The story of David, a guitar playing geek, and Cal, his best friend and how their friendship develops into love. Book 1 covers the last two years of secondary school.
Size: 774 KB (154,255 words)
Genre: Coming of Age
Sex Contents: Some Sex
Tags: mt/ft, Teenagers, Consensual, Drunk/Drugged, NonConsensual, Romantic, Heterosexual, Fiction, School, Cheating, Anal Sex, Cream Pie, First, Petting, Pregnancy, Slow
Review by Ryan Sylander [other reviews by Ryan Sylander]
Reviewed:
Dreams often take a long time to materialize, particularly those of the teenage variety, and sometimes they never do. The protagonists in this story have big dreams, and also the talent to make them happen. But what happens when dreams move at different speeds and even in different directions?
The long-time friendship of David J Barker and next-door neighbor Cal is the foundational element in the first book of ProfessorC’s coming-of-age story set in Northern England. The events are told from the perspective of this likable young man who has skills many of us dream of: star athlete, decent musician, capable academic, and a self-effacing attitude to go with it all. And that’s before he hits into arguably his biggest talent.
The story opens with David and Cal as best of friends, a situation that is challenged by the arrival of a new teenage boy who of course has his own hormones to satisfy. The scenes are full of fun both at school and at home, with a vibrant cast of supporting characters that make life interesting for David. A few times, the plot seems to dip into a predictable track and even does take that route for some scenes. However, ProfessorC uses these seeming clichés as a gravitational slingshot to send the plot into unforeseen directions, dragging your tight stomach and sweaty palms along for the ride. In fact, the author has done a great job skirting the line of how Cal is portrayed in particular. There is just enough there to make you want to both love her and scream at her, and yet all the while you can’t quite be sure which one of those is the right thing to do.
This is the author’s first posted story, and although there are some typos scattered in the text, the grip of the narrative overrides these minor issues, particularly as you read on. The placement of commas (or lack of them, at times) is primarily used as a manager of story tempo. This takes a little getting used to, but the occasional hiccup in understanding a phrase is well worth the momentum that this approach gives to the tale. Indeed, stylistically, the story reads very conversationally, as if there’s an open quotation mark at the beginning of chapter one, and a closing one at the end of the story, and you’re really just listening to David recount these events at the Roundhill Club over a pint of West Yorkshire ale.
‘Book 1’ ends like you’d want a first book to conclude: with some resolution, but definitely leaving you wanting more. In fact, strike that final quotation mark; another installment of David’s tale is certainly needed and it is being written at the time of this writing. It’s well worth digging into this great story.
