Enjoying August and the last real month of summer? Well if you are, or aren't , take the time to check out this excellent review on an excellent story, done by our excellent reviewer, @Parker Owens!

The Rip
by Mark Ponyboy Peters

Reviewer: Parker Owens
Status: Complete
Word Count: 42,794

It’s summer, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere. The sun is high in the sky, and the beach or deck lounge chair beckon, along with a good story. It’s just the time for The Rip.  

GA author Mark Ponyboy Peters sets this a world away from American readers in Australia, but the descriptions of hazardous tides and currents are familiar to anyone who has visited the ocean. Peters writes us a story of two men with personal histories shaped by the current – by the rip.

He tells us the story of Scott Fraser and Justin Black. He writes of those pivotal early events affecting them vividly and engages the reader with depictions of an Australia most of us don’t see or think about. But while their shared past is important, it is in the present that the story is told. Bit by bit, we learn how each of these men has evolved and grown since the first dramatic events. Each has dealt with his fundamental self-knowledge, but in very different ways. One took a practical route many will recognize. The other’s road was more tortuous.

Peters’ story takes us into the hearts and histories of Scott and Justin, and in these threads we can see familiar themes.  Yet the setting, plot and colorful word painting into which we’re cast makes them new, and let readers see that our experiences are everywhere, in contexts not necessarily familiar to the reader.

By the end of the story, we’re deeply immersed in Justin and Scott’s lives, and turning the pages faster as events transpire. The story is propelled forward as their confusion, denial and mutual attraction alternate convincingly in their minds. How they resolve this swirl kept me reading on my beach towel even as the sun headed into the west, and my stomach growled.  

Let me encourage you to read this engaging story by a capable GA author, and discover a part of the world that’s new, and a story that’s ageless.

Category: Fiction  Genres:  General Fiction, Romance  Sub-genres: Drama, Coming of Age, Contemporary Romance  Tags: young adult, adult, gay, australia, anal, oral, coming out,  Rating: Mature