Title: Second Skin
Author Name & Publisher: Alex Whitehall (Riptide Publishing)
Publication Date & Length: April 11, 2016 – 90 pgs
When Jay heads to the university’s learning center for help with his math class, he doesn’t expect his tutor to be tall, dark, and handsome. But Roswell is all that and more, and their instant connection over cult movies, books, and TV shows quickly evolves into dating.
That’s when things get tricky.
Roswell might claim he doesn’t have issues with Jay being trans, but when he’s constantly insisting they “take it slow,” Jay’s not so sure. He’s been hurt before, and he’s not going to let it happen again.
But then Roswell reveals that he, too, has a few secrets under his skin.
Going into this book I only knew half of what to expect. I had never read a transgender story so I was very excited to read this book. I knew that Jay is transgender and is struggling to get through his college years just like any other college student.
When Roswell’s secret is revealed it wasn’t what I had expected at all. I don’t want to say that I was disappointed after that, but I wish I had had some sort of clue as to the direction this story would go. And no, I don’t think the cover of the story was enough of an indication.
I still enjoyed the story. It is very well written, and I have never DNF’d a book. Although there’s no indication of a sequel to this book, I can’t help but wonder if that thought is in the back of the author’s the mind based on the ending of the book. I feel like the lives of Jay/Damien and Roswell are left hanging in the balance at the end. I wish I could give the story 5 stars, but not knowing the direction the story would take me was a bit of a mood killer. Especially when this was my first transgender story. I’m sorry.
~Kris
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If there are two types of people in the world, Alex Whitehall probably isn’t one of them, despite being a person. Her—for lack of a better pronoun—favorite pastimes include reading, horseback riding, reading, watching geek-tastic television, reading, and running. While Alex prefers writing over doing anything else (except maybe reading), sometimes she emerges from the cave to be social and to hunt for food at the local market. She can be found blogging, searching the Internet for more books to read, and tending after her aloe plant Cornwall.
