Customer Reviews

Changing Jamie

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

 

 

I don't normally read Young Adult but I've just finished Changing Jamie by Dakota Chase that has made me realize what I've been missing out on. No one ever said growing up was easy, butwhen you're young, gay, and haven't told anyone, especially your parents, it's downright hard. Jamie's best friend, Billy, is openly gay and his goal in life is to cause his straight-laced parents as much embarrassment as possible. Jamie's stepfather is emotionally abusive, and he feels his mother is siding with his stepfather over him. Jamie has a crush on Dylan Anderson, high school jock and when he's assigned as a tutor to help Dylan pass his SATs, he thinks his fantasies have come true, except now he actually has to talk to him. Jamie learns that Billy is playing a dangerous game where he is purposely trying to catch AIDS. To top it all off, circumstances force him to come out in front of the whole school. The twists and turns this book takes keeps you turning the pages. You realize that gay or straight, all teenagers have the same wants and the same fears. This is one book I recommend not passing up.

Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! What a wonderful hidden gem! This story should become must reading for all young adults- gay or straight! Dakota Chase writes perfectly for his target audience. Too many authors of young adult fiction condescend or write down to their audience. Chase does not. This novel has lessons for all of us.

I found that Changing Jamie was a wonderful story. You see so many young gay novels about love and sex and discovery, but you can rarely find a book about "bug chasers" and "gift-givers", it's not a topic you'd ever see touched on. The only flaw to this book is the grammar and spelling mistakes littered throughout the book, even at one point accidentally mixing up the names. It might be due to the past as an English major, but it was the one thing that took the book down a peg for me.

Changing Jamie is a Young Adult novel that has a lot to teach also to young adult is no more. It faces an issue, HIV in teenagers that I think most people prefer to ignore since it's an ugly side of life; moreover, it unveils a practice, that among the bug-chasers and the gift givers that only to think about it make me shiver: underage kids have unprotected sex with HIV-positive men with the exact intent to be infected; of course these kids are depressed, or traumatized, and with a low-level of self-esteem; they probably believe no one loves them, and they believe probably they would be accepted at least by whom has their same illness. Thinking that such practice is described in a Young Adult novel is scaring, but it's done in a way that wants to teach those kids that is not the way to be loved or accepted, it's only a way to destroy your life forever, even more than what you believe is in that moment.

The bug-chaser is Billy and as a counterpart the story is told by Jamie, that is, more or less, a very ordinary teenager; Jamie is gay but he is not out; of course he has a crush on the most popular guy at school and of course he has the chance to tutor him, so that they finally exchange more than few words at once. Jamie's story is sweet and romantic, a first love story with an happily for now end that will make you smile even if, just some pages before you were wondering on the inconsiderate act Billy did, maybe only since his parents were not enough worried of their son's future.

There is a little bit of the usual routine about gay teenagers in high school, bullied kids and all, but that is not the main theme; for once, and as it should be, the school is mostly accepting, more even supporting, and Jamie and Dylan (Jamie's dream date) have also the support of the respective families. On the family level, there are also three different approaches on being parents: the indifference of Billy's parents, the supportiveness of Jamie's mother and in the end, the lost chance's attitude of Dylan's father, who would like something different for his son, but than in the end will accept what his son wants.

All in all, Changing Jamie was a surprisingly balanced novel; it's not cute or pretty, but it's not even as sad as it could have slipped due to the matter.

This book was so sweat!!! I mean it was adorable; however, as a gay teen I wished the characters were a little more exlorative! The plot is compelling and the characters will make you laugh, cry, and threaten homoside! all in all a great read for the young gay community. If you are a gay adult on the other hand and want some steaming hot stuff than I would rethink your purchase!
xoxo ;)

I was really looking forward to this book, I felt that it might be an easy read, but in the end I was bored to death from all of the "plot twists". The character of Jamie was drab and see through, while his best friend was an obnoxious jerk.
I'm used to reading about gay teens that have an alcoholic step father, for some reason that's a common battle in these gay teenage romances. The author will feel like they are showing how strong the character is, when really the commonality of the whole 'battle' is just boring by this point.
I have a few more complaints but those were my biggest ones.
Oh, and the cover looked like it was done in paint.

In "Changing Jamie," the budding romance between track team members Jamie and Dylan rings very true. And it's not only their story that is very real. Their parents and classmates are very true to life. A very interesting addition here in what is an above-average gay coming-of-age tale is Billy, the protagonist's best friend. While there usually are best friends, this one has an extraordinarily dark edge. His storyline is about a very serious and contemporary subject--bug-chasing, the desire by some gay men (a fortunately extremely small group) to become infected with HIV, for a variety of sadly warped reasons. It's a very different sub-plot for a book like this, and the author handles its deftly, teaching a great lesson in the end. Overall, though, this is a solid, realistic, fun novel.

Changing Jamie was a really good read. It was very intriguing and couldn't Finnish reading until i was done. i was looking for another book and i stumbled upon this one. what set it apart from a sometimes overcrowded genre was the fact that it addressed HIV more in particularly "bug-chasing". Another thing was the fact that the main character did not fall in love with another guy all in the first page but it progressed throughout the book. It also showed that the character that had HIV showed remorse about his actions.

This is a great book a must read for all teens...although the book is great i found parts of it hard to read as there was many mistakes..at one point in the book Dylan calls Jamie Billy...was a total mistake in the book....did anyone else notice this?