Blog Tour ~A Preacher’s Son by Lisa Henry & JA Rock (Teaser + Giveaway)
Release date: January 16, 2018
About the book:
Jason Banning is a wreck. His leg’s been blown to hell in Afghanistan, his boyfriend just left him and took the dog, and now he’s back in his hometown of Pinehurst, Washington, a place that holds nothing but wretched memories…and Nathan Tull. Nathan Tull, whose life Jason ruined. Nathan Tull, who will never believe Jason did what he did for a greater good. Nathan Tull, whose reverend father runs the gay conversion therapy camp that Jason once sought to bring down—at any cost.Nathan Tull is trying to live a quiet life. Four years ago, when Nate was a prospective student visiting UW, his world collapsed when senior Jason Banning slept with him, filmed it, and put the footage online. A painful public outing and a crisis of faith later, Nate has finally begun to heal. Cured of the “phantoms” that plagued him for years, he now has a girlfriend, a counselor job at his dad’s camp, and the constant, loving support of his father. But when he learns Jason is back in town, his carefully constructed identity begins to crumble.
As desperate to reconcile his love for God with his attraction to men as Jason is to make sense of the damage he’s done, Nate finds himself walking a dangerous line. On one side lies the righteous life he committed himself to in the wake of his public humiliation. On the other is the sin he committed with Jason Banning, and the phantoms that won’t let him be. But is there a path that can bridge those two worlds—where his faith and his identity as a gay man aren’t mutually exclusive? And can he walk that path with the man who betrayed him?
Buy it now:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ASXPol
Author site: http://www.lisahenryonline.com/the-preachers-son.html
I apologize but I just need to get this out:
Jason is one of the most hateful people I’ve ever read. He’s hateful to those with religious ideology, he’s hateful of his town, he’s hateful of those who he does not even know. He most of all, though, is hateful of himself because no person can find so much wrong with everything outside of themselves without truly hating themselves. It’s everyone else’s fault, it’s everyone else’s judgment and subsequent persecution. He may feel better than everything and everyone but IMHO he’s just spiteful and bitter and sad.
What he did to Nathan was reprehensible. It was cruel and in my opinion, criminal. He may have felt remorse and things may have gotten resolved but honestly, I wouldn’t be able to forgive him for what he had done. Not only did he violate Nate’s privacy (how could someone do that to someone else?) but he also took power away from Nate. Nate deserved to be able to come out on his own, when and where and how he saw fit. To take something like that away from someone is cruel on its own, however, to do that to a young (18-year-old) man who was in his position was actually sick. What would he have done if Nate had committed suicide? If his parents had killed him? Kicked him out? Sent him somewhere where he’d never recover from the trauma?
Jason tries to act as if he’s got good intentions, like down deep he’s a good person. In some ways he is but before he tried to help others he needed to look very very hard at his self. (He eventually does). Maybe then he would’ve been able to truly help Nate and the many kids he claimed to want to help.
AY YI YI!! Rant over, now onto what it all means to me and that is this. Great writing! This story was so well written I had a hard time putting it down. Yes, I could not stand Jason and I see no redeeming him, however, that’s not the point. Did he work for this story? Yes, he did. The fact that I have such a visceral feeling towards him speaks volumes to the story and writing. He was so realistic that I could see him in my mind without a second of hesitation (I picture myself kicking him in the shins).
Nate breaks my heart. This poor young man who can’t escape the “Phantoms” of his life. The struggle he’s going through trying to live with the thoughts and not act on them. His determination to not let his father down, to pass the tests God gave them even as he questions the validity of his father’s teachings. What really made me sad was the fact that it’s so different from what I’m used to seeing when it comes to “Pray the Gay Away”. His hatred, his condemnation, and prejudice are so well cloaked in love, support and guidance I actually found myself questioning whether he was a bad man or not. It’s the ultimate brainwashing because it shows how and why Nate would so desperately want to please his father. I honestly think it would have been easier for him to escape if it had been more aggressive and hate-fueled. Fire and Brimstone, abomination, sinful! He might have been able to see through that much clearer or much faster.
Do I like them together? Hmm, I’m not quite sure. On one hand, they have great chemistry but on the other hand, all I can think about is the fact that Jason truly hurt Nate. How that will always hang between them. I also wasn’t sure if Nate would ever fully be able to feel free and embrace who he truly is. His relationship with God and with his father seemed so unfinished to me. Maybe not his relationship with God but definitely with his father, who in so many ways is a complicated man.
As for the story itself, it’s definitely interesting and kept me hooked all day. But this isn’t a sweet book, it’s not romantic and it didn’t leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling like so many books I read. I kept wanting the sweet and the happy, I craved it and I craved some romance. In the end, I wanted less angst. While I didn’t need fluff, I just wanted more optimism. I mean what was the point of all that pain? Of course, in real life, most of us aren’t living in a fairytale so this outcome, their possible version of happily ever after, may just be apropos after all.
***Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the author/publisher for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.***
4 Stars!
I apologize but I just need to get this out:
Jason is one of the most hateful people I’ve ever read. He’s hateful to those with religious ideology, he’s hateful of his town, he’s hateful of those who he does not even know. He most of all, though, is hateful of himself because no person can find so much wrong with everything outside of themselves without truly hating themselves. It’s everyone else’s fault, it’s everyone else’s judgment and subsequent persecution. He may feel better than everything and everyone but IMHO he’s just spiteful and bitter and sad.
What he did to Nathan was reprehensible. It was cruel and in my opinion, criminal. He may have felt remorse and things may have gotten resolved but honestly, I wouldn’t be able to forgive him for what he had done. Not only did he violate Nate’s privacy (how could someone do that to someone else?) but he also took power away from Nate. Nate deserved to be able to come out on his own, when and where and how he saw fit. To take something like that away from someone is cruel on its own, however, to do that to a young (18-year-old) man who was in his position was actually sick. What would he have done if Nate had committed suicide? If his parents had killed him? Kicked him out? Sent him somewhere where he’d never recover from the trauma?
Jason tries to act as if he’s got good intentions, like down deep he’s a good person. In some ways he is but before he tried to help others he needed to look very very hard at his self. (He eventually does). Maybe then he would’ve been able to truly help Nate and the many kids he claimed to want to help.
AY YI YI!! Rant over, now onto what it all means to me and that is this. Great writing! This story was so well written I had a hard time putting it down. Yes, I could not stand Jason and I see no redeeming him, however, that’s not the point. Did he work for this story? Yes, he did. The fact that I have such a visceral feeling towards him speaks volumes to the story and writing. He was so realistic that I could see him in my mind without a second of hesitation (I picture myself kicking him in the shins).
Nate breaks my heart. This poor young man who can’t escape the “Phantoms” of his life. The struggle he’s going through trying to live with the thoughts and not act on them. His determination to not let his father down, to pass the tests God gave them even as he questions the validity of his father’s teachings. What really made me sad was the fact that it’s so different from what I’m used to seeing when it comes to “Pray the Gay Away”. His hatred, his condemnation, and prejudice are so well cloaked in love, support and guidance I actually found myself questioning whether he was a bad man or not. It’s the ultimate brainwashing because it shows how and why Nate would so desperately want to please his father. I honestly think it would have been easier for him to escape if it had been more aggressive and hate-fueled. Fire and Brimstone, abomination, sinful! He might have been able to see through that much clearer or much faster.
Do I like them together? Hmm, I’m not quite sure. On one hand, they have great chemistry but on the other hand, all I can think about is the fact that Jason truly hurt Nate. How that will always hang between them. I also wasn’t sure if Nate would ever fully be able to feel free and embrace who he truly is. His relationship with God and with his father seemed so unfinished to me. Maybe not his relationship with God but definitely with his father, who in so many ways is a complicated man.
As for the story itself, it’s definitely interesting and kept me hooked all day. But this isn’t a sweet book, it’s not romantic and it didn’t leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling like so many books I read. I kept wanting the sweet and the happy, I craved it and I craved some romance. In the end, I wanted less angst. While I didn’t need fluff, I just wanted more optimism. I mean what was the point of all that pain? Of course, in real life, most of us aren’t living in a fairytale so this outcome, their possible version of happily ever after, may just be apropos after all.
***Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the author/publisher for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.***
Teaser Excerpt:
Jason saw Nathan as soon as he stepped out of his car. Nathan had been walking toward the office building, but stopped when he spotted Jason. Jason wouldn’t have been surprised to see him suddenly topple like one of those fainting goats. Then, he seemed to recover, and began to walk forward again.
Jason resisted the temptation to look him up and down slowly. Pretty sure if there was a God, it was His idea of a joke to make Nathan Tull so damn fuckable. No starched shirt or ruthlessly gelled hair today. Nate wore a blue T-shirt that showed off tanned arms. His sandy hair was almost shaggy, the ends curling at his ears. His lips were parted slightly; clear hazel eyes met Jason’s.
“For what I did to you,” Jason said. Face to face, the words were coming harder than he’d thought, each one threatening to undermine something inside him. He was afraid he’d trigger an avalanche if he had to look Nate in the eye for much longer. “I shouldn’t have used you just to get at your father. At this place.”
“You don’t need to apologize to me.” Nate stepped closer. “You didn’t force me. It was my own weakness that brought me to that point.”
About the authors:
Connect with Lisa Henry:
Website: www.lisahenryonline.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LisaHenryOnline
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisa.henry.1441
***
Connect with JA Rock:
Website: www.jarockauthor.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jarockauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ja.rock.39
Giveaway:
Win 1 of 3 e-copies of any Lisa Henry or JA Rock back catalog book! Open Internationally.
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I'm still really intrigued by this because I am a fan of both authors. Did you see the movie Three Billboards? I think it may be like that--you go so far over the line you can't ever go back and so you end up with the only other person who went there with you.
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