Book Reviews

Book Blurb

The summer you turn sixteen is supposed to be unforgettable. It's the stuff of John Hughes movies and classic songs, of heart-stopping kisses and sudden revelations. But life isn't always like the movies...

For Sean Jackson, sixteen is off to an inauspicious start. His options: take a landscaping job in Georgia with his father, or stay in his small New Hampshire hometown, where the only place hiring is the local ice cream shop. Donning a pink t-shirt to scoop sundaes for tourists and seniors promises to be a colder, stickier version of hell. Still, he opts to stay home.

On his first day at work, Sean meets Becky, a wickedly funny New York transplant. The store manager, Jay, is eighteen, effortlessly cool, and according to Becky, "likes" Sean the way Sean's starting to like him. But before he can clear a path to the world that's waiting, Sean will have to deal with his overprotective mother, his sweet, popular girlfriend, Lisa, his absentee father, and all his own uncertainties and budding confusions.

Tender and achingly funny, this coming-of-age story will resonate with anyone who is--or has ever been--a teenager, when the only thing you can count on is how little you really know, and the next glance, or touch, or breathless night can be the one that changes everything...

 

Book Review

This story is truly wonderful in its simplicity. Timothy Woodward’s style has such a gentle warmth that all I had to do was let it wash over me, carrying me along for the ride. As humorous as it is touching, ‘If I Told You So’ is an authentic coming-of-age novel set over the course of one life-altering summer. From the eccentric owner of The Pink Cone ice cream shop, to outspoken city girl Becky, the book is filled with characters who have earned a permanent place in my heart.

On the whole, fifteen-year-old Sean Jackson’s life is fairly straightforward. He is close to his mom, has a sweet girlfriend in Lisa, and is admired at school for his talent on stage. He may have a difficult relationship with his father, never having been able to share his passion for sport, but since his dad lives miles away in Georgia, this has little impact on his daily existence. If, deep down, Sean is aware of his attraction to other boys, he rarely lets it trouble him. It isn’t as if there are many gay guys his age in his small New Hampshire hometown, after all.

The summer he turns sixteen, everything changes. Desperate to avoid spending the entire break with his dad, Sean accepts the only job going—that of scooping ice cream at The Pink Cone. There he not only meets Becky, a visiting New Yorker who sees through him immediately, but manager Jay—sexy, confident, and with a definite eye for Sean. Suddenly Sean is caught up in the at once thrilling and terrifying reality of love and desire, and of having to confront his sexuality head on.

Although this is very much a coming-out tale, exploring one teenage boy’s struggle to find himself, it’s also a story anyone who has ever been young and head over heels can relate to. Essentially, it’s a novel about falling in love for the first time, the intoxicating excitement of mutual attraction, mingled with the niggling ache of doubt. If there is one lesson I took away with me after reading this book, it’s that, sometimes, the thing we crave most has been right in front of us all along.

 

 

 

 

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.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 257 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	28-August-2012
Price	$2.99 ebook, $15.00 paperback
Buy Link	http://www.amazon.com/If-I-Told-You-So-ebook/dp/B007T9WYT0