it incredibly difficult to digest some of the very real sentiments explored in this book. And honestly, I urge my fellow Christians, regardless of their sexual orientation or viewpoints on that particular subject, to pick this up and take a look at what some people claiming our faith are showing the world. Because something has to change. I will be sharing this book with as many people as I possibly can. Change has to start somewhere and it might as well be here.
This book was incredibly difficult to read because it's so honest. It's raw and open and real and it's utterly impossible to ignore the state of our nation and our society while reading it. The characters are so real that you can't help but connect with them, and in connecting with them, you fall in love with them. You ache with them. You need with them. You feel every bit of their elation, their fear, and their devastation. I'm not going to lie. It's a tough journey. I had to stop reading several times because I was crying too hard to focus on the words and even more times because my heart just needed a break. It's not very often that I come across an author from this area (I live an hour away from where this story was set) who really and truly knows what it is to grow up as a queer person in a state many people swear isn't Southern. August's story was so close to my own in so many ways that it was painful to read what he went through.
Difficult as this story was at times, though, it comes at a time when we all need so greatly to be reminded of the hate that is so easily brushed aside as freedom in our world. Yes, we do have freedoms and we all have opinions, but that does not excuse hateful and damaging behavior. As a Christian, I found it incredibly difficult to digest some of the very real sentiments explored in this book. And honestly, I urge my fellow Christians, regardless of their sexual orientation or viewpoints on that particular subject, to pick this up and take a look at what some people claiming our faith are showing the world. Because something has to change. I will be sharing this book with as many people as I possibly can. Change has to start somewhere and it might as well be here.
November 6, 2017
I’ve read a lot of books that are extraordinary. That gave a great meaning and are so powerful that you'll never forget them. Books by Colleen Hoover, John Green, Jojo Moyes, Angie Thomas,… all those books are meant to be read, but Seth King outdid all of them with Liberty.
This book is better than the best books. It's beautiful and heartbreaking. To be honest, this book totally wrecked me. But it has to be read. There are not many books out there like this and Liberty is definitely a life changing and altering book. A full on masterpiece that is better than anything I've ever read. Hands down, Seth King has a lot of amazing books with powerful storylines and a great meaning, but this is by far Seth King's best book yet. Powerful, heartbreaking, meaningful. Nothing can compare to this book. You'll love it, even if it breaks you.
After I’ve read a few sentences of Liberty I already knew this book would’ve so much more than I bargained for. This book is just everything. It's love, heartbreak, homophobia, freedom, death, acceptance, liberty, and so much more! The topic of a mass shooting in a gay club (such as in Pulse in 2016) is a devastating and horrible story. But it will never be forgotten. It's heavy, sad and just utterly horrible, but Liberty isn't just that. It's not just a story about a mass shooting, it’s about love. The love for yourself, the love for the people around you, and if you’re lucky the love for your soul mate. Liberty is a book about the true love of two young men, August and Corey, who just want to be themselves. Their story is so beautiful and yet so heartbreaking. Corey and August are forever in my heart. Not many authors can write a book like this. Because Liberty is more than that. It has a powerful story and makes you think about life and love, acceptance and freedom. It's a book with such a meaningful and powerful story that you'll never forget it. Books like The Fault In Our Stars, Me Before You, It Ends With Us,… all these books can't even come close to this beautiful and emotional story.
I can't really describe what this book is really about because you just have to have experienced it yourself. You’ll love, you’ll cry, you’ll feel. It will be an incredible experience you’ll never forget.
Because Liberty, just like death and love, will never be forgotten.
This book is better than the best books. It's beautiful and heartbreaking. To be honest, this book totally wrecked me. But it has to be read. There are not many books out there like this and Liberty is definitely a life changing and altering book. A full on masterpiece that is better than anything I've ever read. Hands down, Seth King has a lot of amazing books with powerful storylines and a great meaning, but this is by far Seth King's best book yet. Powerful, heartbreaking, meaningful. Nothing can compare to this book. You'll love it, even if it breaks you.
