Trailer Trash

When I started this book, my expectations were pretty low. The book seemed like any other contemporary gay romance that had more sex than story. Boy, was I wrong.

Trailer Trash (deserves a better name, maybe “Seeing All the Stars” or “My Man in the Desert”) is a beautiful story of young love, innocent and wanting, pure with the bravery of youth, passionate with the struggle to find happiness.

SPOILERS!!

I love how Nate and Cody are just trying to find a place to exist and love each other. I love how Nate shows his affection to Cody while risking so much and how's it's authentic and not cheesy at all. I love the many well defined characters surprised me again and again (Christine!). I love how Cody's mom holds his face in her hands and tells him not to believe those who consider him worthless.

This is one of those books which isn't marketed as a high quality novel but is!

I had no idea that Marie Sexton could write such a strong, heartbreaking book. I found her contemporary M/M novels to be fine, but none of them left a lasting impression on me. I think Trailer Trash will linger for a long time. Maybe it's because I grew up in the 1970s and 80s when we were all just learning about AIDS, and I didn't know any LGBTQ people because they were all in the closet. So reading about the ignorance and cruelty that Nate and Cody faced, and the shame and guilt that Nate felt as he came out to himself, seemed personal even though I'm a cisgender het woman. Thankfully Sexton gives them a happy ending - or at least a HFN ending. I'll bet many of my high school and college classmates were going through the same experiences as these characters. This book made me wish I had listened more carefully and been more supportive of them.