YA LGBT Books discussion

Bio:
Jo Ramsey is a former special education teacher who now writes full time and does office work as a hobby. She wrote her first story at age five, and her first young adult novel was published in January 2010. Since then, she has had over a dozen books released by small presses. Jo lives in Massachusetts with her two daughters, her husband, two cats, and two pet mice.

Website: http://www.joramsey.com
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/148370...



Featured book: Dolphins in the Mud

Book info:


Blurb:

When Chris Talberman's family moved to Wellfleet, Massachusetts, Chris left behind his boyfriend and friends. Six months later, Chris still feels alone.
When a pod of dolphins strand themselves on the cove outside Chris's house, his autistic younger sister, Cece, runs out to see them. A boy named Noah Silver helps catch Cece before she gets hurt. Noah is even more alone than Chris, and he's just as eager to find a friend.
Then everything goes downhill -- Chris's mother leaves, putting Chris's workaholic father in charge. With no one else to talk to, Chris turns to Noah, and their relationship deepens. But Noah has problems he isn't willing to share.


Buy link: http://www.featherweightpublishing.co...

Excerpt:

After Jillian and Mrs. Cates left, I did jumping jacks with Cece for a little while then turned on her TV shows. Once she’d settled in to watch them, I asked Dad, “Is it okay if I go out for a little while?”

He frowned. “Where are you going? It’ll be dark soon.”

“Dad, I’m sixteen. I think I can handle being out after dark.” I hesitated. I didn’t quite trust him not to change his mind and tell me to stay home if he knew where I was going. I couldn’t think of a good reason not to tell him, though. “I want to go see Noah. His dad was really upset yesterday, and I want to be sure he’s okay.”

I didn’t know why Noah wouldn’t be okay. His father had been pretty ticked, but that didn’t mean anything. Parents always got mad at their kids, and most parents didn’t do anything more than yell or ground the kid or something. Then again, there was definitely something not right about how Noah’s father treated him. I didn’t know what he might do when he was angry with Noah.

Dad nodded. “Go ahead. Just please don’t stay long. I hate to say this, but I’m really at a loss with your sister. I’ll learn, I promise. For the next few days I’m afraid I’m going to have to lean on you more than I’d like to. You have a way with Cecilia, and I think all this will be easier on her if you’re helping out.”

Not to mention easier on him. I should have expected him to say something like this. It really ticked me off to hear him admit he couldn’t handle his own daughter. Thanks to Mom’s selfishness, I’d be stuck doing everything around here. Dad had better learn what he’s doing pretty damn fast. Otherwise, I’ll take off too.

I probably wouldn’t leave. I wasn’t Mom, and I didn’t have anywhere to go anyway. Realizing that I was glaring at Dad, I took a deep breath and forced myself to look neutral. If he knew I was pissed off, it wouldn’t help anything. “Sure. I don’t know if Noah’s dad will even let me in the house. If he does, I’ll be back before supper.” I nodded toward the schedule. “Supper’s at six. Mom usually cooks fish sticks and fries on Tuesdays. Cece likes those. Sometimes Mom has her help with putting the stuff on the baking sheets. She thinks Cece should learn to cook.”

“I don’t know if Cece will ever be able to take care of herself. If she does get there, cooking isn’t a bad skill to have.” Dad took a deep breath. “Okay. I think I can handle this.”

“Cece’s therapists’ numbers are by the phone,” I said. “You might want to call them and let them know what’s going on with Mom. Those are all their cell numbers, so they should answer, or you can just leave them voice mails.” I shouldn’t have been the one thinking of that, but I knew Dad wouldn’t. And I knew the therapists would eventually show up expecting to see Mom. They usually came every Wednesday, which meant they’d be there the next day.

“I’ll take care of it.” He sounded relieved to have something to do that didn’t directly involve Cece.

I headed to Noah’s house. The place appeared deserted, but I didn’t think he and his father had left. It was just the way that house always felt. Even when the Silvers were there, the inside looked as clean and empty as if the place was vacant.

I knocked on the door with the red wreath and waited, sure that either no one would answer or Mr. Silver would send me away. To my surprise, Noah opened the door.

He grinned. “You look stunned. I’m not that ugly, am I?”

“No, of course not.” I closed my mouth. “So your dad lets you answer the door sometimes?”

Noah nodded. “When he isn’t home. He’s gone to the airport in Boston to pick up Mom, and he left me here with strict instructions to stay in the house and not let anyone in.” His eyes gleamed. “Do you want to come in?”

Obviously he was entertained by the idea of defying his father. I wasn’t so sure. “Do you really think that’s smart?” I asked. “I don’t want you to get in trouble like yesterday.”

“Yesterday was nothing,” he assured me. “We came home, Dad lectured me, and everything went on like normal. We had pizza for supper. Besides, he just left about an hour ago, so he’ll be gone a while. He won’t even know you were here.” His voice dropped. “I hate being alone all the time, Chris. I could really use some company.”

When he put it that way, I couldn’t argue with him. I followed him into the living room, where the TV was showing one of those cartoons that isn’t actually intended for kids. “I’m not allowed to watch this kind of thing when Dad’s here,” Noah explained, flopping onto one of the couches. “So I take advantage when he isn’t. He wanted me to go with him to pick up Mom. I told him I wasn’t feeling well. I didn’t want to be stuck in a car with him for two hours.”

“I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a car with anyone for that long.” I remembered the family trips to visit Dad’s cousin when she’d owned the cottage. Most of the time, they’d ended with either Mom yelling or Cece screaming. Sometimes both.

“Have a seat.” Noah nodded toward the other couch. “Over there, or I can move, and you can sit here with me.”

As soon as he said that, I knew he had something more in mind than just watching TV. I didn’t know whether it was his tone of voice or just some weird kind of premonition, but I knew if I sat near him something would happen between us. Not that I minded the idea. I just didn’t think it was a particularly good idea. Aside from the whole ticking off his father thing, if Noah had never kissed anyone or had a boyfriend or girlfriend or anything, whatever went on between him and me would be awkward. I didn’t know if I wanted to deal with awkward.

I did know I wouldn’t mind kissing him if he tried it.