Sweet Nineteen (Gay Romance) Paperback – March 14, 2017

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I loved it. It’s about two nineteen year old college students who meet on a bus on the way to school. It starts out with Mick stealing shy glances at Tom’s profile as he sits next to him on the bus. Those glances leads to longing (and lustful) stares at Tom’s lap. At the end of the bus ride Mick thinks of Tom throughout the day which leads us to their second ride. Oh boy! It doesn’t take them long to become great friend and more. This was a wonderful story. It had some angst as there were growing pains between these two young men but they had wonderful mentors who helped them with their struggles. I highly recommended this 5 star book.

This book is disarmingly simple. It is unlike your typical m/m romance novel in that it feels oddly like a memoir. There is also a fresh innocence to it, a matter-of-factness that caught my attention and kept me smiling and emotionally engaged throughout. To my mind, this is a gay romance that only a gay man could write, because it seems not so much like a work of imagination as one of memory.Mick and Tom are both nineteen, and in college in southern England (which is like college in the US, but it is clearly a vocational training college and not a liberal arts college). They meet quite by accident on their morning bus, and more or less fall for each other instantly, but not in a way that is either prurient or unbelievable. The book is simply the story of this stroke of immense luck, in which two young men discover their gay identity and each other in one fell swoop.I was totally charmed. “Sweet Nineteen” follows the established tenets of gay romance, but without the judgmental aspect found in the unwritten rules of the m/m world. The book reflects the author’s perspective on love between two men in a comfortingly traditional way. It is neither edgy nor adventurous. The sex is not particularly erotic, but, if I dare say so, adorable.All in all, “Sweet Nineteen” was a kind of revelation for me, an authentic and somewhat artless fairy tale about young love. It touched something in my own memories of my distant youth. It made me smile, and it made me care. What more can one ask?

Don't let the book's blurb put you off if you think this will be just another how-I-met-a-boy-and-became-gay story. Instead, get ready for one of the most amazingly plotted and beautifully written how-I-met-a-boy-and-fell-in-love stories you are likely to ever read.Set in a number of small towns surrounding Canterbury in England, and expanded occasionally to the highlands of Scotland, this tale of Tom and Mick will grab you quickly--like each of them tentatively grabbed each other on the bus--and hold you enthralled through the end.And leave you wishing for more.Perfectly drawn, Tom and Mick and their families create a wonderland of love, and the two boys create a magical, scorching and almost (yes, almost) angst-free relationship that sometimes bears down on each of them somehat ruefully because neither one of them can believe how the other one loves him so much.That's all I'm going to tell you. For the rest, just settle back and smile, sometimes laugh, sometimes wipe a tear, and have a lovely time.

This book is the lovely needle in a haystack I have been looking for. I have now read scores of gay romance novels and written one. I have grown weary of every gay love story costing at least one character in the book a gay bashing within an inch of his life, being thrown out of his family, a suicide, over the top newspaper headline homophobic acting out. Yes those things do happen with morbid repetitive and regular occurance in the real world. Does that mean they have to exist between the pages of nearly every darn gay love story on Amazon.com? I for one don't think so. I think that when I read a romance novel I want there to be more romance and less violence and less reminders that in the "real" world terrible things still can and do happen to gay boys and men who dare to love each other.The main characters in this world meet, find attraction and romance, sex and love at the tender age of nineteen. Neither of them have labeled themselves when they begin their journey on a bus, a great metaphor for the road they will take together in life. Yes, there a couple of bumps on the road but nothing that takes away from the gentle unfolding of their caring for each other above all others. The book kept me up to the wee hours to finish and left me smiling. I am still smiling this morning as I write this. My thanks to the author for allowing me to escape from the headline horrors of the world into a tale of new and committed love. If only for a couple of hours. Call me crazy or a hopeless romantic but I think that in today's world there can be stories like this in real life as well.

Sweet story about two teen boys, who meet on a bus on the way to collage classes, and how they discover their budding sexuality together.Love this story so much, it moved me to tears in parts! Some angst, when they are having to deal with homophobia from strangers, and possibly within one of the boy's family.Great read! I'd recommend it for any male teens/young adults who are questioning their own sexuality, and/or that of friends or family, and really anyone down for a interesting story!

This book is 100% Anthony McDonald. Young men finding each other, developing a relationship. Learning to adjust and be honest with each other. Enough sex to make it romantic, but not slutty. And working through problems to a good resolution. His books are always a joy to read, nothing heavy, but engaging nonetheless. I also like the way these 19-year-olds find a 30-something couple who mentor their relationship. I really enjoyed reading this book.

a brilliant read explaining the journey of two nineteen year old boys who fall in love and their sexual exploits which are sensitively covered - takes the whole lives into account which is healthy too.

I was hooked from the first page, the author really managed to place me right there. There was one or two items that niggled me though hence only four stars but definitely worth a read.

A good storey of close encounter and a great friendship that follows, how true love overcomes class difference and help and guidance from parents puts their lives on a whole new track.

It got better as I read it a lot of what happens to them had also been in what my partner had done fifty years ago we still have magic times together

Well written, good story, entertaining read - recommended.