Every Time I Think of You

5++ Stars.<br><br><br><blockquote> <b><i>"Every time i think of you,it always turns out good...</i></b><br><br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1519694676i/25128641._SY540_.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br><br>I stumbled across this one quite by accident after seeing a friend's status update and I just knew from the beginning this was going to be special.This Author can write and I'm still surprised by how many wonderful MM Authors that are out there that don't have more recognition.<br><br>I feel as though I'm repeating myself here but if you're interested in reading this don't read reviews because quite a few give indications about the subject matter.<br><br><br><b>This one completely stole my heart</b><br><br><br><br>It starts with a strange sexual encounter that will connect two characters and have a profound effect on their young lives.<br><br><br><br><b>Everett</b> is beautiful,popular,enigmatic and has an easy charm about him.<br><br><b>Reid</b> is a bit awkward,no one really <i>sees</i> him.<br><br><br>Their story is quite beautiful but not always easy to read but I just loved it.I read this in one sitting,I couldn't read it fast enough.Trust me,even if YA isn't your thing but you love MM ,this one will captivate you,<br><br><br><br><br><br><blockquote><b><i>“There are so many things we can’t do, places we can’t be ourselves. Here,” his upward glance drew me to the dark tree branches, oaks mostly, canopied above us, “God sees us and likes it.”</i></b></blockquote> <br><br><br><blockquote><b><i>But, you know, I hope you don’t mind me calling you my boyfriend. I’m not sure what we are, except you’re the most important person to me.(...)<br><br><br>…” I couldn’t explain how he’d inspired me, driven me to grow, and by loving him love myself. “(...)<br><br><br>“Are you happy?” “Every time I think of him.” Helen folded a sweater and said, “I guess people who are meant to be together will always find their way.”</i></b></blockquote> <br><br><br><b>And that last quote really is what this book is about</b><br><br><br>I can't really put into words how much I loved this book.The story is narrated by Reid but at no point did I feel the need to hear Everett's voice because Reid's voice is really all you need here.<br><br><br>It's a powerful story.A powerful love with all the insecurities that are inevitable with young love.<br><br><br>Highly Recommended.<br> </blockquote>

<b>4.25 Giraffe and Monkey stars</b><br /><br />This is one beautiful coming of age story told in the POV of a quirky teen named Reid. I enjoyed Reid's voice. <br /><br />The writing was good and engaging. The story is so beautiful and enjoyable. Not your typical YA story, but I found it so damn beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. The humor so good too. <br /><br />The characters well developed and so damn likable. <br /><br />I loved Reid and Everett so much. <br /> <br />This is one of the best YA books I have ever read to date.

I can be prude when it comes to sex scenes, needing time to get to know the characters before matters progress too far. <i>Every Time I Think of You</i> starts with a sex scene, but one so beautifully written that I wasn’t put off at all. In fact, it’s a fantasy that regularly went through my mind as I was growing up. I wonder how many other boys in the woods were having similar dreams. Regardless, the writing style is what first lured me into this book, and the characters of Everett and Reid kept me coming back for more. The relationship between the two characters develops almost instantaneously, and even though I’m a sucker for a long build, Jim Provenzano masterfully weaves the lives of two very different characters together. Everett is educated, strange and aloof, and his counterpart Reid is so earnest in his feelings that the reader can’t help but sympathize with him. <br /><br />The happy couple is put through the wringer toward the end of the novel, and I have to give the author kudos for not skirting around the gruesome details. Disabilities are often treated with a manic optimism in many stories, I suppose with the intent of putting a positive spin on a difficult situation. Provenzano doesn’t avoid the shadows, allowing his characters to struggle, which feels refreshingly real and fair. He also provides a light at the end of the tunnel, so those that need their happily-ever-after should be okay by the end of the novel. I understand a sequel is in the works, which I think could be great. I finished the book still uncertain about who Everett was. Things like the Polaroid made me wonder if he was ever as dedicated as Reid. And Reid seemed to grow strongest on his own, although some of that surely came from his feelings for Everett. I’d love to see these two characters again, to discover what kind of relationship they have when the world isn’t keeping them apart.<br /><br />There’s a reason this book is a 2012 Lambda Literary Award finalist, and Jim Provenzano has certainly earned the honor with this wonderful tale. Check it out yourself and see what you think. You won’t be disappointed.

