Alex Sanchez (1) (1957–)

This is a story that could have been really cool, but unfortunately is dragged down by a lot of different aspects. The writing is weak and incredibly stilted. The water theme is overplayed and nearly every page features some sort of water/ocean quip that feels forced. Dialogue just lacks any charisma or creativity; if feels like I’m reading a hasty draft for a fanfic. I know artwork is fairly subjective, but I thought the art style was weirdly cartoony. Body shapes looked distorted, and facial expressions were often just WEIRD.
Finally, the plot is just lackluster. It’s basic. It offers nothing fresh or exciting, which is annoying because it COULD have been such a fun story! I guess it was kinda funny at points, but that was just me laughing at the bad writing. Oh, and the Big Bad character? The one they make a huge deal about coming? Yeah, this character NEVER shows up.… (altro)

CW: a whole lotta homophobia from the antagonist in here, so be warned

Oh hey Aqualad!! (I mean technically...)

Anyhow - what an unexpectedly sweet story about love and friendship and coming out. I loved the colors here (though at times some of the panels confused me as they would switch angles suddenly) and enjoyed how clueless Jake is (seriously he's narrating how great it is to have a friend like Maria who is putting moves on him constantly and every panel is her frustration at his complete obliviousness).

Honestly though we could have done without the bullies - Jake had more than enough to deal with between Maria, his college application, Kenny, his mom and his burgeoning powers. Dude didn't need homophonic bullies too.… (altro)

This book follows a high-school boy named Diego as he goes through probation following an assault at school. Throughout probation, he works through the root cause of his anger, focusing in on childhood trauma and his coping methods.

While I am not a therapist and cannot vouch for the effectiveness or safety of the methods used in this book on healing from trauma, it really hit at my emotions. Diego has quite a bit of character growth throughout the story and quickly becomes someone you want to root for. His internalized homophobia is not something that is supported throughout the book and presented as one of the areas of growth for him. While his healing felt incredibly fast, it still felt real and personal. I did take off a star because of the unrealistic speed of his recovery, specifically surrounding his confrontation with his mom and how that was handled.

This is my first Alex Sanchez read and I will definitely be picking up more of Alex Sanchez's books.

TW: child sexual assault, self harm, assault, homophobia… (altro)

An awful lot of melodrama, and characters that fit archetypes. But maybe I'm looking at it through the rose-tinted glasses of hindsight. I have a hard time thinking this would be groundbreaking, but it might have been ahead of the curve of young adult gay fiction. I had certainly seen its cover as a babygay, around the time I came out. I guess that's why I bought it when a shopowner recommended it in a gay London bookshop a few years ago. (Like many other things, it's been sitting on my bookshelf since then looking at me forlornly.)

A nice read but I'm definitely too old for it.… (altro)