Timmy's 5★ Review of When I Grow Up, Book 8 in the Foster High Series

This is a hard book to review. I have had this trouble with all of Mr. Goode’s books and the same problem with Cody Kennedy’s books. You see, I don’t write spoilers, but these guys don’t write books that have down time in them. They are constantly moving at rapid pace, so everything in the book is a spoiler. Sigh… Way to make my job harder, guys. Thanks.

There are many different ideas on what a reviewer is, and what their goals should be, so let me tell you mine. My goal in every review is to be forthright in a way that is not hurtful, but will give readers and authors my honest opinions. I have heard it said that a reviewer doesn’t have the right to tell an author anything and the reviews are not supposed to be for the authors, but that’s bullcrap. I bought their book, or they have asked me to read their book, so I have not only the right, but the obligation to give them my honest opinion. If they are writing books for young gay kids, who is better to tell them if they have hit the mark but someone like me, a young gay kid? But I also write reviews to help promote books I like. Because word of mouth will sell just about anything. So, I take my job seriously. When I say a book is good, I don’t say that because I feel I have to, I don’t say that because someone asked me to, I say it because it is true. So with that in mind, here goes….

John Goode did it again. I don’t know how he keeps doing this to me. It’s like he reaches in and pulls out my heart and rips it to shreds, then uses tissue paper to wrap it up and put it back where he found it. I know, “drama much?,” but damn, I’m hurting right now. This book was like the worst and best rollercoaster in the world. You go up, up, up, up, and all the tension builds and builds, and when you think it can’t possibly go any higher, it does! Finally, we reach the top of the ride and start to speed down at full speed. You scream and cry and laugh, it’s like watching yourself go down and being unable to stop it. Then when you hit the bottom, he throws you into a loop and you see the ride is not over yet. God! I wish I was a great author, a god of words, because I can’t seem to explain in words how I feel about this book and that kills me. I will say, please don’t read this book before reading the others. The emotions, the story, these boys’ lives will not mean as much to you if you haven’t first read everything they have been through together. You will waste both Mr. Goode’s talent and your time. I wish the right person would read these books and make them into movies. That would be awesome.

We see everyone in this book! We hear from most of them, and a few new characters who add to the drama of the Foster High Series. I really liked how this story was told. It wasn’t in the usual way Mr. Goode tells the stories. I liked that. It changed things up a little. I loved how we heard from everyone. That really snagged me in this story. I have grown attached to every character he has written and in this series. I got to be inside each of their heads. It was great. So… Like always, some big shit goes down in this book, and like always, I can’t tell you what it is. LOL But please don’t let that stop you from reading it!

The way the story ended is not what I expected, and I’m on the fence on whether I’m feeling ok about it or not. But the ending is exactly the way it needed to happen given the reasons in the story. It takes a strong person to do what Mr. Goode did with these books. He wrote about real life. Real life is not a happy thing unless you really work at it. It can have happy moments, but it’s not generally a happy thing. Most of the happy things people find in life come with strings attached. They aren't obvious or clear strings, they are hard to see, and easy to pretend they don’t exist. Every time I think I have found a happy thing, someone or something always pulls on one of those strings and tells me it’s time to pay up. This is sometimes the way I feel real life is. This is just how it goes, but not many people are brave enough to actually write about that. Most authors want to give the readers what they want. They want to make money. But a real author, and good author writes what no one wants to face but is real. And, on top of that, they make us believe this is what we WANTED to read in the first place, when we all know we were looking for a fairytale! So, I would like to thank John Goode for being brave, and telling these guys’ stories without warping it to make it what readers think they want.

I do have to be honest and say, though I like how you ended the book, you didn’t give us enough of an ending. I was very disappointed in that because I have never had that problem with your books. I would like the next book please. I promise to be a good reader and not dismember you, if you promise to hurry with the next book!

I give this book 5 Marbles and the series 5 marbles. Please don’t let these books sit at the bottom of your TBR list. That would be a mistake, and when you finally got to them, you would kick yourself for waiting so long to read them.~Timmy

When I Grow Up is available 

in eBook at Dreamspinner Press and Amazon,

and in Nook & paperback from Barnes & Noble

About When I Grow Up

After graduation, Kyle Stilleno and Brad Graymark move to California to pursue their dreams. But high school sweethearts are called that for a reason, and their love rarely stands up to the test of time. As money, school, sex, and jealousy test their relationship to the breaking point, Kyle and Brad fight to hold on to the love that brought them together.

But when a frantic phone call sends them back to Texas, they discover love and understanding might not be enough this time.

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

Find John Goode on Goodreads, his Goodreads blog, 

on Facebook, on Twitter @FosterHigh, and on Tumblr