Edit:<br />Just to clear things up, because of the way GR formats editions, I didn't realize that the paperback edition had an actual description. I was responding to the original list of advanced praise excerpts in the description on this edition, which has since been changed to an actual description. That seems to have caused some confusion. That's what the sentence below is commenting on. <br /><br />*<br />Huh. Turns out the paperback edition actually had a description. <br /><br /><b>original response to the reviews in the description pane in lieu of an actual, you know, <i>description</i></b><br /><s>the blurb sucks and is total bullshit because it's not a blurb. I don't want any of that advanced praise mumbo jumbo. Don't goddamn tell me what to fucking think; I can think for myself, fuck you very much.</s><br /><br />Also, it's against GR's Terms. <br /><br />Edit: Seeing as the above was perceived as an attack, let me rephrase:<br />I think this blurb sucks and is bullshit because it doesn't qualify under what I think a blurb should do (i.e. be a short description of the story). I don't want any of that advanced praise mumbo jumbo. I dislike it because it presumes to tell me what to think of the story before I read it, and I don't want any other goddamn person to tell me what the fuck to think; I can think for myself, fuck you very much (which I direct to the Advanced Praise entity itself, addressing its existence where I do not want it, and not the author or any of the affiliated persons).<br /><br />Also, advanced praises are still against GR's Terms, so they shouldn't have been here in the description. Someone wants to put them in the beginning of the story? Fine. You're allowed to do that. I'll still ignore it and comment on how they annoy me in the beginning of my review <b>because they would be in the text of the work and I, as a reviewer in my reviewing space, would be entitled to comment on that however I wished</b>.

<br><b>5+++++ FANTASTIC EMOTIONAL STARS!!!</b><br><br><b> <i>Ev, Ever, Every, Everything, Everett.</i> </b><br><br>I don't think I can review this book. <br>I won't be able to find the words that can do it justice. <br><br>Maybe I'll try it later, but right now...<br>I'm overwhelmed with emotions and feelings.<br><br><b> <u>Can you simply believe that this book is great?</u> </b><br><br>This quote, out of the book, can probably explain in the best way the story:<br><blockquote> <b> <i>"People who are meant to be together will always find their way."</i> </b> </blockquote><br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1400252976ra/9655573.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>It was one of the best gay young adult books I've ever read.<br><br><u>Highly highly highly recommended.</u><br><br><br>Reed <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/463094863?book_show_action=true&amp;page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">Silvio's Reviews</a>, my favourite.<br><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/462175737?book_show_action=true&amp;page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">Don's Reviews</a>, if you prefer the short but helpful reviews.<br><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/429052251?book_show_action=false&amp;page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">Marshall's Reviews</a>, it hits the nail.

<b>DNF @20 %, no rating.</b><br /><br />The writing was nice enough. I guess this is a case of <i>it's not the book, it's me.</i> I was secretly hoping it would remind me a little bit of <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/18188319.Memorizing_You" title="Memorizing You by Dan Skinner" rel="noopener">Memorizing You</a>, my favorite YA M/M read. While Memorizing You drew me in from the beginning and never let go, Every Time I Think of You simply bored me to tears.<br /><br />I will gladly move onto the next one…<br /><br /><br />P.S. The formatting is off (the size of the font differed constantly).