After I’ve read a few sentences of Liberty I already knew this book would’ve so much more than I bargained for. This book is just everything. It's love, heartbreak, homophobia, freedom, death, acceptance, liberty, and so much more! The topic of a mass shooting in a gay club (such as in Pulse in 2016) is a devastating and horrible story. But it will never be forgotten. It's heavy, sad and just utterly horrible, but Liberty isn't just that. It's not just a story about a mass shooting, it’s about love. The love for yourself, the love for the people around you, and if you’re lucky the love for your soul mate. Liberty is a book about the true love of two young men, August and Corey, who just want to be themselves. Their story is so beautiful and yet so heartbreaking. Corey and August are forever in my heart. Not many authors can write a book like this. Because Liberty is more than that. It has a powerful story and makes you think about life and love, acceptance and freedom. It's a book with such a meaningful and powerful story that you'll never forget it. Books like The Fault In Our Stars, Me Before You, It Ends With Us,… all these books can't even come close to this beautiful and emotional story.
I can't really describe what this book is really about because you just have to have experienced it yourself. You’ll love, you’ll cry, you’ll feel. It will be an incredible experience you’ll never forget.
Because Liberty, just like death and love, will never be forgotten.
November 2, 2017
Instead of my usual composed review that would take me days to write and then I would still find it lacking.... I've decided to just tell you what you'll find in this story...
Great loss drives a young man named August to embrace his (reluctantly accepted role) as the voice for those who have been voiceless and overlooked far too long. Despite fear and doubt in his own role and embarking upon the road to recovery from a horrific tragedy, August takes the first step to ensure that those who are lost have their voices heard. Along the way he redefines the word courage as we know it.
In this story you will find compassion, attraction, cruelty, misunderstanding, redemption, persecution, realization and hopefully illumination. Seth King's characters experience self-love, self-loathing, self-doubt coming from the misguided direction of an upbringing of intolerance and the long term damage done to our fellow humans as a result.
Seth King takes you through an epic experience, with life and death decisions and life changing realizations, leaving you with a new appreciation of life, humanity and hopefully a broadened perspective.
While bringing you to the threshold of intolerance and acceptance, he drops you inside of a war zone that few of us can appreciate until we’ve seen it through the eyes of those who are targets of cruelty.
With the reminder that this is an "old" fight, August takes one step at a time, and initiates an era of renewed resolve in the struggle for equality among a marginalized, often forgotten and despised population of our own brothers and sisters.
An author who pours his heart,soul,and very essence into the story.
Great loss drives a young man named August to embrace his (reluctantly accepted role) as the voice for those who have been voiceless and overlooked far too long. Despite fear and doubt in his own role and embarking upon the road to recovery from a horrific tragedy, August takes the first step to ensure that those who are lost have their voices heard. Along the way he redefines the word courage as we know it.
In this story you will find compassion, attraction, cruelty, misunderstanding, redemption, persecution, realization and hopefully illumination. Seth King's characters experience self-love, self-loathing, self-doubt coming from the misguided direction of an upbringing of intolerance and the long term damage done to our fellow humans as a result.
Seth King takes you through an epic experience, with life and death decisions and life changing realizations, leaving you with a new appreciation of life, humanity and hopefully a broadened perspective.
While bringing you to the threshold of intolerance and acceptance, he drops you inside of a war zone that few of us can appreciate until we’ve seen it through the eyes of those who are targets of cruelty.
With the reminder that this is an "old" fight, August takes one step at a time, and initiates an era of renewed resolve in the struggle for equality among a marginalized, often forgotten and despised population of our own brothers and sisters.
An author who pours his heart,soul,and very essence into the story.
November 22, 2017
You will find a piece of Seth King in his books.
I stumbled across him by sheer coincidence and he is such an active writer it's every reader dream for his/her favourite author to produce with such speed.
I always have unhealthy thoughts of how I want to lock Colleen Hoover in a big fancy resort that has everything she needs so that she doesn't have to do anything but write. I even don't like her to reply to FB posts and stuff since I think she is wasting time instead of writing....
