 Cheri RosenbergReviews This Time Around by Mark A. Roeder (from the Gay Youth Chronicles...) |
| This
Time Around,
by Mark A. Roeder, is the continuing saga of famous rock star, Jordan
Potter, lead singer of Phantom, and his boyfriend, Ralph Rogers, an
ordinary person and huge fan of Phantom. Jordan and Ralph met and fell
in love in the prequel, Do You Know That I Love You: Boyband, in Roeder’s, Gay
Youth Chronicles. After touring with the band, Jordan and Ralph take a much-needed vacation and go to Verona, Indiana. They stay with Ethan and Nathan on the Selby farm. Ethan and Nathan were friends of Jordan’s late father, Taylor Potter, and are able to tell Jordan about the father he never knew. Jordan visits Verona to reconnect with grandparents who aren’t even aware he exists. Jordan’s estranged mother never told Taylor or his parents that she was pregnant with Taylor’s baby. Taylor’s parents turned him away at a time when he desperately needed their love, acceptance, and support. It was a combination of hatred, fear, and nowhere to turn for guidance that precipitated Taylor’s suicide, leaving his parents with feelings of tremendous loss, regret, and guilt. Their prejudice prevented them from knowing their son because he was gay. As Jordan explores his father’s past, he comes across a homophobic evangelist, Jerry Wellerson, who wants to abolish gay youth centers. Jordan feels that his own father and his father’s boyfriend, Mark Bailey, might still be alive if such centers existed when they were young. Jordan uses his celebrity—he is the “prince of rock and roll”—to strive for the continuation of gay youth services and preserve gay rights. Jordan, Ralph, and their friends cannot understand why anyone would be against an organization that helps kids. Teenagers, especially gay teens, are at high risk for experimenting with drugs, alcohol, and other harmful behaviors, some of which can lead to accidental death or suicide. Young people need places to turn when they do not have the support of parents, friends, teachers, or society. Roeder tells a great story in This Time Around. We get to revisit Ethan, Nathan, Nick and Sean, as well as other characters from previous books. All books in the Gay Youth Chronicles tie in nicely with each other, but each book easily stands on its own. This Time Around is a heart-wrenching story about parents who are unable to forgive themselves for bad decisions made in the past, a boy who wants to have a relationship with his long lost grandparents, and a fight for gay rights against an evil man who uses religion to discriminate against gays. It is also a story about a community that comes together to fight for what is right, what is best for the common good, and hopefully stamp out prejudice. I highly recommend this book as it offers romance, action, suspense, and hope that out of evil can come some good for the benefit of all humanity. Roeder not only tells an interesting story and has loveable main characters; he makes many valid observations about the world’s view of homosexuality from a religious aspect. One hopes religious fanatics will see the light and stop using misinterpretations of the Bible to justify bigotry. The Bible says, “God does not create abominations;” therefore, gays are not abominations…since God created gays. I appreciate the message that Roeder strives to get across in all of his novels. He makes many valid points. Don’t miss This Time Around. |
 This Time Around by Mark A. Roeder Paperback: 228 pages Writers Club Press; (March 25, 2003) ISBN: 0595273610 Editor's Note: Cheri Rosenberg is one of our most prolific reviewers. Please let her know what you thought of this and other of her reviews. She can be reached at this email address. |