<b>Every time I think of you I remember why I read books.</b><br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1403091619ra/10036595.gif" width="400" height="" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>I couldn’t shake the feeling this book was a kind of therapy for me after reading <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/886132210?book_show_action=false" rel="nofollow noopener">Memorizing You</a>. The plots have some similarities, in both of them the MC are teens discovering the first/true love, both are set in the 70s and both have an accident that changes their lives forever since. It’s unfair but for me was almost like a series in which this one is the second part you must not fail to read. I don't really feel sorry for that but I apologize for my twisted thoughts.<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1403091619ra/10036593.gif" width="400" height="" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>One of the things I most liked of this story was that it’s totally unusual. The beginning is weird as hell and you wonder how two people can fall in love in those circumstances because they’re far from romantic. At first sight, that is.<br><br><blockquote> <b>Where the hell have you been all these years? </b> </blockquote><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1403091619i/10036600.jpg" width="400" height="" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>In the first pages I thought Everett was an asshole. Yes, I know, it doesn’t start well if you don’t get on with the MC. If I meet someone that irresponsible and reckless and cocky and dishonest I’d think he’s jerk whose only aim is to have fun and don’t give a damn about other people’s feelings. And that’s true, in a way, but not when it’s related to Reid. Because that casual and nervy façade hides a heart mesmerized by his love for Reid. That confused me like it did for Reid, it was a mixture of disappointment, pain and joy. Everett makes you feel everything in the space of two seconds but in the end you give in to his charm because when he lays his heart on the ground for Reid you only can do two things: forgive him or thank him, or both at the same time.<br><br><blockquote> <b>“We’re gonna be great together.” </b> </blockquote><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1403092799ra/10036969.gif" width="400" height="" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>That's why at the beginning I thought Reid is the one who is really into the relationship and that it’s a game for Everett to just have a good time. But with the following pages you wonder if that’s really true, and you finish them convinced that it’s just the opposite: for Everett it was a big deal from the start and for Reid it get more serious with each passing day.<br><br><blockquote> <b> “I’m okay! I finally found the person I’ve been searching for!” </b> </blockquote><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1403091619i/10036603.jpg" width="400" height="" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Reid is a normal guy who was closed in his inner world, shy and extinct until Everett appears in his life. And then there is no turning back. He is ruined forever and he knows it. It’s his POV we know during the story, and he is a memorable narrator, with his feelings and his letters and his way of seeing the world and the his shining bliss of having Everett in his life. In spite of all the obstacles trying to make them apart, they get stronger defying them all.<br><br><b> <blockquote>About a week later, a small box arrived in return. Fortunately, my parents respected my privacy and hadn't opened it. Inside a large plastic bag was one of his jock straps. </blockquote> </b><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1403091619i/10036601._SX540_.jpg" width="400" height="" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>I found this book utterly daring, like challenging the reader to say something against the circumstances. That writing confidence captivated me and I only wanted to feel trapped in its pages. I have thought about it and haven’t found any page that felt missing or in excess. Every one of them serves a purpose and... is there something more perfect than that?<br><br><blockquote> <b> “You know what I need? If you have any other boyfriends who take trains and bang up cars and break into houses and get drunk and practically fuck in front of your parents, one at a time, if you recall, just to be with you, I’d really like to meet him. He sounds like a great guy.” </b> </blockquote><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1403092489ra/10036807.gif" width="400" height="" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>The personalities of both MC are so well captured what I could almost touch them. And I wanted to touch them, because they felt so real and so ideal at the same time I needed assurance of their existence even though I coulnd’t deny it because, you like it or not, they make their seats in your heart. <br><br><b> <blockquote>"Be good. And if you can't be good..."<br>"Be perfectly wicked!" </blockquote> </b><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1403095564ra/10037456.gif" width="400" height="" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>I grew up with them and I laughed with them and I wanted to cry with them (the tear didn’t drop but I felt my throat like being squeezed). I really felt close to the MC, and I could easily put myself in their shoes.<br><br><b> <blockquote>I knew with every postcard Everett imagined just such a gazebo, except we were two cute little bike messengers, without the girl, or the Nazis, or even the bike, but definitely the rain. </blockquote> </b><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1403091619ra/10036599.gif" width="400" height="" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br><blockquote> <b> “That day… in the forest?”<br>“Mmm,” I mumbled.<br>“… was like I conjured you.”<br>“Hmm?”<br>“I wasn’t just doing that to do it. I was hoping for someone as daring, as crazy as me. And there you were.” </b> </blockquote><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1403095564ra/10037455.gif" width="400" height="" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>In the end I hugged my paperback and thought about how the world would be a better place if people could see the wonder of making this magic from naught. I know, cheap philosophy and all of that, but this is my review!<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1403095564ra/10037454.gif" width="400" height="" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy">

