When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw REVIEW

 When You Call My Name

by Tucker Shaw

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Synopsis:

Film fanatic Adam is seventeen and being asked out on his first date—and the guy is cute. Heart racing, Adam accepts, quickly falling in love with Callum like the movies always promised.

Fashion-obsessed Ben is eighteen and has just left his home upstate after his mother discovers his hidden stash of gay magazines. When he comes to New York City, Ben’s sexuality begins to feel less like a secret and more like a badge of honor.

Then Callum disappears, leaving Adam heartbroken, and Ben finds out his new world is more closed-minded than he thought. When Adam finally tracks Callum down, he learns the guy he loves is very ill. And in a chance meeting near the hospital where Callum is being treated, Ben and Adam meet, forever changing each other’s lives. As both begin to open their eyes to the possibilities of queer love and life, they realize sometimes the only people who can help you are the people who can really see you—in all your messy glory.

A love letter to New York and the liberating power of queer friendship, When You Call My Name is a hopeful novel about the pivotal moments of our youth that break our hearts and the people who help us put them back together.

Expected Publication: May 3, 2022

Review:

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

There is something so bittersweet about a love that you can never hang on to. When Adam falls for Callum he really believes they have a long time left together. When things change, Adam is left brokenhearted and must figure out where his life will go from here. Ben moves out of his mother's house after she finds his stash of queer magazines. He has to figure out what his life looks like now as an openly gay teen. When Adam and Ben meet they might just find out what life and friendship really mean and what being fully seen really feels like.

At its core, this story was really sweet. There were a lot of relationships in here that are very well done. Ben and Gil's friendship was my favorite. The love these two have for each other is so apparent and easily gushes out of the pages. Victor and Jack are two side characters that I fell completely in love with. I would love a book that focuses on their remaining time together.

What I didn't enjoy about this book is the pacing. I felt like the story dragged in numerous places which took me out of the story a little bit. When I hit these lulls in the story I had to take a step away and catch a breather. Had they have not been there I feel like I would have binged the entire book.

While this isn't a book I would reach for again I do think it's still a worthwhile read. It provides a glimpse into the past of what young gay individuals experienced during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. We see them losing their friends and loved ones, dealing with their own fears contracting the deadly virus, and learning how to love and hope in such a dangerous time.