Customer Reviews

Admit One

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In my reading experience, the best of all possible books features the following:

1. Characters real and relatable;
2. A completely engrossing world that the reader does not care to leave;
3. Compelling subplots;
4. Literary elements, like symbolic details and tricky narrative constructions;
5. A story that speaks a "truth" about the world in a way nonfiction does not;
6. A final 100 pages that the reader refuses to put down until done, usually around four in the morning;
7. An experience that lingers with the reader long after completion.

Admit One delivered all of these things. I finished this book over a month ago, and I still find myself thinking about and caring for Tom and Kevin, and even secondary characters like George and Robbie, as if they were good friends. No one was a caricature, and I believed this story from beginning to end. Sinclair created a startlingly realistic world that both made me confront the ugliness in us as well as the beauty. This author really knows how to weave a tale! I was biting my nails in the school board scene, longing to shake Tom to his senses on multiple occassions, cheering on the high school kids, and crying, sometimes in pain, sometimes in joy, in more than one scene between Tom and Kevin. We all say it every day, to our family and friends, as part of our daily routine to the point that its almost trivial, and so it takes some extraordinary writing to bring the reader to tears at a phrase as common as "I love you."

This is not your everyday gay romance. It's much more. For one, I especially enjoyed how the sex scenes did real work in the development of characters; each one drives the story forward. The author wrote with real care, and she includes many rich, symbolic details. I easily spent two hours discussing this novel in all its depth! As I close this review, I keep finding my words incredibly inadequate in comparison to the way this book made me feel. Through a complex and compelling tale, Admit One wrestles with the big issues--courage, community, fear, acceptance, hate, love--and its ultimate answer left me satisfied in a way few books do. I stayed up until four a.m. finishing it; I bet you will, too.

Be sure you have time for the whole book before you start reading. Once you start ... I turned off my phone, I forgot to eat, totally wrapped up in this well-written romance.

Don't expect to jump from one bed scene to another. There's a LOT to this story. The characters are well developed, the environment is believable, and what sexual situations there are promote the story line. This is not a light comedy; it is not a pot-boiler. It is a serious story of a gay man falling in love.

Read it. Enjoy it.

I have always wanted a novel from this writer. And she has delivered one compelling, deeply meaningful and heart gripping story in this intense narration of one man's struggle to break free from a horrifying past that has strangled him for 16 years. Tom Smith is the man. A well respected teacher in a religious and conservative town in Texas, Tom has lived with his tormented past for 16 years. A past which left him shattered, disillusioned, handicapped and emotionally scarred for life. He lived in constant fear of being discovered he is gay in his conservative community hiding behind a facade of calm and pretense. His only sexual release are his weekends trips to Houston for one night stands with unknown men. And this is how he meets Kevin. In contrast Kevin is comfortable with his sexuality, with a failed marriage behind him. He strives for what he wants and nearing 40 years old yearns for a committed relationship. He loves Tom. He recognizes the man beneath the layers of fears wishing to break free and he is not about to abandon Tom.
In the beginning I could not feel much sympathy for Tom. I could not understand his cowardice as this is 2008 we are talking about. Surely there is nothing to keep him from leaving the deeply religious town in Texas and be with Kevin, the man he loves. But as the story progresses I come to feel deeply for this credible character . I understand his fears as the poignancy of his mesmerizing narration grips me. And when his horrifying past is revealed in a powerful confrontation with Kevin I found myself all choked up and have to pause to tell myself this is fiction. Tom and Kevin are just frictional characters!
Their developing relationship is complex, underlined with pain and filled with the deep yearnings of two nearly forty year old gay men for the almost impossible dream of a committed relationship.
Intertwined into their compelling story is a group of students fighting a conservative community for the right to express themselves in the powerful musical "Rent". Here the writer has done a wonderful joy drawing out the supporting characters of several 17 year old kids. I find myself caring for one boy named Robbie as much as for Tom and Kevin. Their struggle is all too real.
There is so much emotions in Admit One. This is one powerfully compelling and stirring story as it is credible and convincing. This is not your usual M/M romance. It is so much more and I wish I could express my review better.

After reading several m/m romances where I wanted to slap one or two characters hard and tell them shut up already and get over their whining, I was worried that I may have lost the ability to enjoy angst in romance in the first place.


Thank goodness it is not true. There is a lot of angst in this book, but I enjoyed it a great deal. We always know that one of the leads, who is also a narrator is in a lot of pain, but personally I never found his pain to be over the top. And even when I only suspected what may be the cause of such pain, I never felt that it was over the top. I don't know, it could be because while character's personal life is quite screwed up due to his demons, he still tries to deal and achieve something professionally. In other words he does not talk about whatever hurts him over and over and over till the reader would want to throw the book against the wall and say shut up :)

Maybe it is just the author is so good and so skillfully builds up the confrontation whatever bothers Tom is revealed that reader is actually concentrated on WANTING to know what the heck is up with him?

Whatever it is, I enjoyed it a lot, I wanted him to be happy and was rooting for him all the way.