Lo primero que me viene a la mente cuando pienso en este libro es que está bien escrito, la narración está muy por encima de muchos de los libros de M/M que yo al menos he leído. Sin embargo, no me ha calado todo lo que me gustaría, probablemente por el tipo de historia, más por una cuestión de gustos que porque el libro no lo merezca.<br /><br />La historia de Reid y Everett es emotiva, divertida y muy triste al mismo tiempo. Quizás esa tristeza ha sido demasiado para mi, o quizás es el personaje de Ev, que no me transmitido todo lo que yo creo que debería sentir por Reid, los que han hecho que no haya podido disfrutar tanto este libro. Una pena.<br /><br />Probablemente recomendable.

I’m not sure how or why this book sat on my TBR shelf for so long, but if it’s sitting on yours, pick it up immediately (it’s that good). <br><br>Told from Reid’s POV, <i>Every Time I Think of You</i> is a sweeping study of the mechanics of young love: the lust, the angst, the desperation, the embarrassment, the innocence, the all. <br><br>High school seniors Reid and Everett have been raised as differently as two kids could be. Reid’s parents are interested and involved in his life. Before he ever comes out to them, it’s clear they’ll accept him. They’re firmly middle class, where Everett’s family is privileged, elite and unaffected by the things their son does to get their attention (and believe me, he’s begging for it at just about every turn). <br><br>Reid and Everett met in one of the most unconventional and freaking awesome ways two people ever could, with lust playing into their relationship from the very start. But listen. It’s not gratuitous or too much or not enough; it works so well for each of their personalities, and it left my heart fluttering all over the place. <br><br>And the personalities, god! So, so well written are these two boys. I knew who they were and what they stood for very early in, and they were so consistent, so relatable, so complicated. With this book, Provenzano has either written about something close to his own heart, or he’s studied the human psyche extensively somewhere along the line. The character development and growth are simply phenomenal. <br><br>I won’t hint about an HEA or not. I want you to have the feeling I did. The will-they-won’t-they question propels you forward beautifully, complete with a couple of very large, uncomfortable lumps in your throat along the way. <br><br>What I will say is this: <i>Every Time I Think of You</i> isn't a book that will quickly fall away from your memory banks when you put it down. Quite the opposite. It will haunt you, but not in the ways you might expect. See, the whole time I was reading, I felt...looming. Reid tells the story that way, with lots of foreshadowing and suggestion of the heartbreak/tragedy to come. And it takes place long ago and far away (<b>I mean, it’s like totally the early 80’s, wink</b>), so there’s this sense of something unsettled and not in the now. <br><br>What I’m left with, personally, is the urge to gobble up more of Provenzano’s back list. Turns out, though, it’s not huge--just a few books, plus, bless, a sequel to this one, which I can promise you will <b>not</b> be featured in next year’s Spring Cleaning Week. Not by me, anyway. (I'm going for it asap!)<br><br>I read this as part of our Spring Cleaning Week over at BioB. Have something that's been sitting on your TBR shelf forever? Tackle it, and enter our giveaway, too!<br><a href="http://boysinourbooks.com/" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1398261588i/9392532.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a> <br>

OMG I can't believe I finally finished this book. It so reminded me of my experience with <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/16077535.Acclamation__Acclamation___1_" title="Acclamation (Acclamation, #1) by Vee Hoffman" rel="noopener">Acclamation</a>. I thought this would be a DNF. The first 35% of the book the writing was so out there that it was hard to read. The next 65% of the book doesn't even seem like it was written by the same author.<br /><br />I continued to read this book because of the high reviews and the "turning point" in the story. I'm glad I did eventually finish it. Reid was a likable character, but Everett was selfish, did not like him at all. I liked Reid's parents reaction to him being gay. I just don't see Reid and Everett's relationship lasting forever.