This is a really sweet, sexy, romantic story, which at times is also heartbreaking. Just from reading the synopsis of the story, it doesn't seem like there would be a whole lot of depth to it. Two boys at a prep school fall for each other; one a loner and one a soon to be popular jock. Sounds kind of corny, right? This story is so much more than that and I devoured it completely in one sitting.
The story starts with Heydn Case, a blonde haired blue eyed Texan stud showing up at Acton-Pieerce Academy at the end of summer break only to find he's been roomed with a rather cranky Blue Barclay. At first site, Blue looks like your typical Goth wannabe; dyed black hair, dark clothes and eye liner around the eyes. He keeps to himself and has no interest in having a half witted jock rooming with him. Heydn is not to be deterred and his friendly attitude along with his ability to banter back and forth with the snarky Blue makes these two fast friends. Friendship turns into something more after a night of drinking and anime, which includes a little hentai and a splash of yaoi. Of course, it's the yaoi that really gets these two going and it's not long before the two are "taking care of business" in front of one another. Blue quickly falls for the beefy Heydn but it's not long before trouble starts to brew for these two. Since this is a prep school and they are in their senior year, both boys are only 18. Blue is a virgin and only now figuring out through his feelings for Heydn that he might be gay. Heydn is quickly recruited for the track team and realizes that a track scholarship may be his only way to afford college. Because of this, he is reluctant to admit what he and Blue have is anything more than just two guys fooling around and with further pressure from his teammates it is not long before he tosses Blue aside. When Heydn realizes his mistake, can he put peer pressure aside and try to get Blue back or will it simply be too late?
There is a lot going on in this story; first love, betrayal, homophobia as well as unrequited love. As the story went on I found that I really couldn't predict how it would end. There were times I loved Heydn and times I really hated him. I fell in love with the character of Blue, who you realized is really a lot more fragile than he portrays and only wants the chance to fall in love and be accepted for who he is. That being said, he's not the whiney weepy weak willed uke that you may expect him to be (say that five times fast!). Although it has its sad moments it is a story with a happy ending for at least some of our characters. This story took me on an emotional rollercoaster and I'm actually sad it's over.
The book is 9"x 6" and has 257 pages of actually story. I like the cover as it has our two main characters, Blue and Heydn, illustrated and very much reminds of a yaoi title. In fact, I would actually classify this as a GloBL yaoi novel and not as gay fiction. I feel the sex scenes are written more with women in mind than men. Speaking of the sex scenes, did I mention this book is full of them? (They are horny high schoolers, after all) If you're looking for a hard yaoi novel, this is definitely it. I love the way the sex scenes are written. They're not corny; just really steamy and you can feel the lust and, at times, love just pour off the page.
So was there anything that made me raise an eyebrow? Well, it does have a few of the traditional yaoi trappings when it comes to plot. Falling in love rather quickly and having that terrible something that happened in your past that only gets revealed later and you can almost hear the violins playing. Plus, at the end of the book there is an epilogue that takes place ten years in the future. It recaps where everyone is in life and although not everyone got a perfect ending, it seemed that the success ratio of the various graduates was pretty high so that did make me chuckle a bit. However, none of these things made for a bad read; they are merely things that came to mind as I was reading the story. Sometimes it just can't be yaoi without love at first site and a happy ending, right?
If you are looking for a romantic and at times tragic love story that is sexually charged and still ends on a happy note, then you'll definitely find it in True Blue.
Plot = A
Sex Scenes = A+
Characters = A+
Overall Grade = A+