Anyways having Seth is a breathe of fresh air, this man can produce like an assembly line.
I rated it 3 stars since with Seth I tend to zoom out while he writes sometimes a lot of preaching, loooong monologues, dialogues and speeches. I love the themes always but it just gets to me sometimes and I skim through pages.
I only read 2 books till now M/M and this one but already downloaded Love in Real Life and for sure gonna read The Summer Remains it was the reason I came across his name anyways.
This book is a tragedy. I wanted to hug my son tighter tonight and smelled him more than usual after his shower. It made me feel how short life is and how to cherish every moment.
Pulse massacre was never far from my mind and I kept thinking that Seth wrote this book to honor it and true his end message confirmed this.
I so wanna rate this book 5 stars. Seth is a very transparent person and his FB posts clearly display this, I feel like I want him to be a millionaire so he is rewarded for all his efforts to highlight this cause. But I have to be true to myself I disconnected sometimes from the book.
I stumbled across him by sheer coincidence and he is such an active writer it's every reader dream for his/her favourite author to produce with such speed.
I always have unhealthy thoughts of how I want to lock Colleen Hoover in a big fancy resort that has everything she needs so that she doesn't have to do anything but write. I even don't like her to reply to FB posts and stuff since I think she is wasting time instead of writing....
Anyways having Seth is a breathe of fresh air, this man can produce like an assembly line.
I rated it 3 stars since with Seth I tend to zoom out while he writes sometimes a lot of preaching, loooong monologues, dialogues and speeches. I love the themes always but it just gets to me sometimes and I skim through pages.
I only read 2 books till now M/M and this one but already downloaded Love in Real Life and for sure gonna read The Summer Remains it was the reason I came across his name anyways.
This book is a tragedy. I wanted to hug my son tighter tonight and smelled him more than usual after his shower. It made me feel how short life is and how to cherish every moment.
Pulse massacre was never far from my mind and I kept thinking that Seth wrote this book to honor it and true his end message confirmed this.
I so wanna rate this book 5 stars. Seth is a very transparent person and his FB posts clearly display this, I feel like I want him to be a millionaire so he is rewarded for all his efforts to highlight this cause. But I have to be true to myself I disconnected sometimes from the book.
March 14, 2019
I cannot in good conscience give this book any less than 5 stars. I was hooked from the first page. Reading through my sobs in places (my family were begging me to stop reading) my face was puffy, near constant tears running down my face, but still I could not put the book down. My naivety of how parts of America treat LGBTQIA people, how racist people can be, and the fact that I knew next to nothing about conversion therapy has left me me reeling. This story is not a true story, but it is based on real life events and the author has witnessed the effects of all these things personally. 49 lives were savagely taken at a nightclub in Orlando in 2016. There is so much hatred in the world and it makes me so sad. Back to the story though, a story of finding oneself, of love, loss and hope. My heart broke for August and Corey, two teenagers who live in a repressed state, in the supposed ‘Free World’ both unwilling to accept anything but who they are, and yes, this story will forever be in my heart. My first Seth King read, beautifully written, I look forward to more (I may have to try for a more lighthearted read next though, I don’t think my heart can take any more).
December 22, 2017
Emotional. Must. Read. This book was amazing and well written. Seth King delivers a gut wrenching soul moving epic and tragic story. Your heart and mind are with the memory of the Pulse tragedy the whole time reading this gripping story. I absolutely loved August. He felt everything on such a deeper level. He was captivated by Corey and truly loved him. Corey's character was amazing and smooth and let August know he was loved and amazing. He loved August...deeply. Honestly and so openly. He said what he felt I could see him so clearly as he was described by the author, through the eyes and heart of August. August was enamored of Corey. Such a beautiful connection and relationship. A beautiful love story. I loved the scene where Corey asked to take off his pants..... cause he really liked August and he simply wanted to take off his pants and lay beside him. I thought that scene was beautiful...and funny.
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