ARC BOOK REVIEW: First Born Sons by Vincent Traughber Meis

Publication Date: September 17, 2022 Format: Kindle Genre:  LGBTQ Fiction

Publisher: Sourcebooks publishing Length: 393 pages Buy: Kindle | Paperback

Synopsis

A group of coastal Californians battle wildfires, racism, and their own demons in five distinct narratives set in late 2019 and 2020.

First Born Sons is populated by a cast of LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies who struggle to find love, comfort, and fulfillment. As the novel progresses, characters interact across the separate narratives and are brought together for a birthday and a disastrous Black Lives Matter demonstration. A man returning to the horrors that made him leave Mississippi, a blind gay man flirting with love, an FTM transgender starting hormone therapy, a woman struggling to protect her sons from her ex-husband’s surge to right-wing politics, and a teenager with two gay dads searching for his Black surrogate mom paint a disturbing tableau of modern-day America.

Review: 

I fell in love with this book from the very beginning.  Five LGBTQ+ families that interconnect in a well planned very relevant story.  Touching on Black Lives Matter, discovering your roots, immigration, becoming the person you were meant to be, finding love again, chosen families and more.  Set during 2019 and ending at some point during 2020 during the height of the pandemic this book has heart and touches on some very important topics of this time. 

I laughed in parts, I cried and gasped at loud at others. One story has a very tragic twist and I felt the pain maybe a little too much but it was written so well it's like I relived my own trauma again.  It hurt but it's supposed to.  The writing is superb and the way the stories intertwine really spoke to me.  I struggled a little with M's story line as I felt they weren't giving their partner enough chance to process a very big announcement and shut down emotionally but it may resonate with someone else. 

Overall I am so happy I was given the opportunity to read this book. 

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