Timmy's Review of Tales from Foster High by John Goode

First, a little background to explain what John Goode’s books mean to me. A lot of you have read things I have written and things I have said on Facebook, and it is no surprise to you that I come from an abusive home. My life was bad. I was so scared to be me at home that I was a zombie person. I did what I was told, and that was all I did. The last few months before I moved to my new home were the worst. I was in an abusive home, and trying to be me just a little, and I got a boyfriend at school. A different story, and not a good one. That was my mindset when I first read this book. Anyway, my best friend’s mom told me there were a few stories I should read. One was Fairy by Cody Kennedy, and the others were Tales From Foster High and End of Innocence (the first two books in the Foster High series) by John Goode. All three were great reads, but they were also far more than that. They became my lifeline. They were that little strand of hope that told me I needed to hold on just a little longer. I look back now and wonder how I survived it. How is it that I am here now, happy and alive? So when I say these three stories saved my life, I’m not being a dramatic teen. I am stating a fact. I tell you all this because, in the interest of being honest and fair, I am biased when it comes to any of these books.

This story is about the absolute thrills and utter disappointments of teenage love when you’re growing up gay. I love the characters in this book. Kyle is my hero. He had a shit life, and he was still a genius, and funny as all get out! More than that, he was nice and kind. He was what I wanted to be. I didn’t want my past to rule my future. I wanted to be a good person, a loving person. Thank you, Kyle. You gave me the inspiration I needed to survive. More than that, you gave me hope. The very hope I needed to gather the courage I needed to be able to leave my abusive home.

Okay, so, to be fair there was a big-ish continuity error in the plot that I have to bring up. When Kyle and Brad get into an argument about Brad’s girlfriend, Kyle’s excuse is he wouldn’t know about their relationship because you need people to TALK to you in order to hear gossip. But later, when people were talking about him, he said he had long ago learned to eavesdrop. You can’t have it both ways. Either you hear gossip or you do not.

I loved this book. Ignore the continuity error. I hope every person who reads this not only devours the story as I did, but passes it on. All it took was someone passing it to me and look where I am now. I give this book 5 marbles. ~Timmy

Tales from Foster High is available 

in eBook at Dreamspinner/Harmony Ink Press and Amazon,

in paperback from Amazon,
in audiobook from iTunes, Audible, and Amazon.

and in Nook from Barnes & Noble

To Wish for Impossible Things 

(a lost tale from The Tales from Foster High) 

Dreamspinner/Harmony Ink Press

Dear God 

(a lost chapter from The End of Innocence)

Dreamspinner/Harmony Ink Press

About Tales from Foster High

Kyle Stilleno is the invisible student, toiling through high school in the middle of Nowhere, Texas. Brad Greymark is the baseball star of Foster High. When they bond over their mutual damage during a night of history tutoring, Kyle thinks maybe his life has changed for good. But the promise of fairy-tale love is a lie when you’re gay and falling for the most popular boy in school. A coming of age story in the same vein of John Hughes, Tales from Foster High shows an unflinching vision of the ups and downs of teenage love and what it is like to grow up gay.

Find John Goode on Goodreads, his Goodreads blog, 

on Facebook, on Twitter @FosterHigh, and on Tumblr