Vanished by J.P. Barnaby (Little Boy Lost #3)
M/M Romance
July 18, 2011
E-Book
Dreamspinner Press
Reviewed by Mandi
We have gone on quite a journey with Brian in this series. In the first book, Enlightened we watch as his friend Jamie goes from best friend to love interest. Then in a heartbreaking scene, we see Jamie’s parents unable to deal with a gay son, and they move across the country to San Diego. Brian is then outted as a gay man, and during book two,k Abandoned, is bullied in school in his small town of Alabama. By the end of book two, Brian has decided the only course for him to take, is to go to California and try to find his true love.
Vanished opens with Brian’s long cross country bus trip. His adoptive parents don’t want him to go, but they understand his misery. They understand what it means to be a gay man in their small town and to not know where your first love is. So they painfully let him go. Unlike many other gay men he meets in San Diego and on the bus, he is not a runaway. He is loved and supported by his parents. But he knows he can’t continue his life unless he at least tries to search for Jamie.
Of course, once in the big city, things are scary. He finally finds housing with other gay men in an apartment building. He finds work as a landscaper and most importantly – friends. There is a strong sense of community where he is and he feels at home. Very homesick for his parents, but he finally feels like he fits in somewhere.
The hard part comes when he actually needs to search for Jamie. He knows Jamie’s parents put him in a “gay rehab” center, which Jamie has since fled. Now no one knows where he is . Is he on the streets? In a shelter? All Brian can do is work to make enough money so he can continue to stay in San Diego and search. Realistically though, it has been almost two years since he has seen him.
And so Brian’s search begins. I still enjoy this series but I will say the angst and emo drama is getting to me a little bit. This book is all about Brian starting a new life. Finding new friends and becoming independent. It is a huge step for Brian. But he eventually finds some guys at an all-gay housing development that open their arms to him. (open their pants too…we will get to that part in a moment).
In one regard I like that the author is really exploring the innocence of Brian versus the reality of his situation. He jumps on a bus to San Diego. That is the easy part. Then the reality sets in once he gets there and realizes just how big San Diego is. Jamie could be anywhere. He is only going on one letter he received from him, telling him Jamie still loves him. But it has been so many months – Brian is looking for a pin in a haystack.
But on the other hand, I wasn’t expecting to fall for Brian’s new friend(s) so much. Mike in particular. They become close – very close. They start as having sex as a means for release. Brian is 18 and horny. Mike is older (I can’t remember how much) and attracted. (there are other men that get involved too) But their relationship becomes much more than just messing around. At least to me it did. And so now we have Brian who is suppose to be in love with Jamie, but also starting a relationship with Mike.And while we know that Brian is having fun having sex, and still in love with Jamie, what about Mike? Is he just being used? I wanted to get more from him (even though this is in Brian’s POV).
By the end, there is a big twist/cliffhanger setting us up for more angst and drama in the next book. I like angst, but yikes, I think we are in for a lot of it in book four. But I’m going to read it because I’m definitely invested in these characters and I need to read their eventual HEA.
Rating: C+
Recent Reviews:
Leontine’s Book Realm – 4.5/5
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Nice review. This cover bothers me.
Yeah not a fan of the cover.
I d/l these to my nook ages ago but haven’t read them. Leontine’s reviews had convinced me I needed to read. I wasn’t sure I was ready to read “teen” m/m though. This once sounds really good, though-especially with the addition of the characters when Brian moves to San Diego. I suspect a big love triangle though….or quadrangle maybe?
I think it is just Jamie….he is 18 and had to explore..it had been so long without Jamie with him. I didn’t feel a super love triangle going on – I guess we will see what happens in the next book.
She does a nice job with the teenager stuff in book one – it never felt weird or wrong. I think you will really like this series.
Oh I do not know, if he was in love I would think he would not have sex with that other guy :/
I just felt bad for the other guy – Brian is 18 and still exploring his sexuality. But it started to feel it went a lot deeper with Mike than just goofing around.
First, thank you so much for taking the time to read and review the series.
I just wanted to clear up a misconception – Brian and Mike don’t have any kind of romantic relationship. They’re fuck buddies, and close friends. Brian stated a few times within the book that they are just fooling around. Mike is trying to help Brian come out of his shell and live, and he likes sex – a lot. As my friend Devon says – gay men have sex out of boredom as much as love.
Also – there is angst, I won’t deny that. Boys who are thrown away like garbage because they’re gay often have a hard time finding their way. The point of the series is to show what happens to these kids who have unfathomable choices, and how they make the best of them.
Lovely review Mandi. Hmmm. I think I need to know where the story goes before I invest…
I’m not a fan of the cover either.
I, too, am not a fan of the cover. At all.
I haven’t read any of the books in the series, and it’s not likely I will… as much as I love angst and drama (check out my “favorites” list on fanfic.net and it’s almost ALL angst), it gets a little old after a while. You need SOME light at the end of the tunnel, and it doesn’t seem like this kid is seeing any, other than in someone else’s pants – and I’m sorry, but if he loves this other guy so much, why is he starting a relationship with someone else? I get seeking comfort in someone else’s arms (purely for literary purposes – PK would kill me if I ever tried to use that excuse… not that I need to, lol), but starting a relationship? Nuh uh.
I guess I’m with Orianna. I need to know where the story goes before I invest.
My books, all of them, are grounded in realism. I realize that in the romance genre, the main character sleeping with someone other than his one true love is against the rules. But realistically – an 18 year old beautiful gay guy is going to have sex, especially if he has no idea whether or not he’ll ever see his lover again.
I know that there are books where guys will wait YEARS until they find their lover again – but I spend a lot of time hanging out and talking with gay men and that is not the reality. I have to be true to the characters and true to the story regardless of how it may appear in reviews, otherwise I do myself and them an injustice.
Cheers! :)
Hello! Just thought I would chime in. :-) I’ve read all three of the books, and I’m lucky enough to have an advance copy of part four (which is starting off seamlessly). I just wanted to say that the realism JP mentioned in her reply above is SPOT ON. I find that I cry every 5 minutes or less, because it feels like she is telling my life story. Although the angst may seem contrived or endless… that’s because it is. When I was Brian’s age, there was no end to the drama. And it’s because I had no resources to help me be a well adjusted sexual person. This is a luxury that heterosexuals take utterly for granted. I am completely gratified to see my life being treated with as much care and detail as JP is doing, and I don’t want the drama to end just for it to end. I want him to grow and find resolution, because he’s finally survived and learned to accept himself (if he is fortunate enough to do so – many LGBT people, because of trauma, never really grow up). I want this to unfold as realistically as possible, because it somehow validates my process of surviving my little town in Georgia. I don’t think JP should let these guys have any breaks – people need to know what it’s like to be gay in a homophobic culture and how that affects a person throughout his entire (belated?) development.