It's my BIRTHDAY and I'm on top!!

MUAHHAHAHAHAHA! Catchy title, eh? I'm finding that the name and/or cover of a book is seriously helpful! My cover is awesome! I was super excited to get it and find that Cole and Ellis where how I described them on the spec sheet. (There were only two minor changes and ta-dah!) But THE NAME catches people's attention. My Roommate's a Jock? Well, Crap! Who wouldn't want to read that? LOL

So, yeah, it's my birthday, and what an awesome present!?!?! My book is STILL #1 on Amazon.com' Best selling Gay Fiction list! This is DAY 3! I'm shocked and delighted! This book has been out for 12 days. Hear me? twelve days! In 12 days, it has 169 ratings on Goodreads.com. My first book, When Love is Not Enough, (WLINE) has 202 ratings in 16.5 months!! This book ("Jock") is WAY MORE popular. Of course, I kind-of knew it would be. Let's face it, a "bitter sweet" novel about suicide is NOT a popular topic! And readers do judge their books by the cover often! It has been a very long time since a reader rated WLINE on goodreads, but the wait was worth reading these 8 words, " I really like your stuff, please write more." This wasn't in the review, but in the comments underneath. The rest of the review said: "This is a wonderful, remarkable novel. I won't go through the entire story since so many other reviewers have discussed it. I want to address some of the other reviewers' comments about this book. 

First, the story is absolutely terrific and believable. I know some people have questioned the rapid way that two of the main characters need each other after Jamie's funeral, but that makes complete sense to me. (Maybe, you have to live through it just once to understand the strong bond that can develop in the midst of a tragedy.).

Second, how many of us have looked to our parents for unconditional love as we were trying to come out to ourselves and others? It makes no sense when some reviewers say the reason for Jaime's suicide was "such a small thing to push him over the edge". I think is absolutely the opposite: the complete rejection by a parent (even one as miserable as Jaime's mother) can have profound effects on a person's self-worth. And, that was the straw that broke the camel's back in Jaime's fragile life. I think it was a realistic view on the torment that pushes a person to take their own life.

Third, I have to agree with some of the other reviewers about the three main characters in this book. They were so deeply developed that it was like peeling an onion to try to get to their base emotions. I have not seen this sort of depth of character in a single novel in the few hundred or so novels that I have read in the past year.

Finally, and is comment is meant for the author (because I know you read these Wade). If you don't finish the sequel soon, I an going to track you down and force you to write every single day until it's finally finished.

This was most certainly not a typical romance story -- it was so much more than that, and it was my privilege to read this book.

If I could give it more than five stars, I would. But, on goodreads' system, it's 5 out of 5 for me.

And freakily this post is all to one side? Weird. Anyway. That was a really nice review, and I'm glad people are taking an interest in my first novel again. But back to "Jock"....

Another really cool Birthday present is that RAINBOW BOOK REVIEWS posted their review of My Roommate's a Jock.

Finding your way in the world is a complicated series of ups and downs, hits and misses, but sometimes...you get it exactly right. When this happens, it's the best feeling ever. Cole, of 'My Roommate's a Jock, Well Crap!' is one of those people with a dark cloud over his head. Almost everything he does goes wrong, so he's come to expect it. He's developed a pattern of rejecting people before they reject him. Cole has compensated for this by becoming a self-proclaimed Geek and as OCD as possible. He doesn't feel right unless he can control his environment and, let's face it, relationships are never easy and seldom under our control.

Cole, like many geniuses, is a complicated guy. In some ways, he's brilliant about coming up with solutions to problems, but give him a simple communication issue, and he's bound to mess it up every time. In other words, his people skills suck. Part of this is because he's withdrawn, become a recluse because it's less painful than getting hurt. When he loses his roommate, who was also his best friend, he's terrified of who will take his place. He doesn't take change well. He prefers his emotions to be kept in a specific place, just like the rest of his OCD life, contained, familiar. When his worst fears are realized and his new roommate, Ellis, also happens to be a soccer player, totally into sports, sociable, with lots of loud friends, the struggle begins. Surprisingly, Ellis is not just like the other jocks. As Cole tries to become more open-minded about Ellis and his world, even more internal struggle takes place. Cole, in his all or nothing kind of way, is ready to go forward with his newly awakened feelings and understandings and takes it too far, too fast. Life lessons are never easy.

I really loved Ellis. He's generous and trustworthy. He's a good friend and likes everyone and, consequently, people like him, not just because he's an athlete, but because he's a good person. In many ways, he's the opposite of Cole. Where Cole is closed and distant and often pessimistic, Ellis is open and affable. As wonderful as his feelings are for Cole, they are also terrifying. He loves Cole, but being with him means completely redefining himself and that's never an easy task. When he steps out of his comfort zone, he's overcome with feelings he neither understands nor is able to work through. In so many words, he's a mess. He knows how he feels but can't justify this with what it means to have it; so he retreats, but even he's not entirely sure what he's running from or even why. He has a lot of decisions to make and none of them are easy, but he has a good heart and a positive attitude and this influences his path to happiness.

This story had me cheering for Ellis and Cole from the start, even if I wanted to knock some sense into them at times. One thing I particularly liked was that Wade portrayed Christians in a positive light--open, generous, and accepting rather than the negative, bible-beating, bigots that we so often see in gay literature--a shining example of how unfair and unwise it is to lump any group of people together when presenting them.  Cole and Ellis are symbols of what we can be without our prejudices and assumptions. I'd recommend this book to anyone who believes that love can have the endurance to overcome the multitude of problems that life throws in its way. Thanks, Wade, for creating this uplifting, although angsty at times, story; it will always have a special place in my heart.

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been purchased by the reviewer.

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 262 pages/83758 words
Publication Date	31-December-2012
Price	$6.99 ebook, $16.99 paperback
Buy Link	http://bit.ly/WaLRun

As Chris in this first posted review seems to capture the essence of Matt and Darian, I think Lena Grey is dead on with understanding what I was trying to write in Cole and Ellis. As pointed out by a reader, I DO read all of my reviews. (The ones I can find.) And I am learning from mistakes. There are a few things I didn't think of until pointed out. Mike's POV is one, and the extraneous chapter on the mother... yes, I get that is should have been cut... but, I'm learning. Sometimes I just can't figure out what to change because it falls out onto the pages the way I see it in my head.