When I read that the Rent is the play kids in the book will be rehearsing, I was worried that the symbolism will be a bit heavy handed, and I am not a fan of heavy handed symbolism. I was worried too much and for nothing :)

While certainly Rent IS the message of love and tolerance on its own, author also treats it as rehearsal of actual play, with describing a little bit which kids are good or bad for the parts, she does not hit you over the head with the symbolism IMO.

Highly highly recommended read.

After reading the first few pages I didn't know if I was going to like this book or not. After sticking with it for a few more pages I fell in love with it. I have to say that this is one of the most emotionally moving book's I've read in a while. I loved the characters. I recommend this book as a deep and emotional read.

I have to say that the Broadway Musical Rent theme was a drawback for me. I was anxious that it might be too cliché or derivative. But the reviews raved, and I read the free sample and thought it might be worth the risk...

This is a really moving, warming tale of Tom's painful reconnection to the human race. He has hidden behind his excellent teacher mask for years now, only venturing out for anonymous sex when the urges become too great. And then he meet Kevin, whom I just loved. Who was kinder and sweeter than most of us deserve, and was so patient and present with Tom.

I really felt the fear and constraint of living in a small town in Texas and how difficult it would be for either of these professional men - the teacher or the banker - to be 'out' in their communities, and also how once you meet a specific person, it comes easier to take those real risks. This is a story of love, with sex, but it really is an emotionally engaging love story and I was really glad to spend time with them

5738 locations, a keeper and a reread. Definitely worth the price of admission :)

This was really very good. It was moving and well written. It kept me up reading through the night...

What a wonderful novel! I have read everything Jenna Sinclair has written, and she is certainly honing her craft, getting even more creative and prolific. Also, with this new kind of publishing, works get into our hands sooner rather than later; and I like how this story feels so current, topical, and relevant to right now.

I love these characters. It might be a trite phrase in commenting on fiction, but they are so fully realized. I'm used to reading about characters I know like the back of my hand (Kirk/Spock, Ennis/Jack, Lynley/Havers) and it's lovely to read these new characters and get a sense of knowing them, due to Jenna's skillful writing. I appreciate expression at an essential level in fiction; and this writing does just that. It's not like it took a 700-page novel to get to know the characters. The glimpses right from the start of every little thing about them and how they live, what they do and say, let us get a good picture of the whole person.

The story moved along very smoothly. I appreciate the most said in the fewest words and in a fairly direct way, and this story was so clean, yet without any scrimping -- just enough words to give us vivid visuals and the thrill of emotion, but without unnecessary exposition. This is perfectly faceted portrayal of a time and place and two men and the others around them, and a journey of obstacles and growth.

As to the story itself, it was perfect. How these particular gay men ended up getting into each other's lives was realistic yet unique -- nothing grasping or stretching about the storyline or plot.

My heart was filled. I hurt for Tom and his closeted struggles; and I was so glad that Kevin came into his life, with his spark and love and giving Tom courage through that love. Speaking of Tom's struggles, I loved how we didn't learn what had happened to him years before that gave him his physical hurt and made him so cautious and closeted, until much later in the story. Those circumstances were also a unique part of the story, adding to the depth of this character and the reasons everything was as it was. I loved that I felt I was reading a scenario I had never read before.

The kids and the school people and the church people and the production of "Rent" -- that was just all very entertaining. Sometimes, I might get impatient with certain parts of a story, such as involving, say, a heterosexual couple and their children (not that there's anything wrong with that) when I just want to get back to the sweet romance and hot-man-sex. But I was totally into it, all of it. Those kids rock. Oh yes, and the budding gayness of the two boys was as sweet as apple pie.

Besides, putting on a theatrical production is interesting. I have to admit that I never saw Rent, the theatrical version or the movie, but it is so in our common vocabulary that I know all about it even without having seen it.

And the sex... This was beautiful. It may have been just hot in the beginning scenes, Tom going to anonymous places to get some without making any real connections. But when it became meaningful, with Kevin, it was gorgeous. Especially when Tom was able to not have to go to some place afar anymore, in hiding, but finally able to be right there in town where anyone might get ideas about their hanging out together.

I really loved settling in, giving myself over to Jenna's capable hands, and being with Tom and Kevin. I was sorry to finish it, but it ended just right. I love to imagine them moving someplace where they can just live their lives freely.

The title is inspired; and I love the cover art. Dreamspinner Press is an invaluable resource.

Just wow! Great story, real, lovable characters, amazing dialog and my favorite, an emotional and deep narrative. I couldn't help but cry, laugh and sympathize with everything and everyone.

I finished this book, just today and still have full head of it, of the writting, of the characters and of the all,what this book gave me.
I wont write what the story is about, I wont write any spoilers. I`m just so happy that I googled this book and believed recommendation ;-) and I had few days full of passion, crying, loving and the feeling at the end...simly wau.
For those who love drama, love more then 200 pages of good reading and have spare time to enjoy it, you wont be disappointed. I wasn`t ...maybe because I found some meaning in the book, just for me...or it is because the author is so good, that there is actually some meaning inside...

thank you, was so worth it.