This review contains no spoilers.
With a beautiful girlfriend, a scholarship to a prestigious musical theater school, and talent to spare, life is good for high school senior Neil Darrien. He’s on his way to stardom, but then newcomer Zane Jeffrey secures a place in the school show choir, rousing Neil’s envy.
Neil soon sees there’s more to Zane than a talented performer, though – he’s funny and charming, and the two boys become friends. Neil’s girlfriend Melissa doesn’t like Neil spending so much time with Zane, and she draws Neil into her church. There, Neil is faced with a choice between righting a wrong and risking revealing a secret that could cost him everything he’s worked so hard to achieve.
As Neil’s relationship with Melissa deteriorates, Neil starts to see Zane in a different light – one that has him thinking of Zane as more than just a friend.Ever start reading a book in a genre you don’t usually read and you expect it to be groundbreaking with eye-opening epiphanies on every page?
Yeah, me neither.
Colors is a well-written and timely story. The main characters – Neil, Melissa, Zane, and Aunt Jenny – come across as people you’d want to know and have in your life. Unfortunately, the decision that Neil has to make to right a wrong concerns something that happens far too often and stays hidden, sometimes for a lifetime. Ultimately, it is this struggle that also makes the novel worth reading. There are no easy answers to Neil’s dilemma, and everything isn’t wrapped up neatly like a package at the end, though it comes dangerously close.
If there is a fault with Colors it is that it almost slips into afternoon special/Saturday morning TV mode near the end. The author gets back on track quickly and ends with me wanting to read more about Neil, his aunt Jenny, Zane, and Zane’s friend Cara (who is only heard from when she and Zane text each other).
Rating 4.5 Stars
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harmony Ink Press (through NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.
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