If you ask Jema what his life is like, he'll probably give you a shrug. "Fine." At sixteen, he's already emotionally drained, and often finds himself caught between giving up completely, and chasing after the dream of life getting better. But it's just a dream, after all. The school's administrators have lumped him in with the 'troubled kids', his mother thinks he's just acting out... but then his life really flips upside down. After a wild sophomore year and junior summer, confessions are made and secrets are out. But Jema feels more trapped than ever. Along comes a boy with a harder shell than Jema. The unexpected bond between them flourishes. But all good things must come to an end. "Jema" has been #490 in Teen Fiction. (boyxboy in the title because WP asked me to)

Every Tuesday during football practice, sixteen year old Sem Bolton finds himself stealing glances at the gorgeous college boy jogging down the path next to the fields. He was his dirty little secret. His guilty pleasure. His unobtainable fantasy: safe and distant on the other side of the chainlink fence. Then, through a series of unpleasant events including being forced on a camping trip, it turns out his unobtainable fantasy is not so unobtainable after all. Not only is gorgeous college boy gay as well, he also wants to date Sem. Now, Sem was never one to play it safe. But outing himself was in a whole different league than testing his mother's patience or taking hits in the boxing ring. Was he really ready to date a guy, all consequences included? As if internal struggles weren't enough, count on girls, friends, and an estranged brother, to complicate stuff even further. Photo on the cover by: https://unsplash.com/@nickkarvounis