Jack Pedersen is a closeted gay teen in a small town ( with even smaller minds) when a new student comes into the school and makes him start to feel things for the first time. Together, they work to bring the first Pride Parade to their town and Jack realizes it's time to stop hiding and start living his life the way he wants to.

This was a short but impactful story about being who you are, despite receiving judgement from others. It was quite uplifting and sweet. I'd definitely recommend this for any teens struggling with their identities.

I fully believe that THE STONE RAINBOW suffers at the hand of an author with good intentions writing outside their lane, which was something that became increasingly apparent the further on I read. (At least, I'm going to assume so, based on the author stating that they are an "LGBTQ parent and ally." There is a whole side note to be made here that labelling yourself as an ally...does not actually make you an ally.)

The characterization in THE STONE RAINBOW unfortunately falls back on stereotypes, and there are deeply uncomfortable moments of both homophobia and ableism that made it impossible for me to ever begin to enjoy.

I dont often say this, but this is a book I deeply regret reading. Its one I think people should stay away from at all costs, especially queer and disabled folks.

Within the first few pages, there were multiple instances of ableism. I mean we were literally 20 pages in and Jack is a piece of garbage to Ryan twice., This is unacceptable behavoir.

Then we've got the gay element. queer people exist for joy, you know. The fact that this book is so freaking negative angered me a lot, especially from a non-queer author. We don't need near death experiences to get the love of our life and we don't need dated homophobic narratives.

This was a miss for me.

DNF
I tried to read this and lost interest. I ended up DNFing this novel; however, I do still want to try to finish reading it at some point in the future! I just don't think that now was the right time for me and this book.

There was a problem with 'Show, Don't Tell', especially in relation to his mum's negative reaction to him coming out as gay, which made the whole thing lack punch - her turning away from him, and becoming to accept him and his sexuality. A better job of this was done with the best friend, Cody. Throughout, the book would have a lot of missed opportunities to build tension or have conflict, and some Chekov's gun moments that didn't pan out (e.g the dad was mentioned enough that you'd think he'd turn up, but he didn't).

The relationship between the main character and love interest was boring and not very substantial, although it was cool that the MC was brave in pursuing the relationship. The MC himself was fairly well fleshed-out and quite funny. Some good attempts were made at recognising the different kinds of privileges and discriminations with being LGBQT+ (e.g the MC gets nervous and defaults to saying 'gay' instead of 'LGBT+', and then acknowledges that isn't inclusive). There is a limited portrayal of LGBQT+ representation, with all 4 being gay males, the majority of whom come into the story quite late. There's also some unchallenged ableism.

It's a nice story, perfectly pleasant, with some good character development and flashes of insight. You can kind of tell that the story was written by someone who is the grandmother of a gay lad, in that it's kind of written with kid-gloves and the conflict is really shallowly addressed.

Received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jack Pederson came out as gay a year ago, and his mother has struggled to accept it, while he's struggled to accept the fact his accident was more deliberate than he wishes it to seem. Everything however changes when he meets Benjamin, the son of the vice principal, confident and openly gay. When their classmates however find out that Benjamin is also gay, the rumours are rife. Rumours plus their negatively homophobic town equals life threatening actions being pinned against them; it reaches a head when Benjamin is driven off road and nearly dies.

This story was good! It was a story of pride and dealing with the mental health repercussions that come alongside coming out and living in a homophobic town. The character development in this story was great, Jack started as an average boring main character but after meeting Benjamin became a lot more confident and it really does highlight the importance of good friends. Even Cody, who attempts to put on a macho and homophobic exterior, really warmed my heart when he defended Jack and Benjamin and eventually acted as a bouncer to the pride parade. Overall, this is a nice read, it wouldn't go on my favourites list but it was a nice YA contemporary book.

a heart walking story of love, family and believing that everything will work out with time. This book shows the harsh realities that can come form coming out and the struggles faced by lgbt youth when they don’t feel accepted in their homes by the people closest, a heartwarming story.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars! :)

Favorite Quote:
“It is all about kindness when you get right down to it, whether you’re in some version of the afterlife or still living this one. It’s the only thing that matters. If everyone just decides to treat everyone else with kindness, it all goes away. Intolerance, disrespect, racism, homophobia, misogyny, bullying, and all the other horrible words we’ve had to invent just to find a way to label the endless crap people seem to feel the need to throw at each other… all wiped out by one simple command. Be kind. It’s just so simple that I can’t understand why everything is always so complicated.”

There is just so much to love about his story! Jackson Pedersen seems like your average American teenager dealing with high school life in a small town, until we start to learn more about his past. When a new student named Benjamin joins their senior class, Jackson finds an idol in the first openly gay student he has met at his school since coming to terms with his sexuality years earlier. Jackson’s friends, Ryan and Cody, add comic relief and insight into Jackson’s history and his struggle with loving himself and contemplating suicide because of his sexuality. Benjamin comes into Jackson’s life and changes it irrevocably, helping him to learn to live proudly and fully despite some of the events that take place. The resulting Pride Parade is everything you expect it to be as you follow Jackson through his journey of self-discovery.

I found this story often charming, sometimes sad, and entirely enjoyable. My only issue is that the characters came across as a bit younger than high school seniors in some of their dialogs and actions, but that is a small quip to an otherwise adorable tale. Jackson is so relatable to many small-town gays (or in my case, a small-town lesbian) because we’ve all felt alone in our experiences, like no one would understand or respect our feelings, or like nothing would ever change or get better. And sometimes that’s true. But more often, we learn to focus our energy on putting as much goodness and kindness back into the world that we hope to see from those around us. That’s why the quote I shared was by far my favorite part of this book. I think it’s a sentiment we can all get behind.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and Second Story Press in exchange for an honest review. Sorry it took me a year to do so.

For this book being targeted to the younger crowed, it has lots of triggers. Moving forward, this is an important book, and I hope that It gets the recognition that it deserves. The story is all too familiar if you are apart of the LGBT community. Though at times, it was hard to read, I still couldn't put it down.

I absolutely love the cover of this book. I enjoyed the protagonist and the writing style. However, I feel like this is a middle of the road, typical YA novel. I feel that it isn't anything new or groundbreaking, but I did enjoy my time reading it.

This was just ok. I wanted to like it way more than I actually did. The themes and messages in this book were great but felt very surface level. The bullying and mental health were explored the most but there was so much more that should have been discussed. I was particularly frustrated that it was never really clear whether the main character tried to commit suicide. Everyone thinks he tried to but we as readers are just not sure. The main character is quite bitter and we have to look at things through his lense of perspective and it felt miserable as he was negative about pretty much everything. The side characters lacked depth to them. The love interest was cute and so was the romance so that redeemed the book for me in some way,that and the themes it tried to discuss. But overall it was just ok and did not stand out very much.
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a sweet book, but the writing style was too dull for me to really get into, and the characters felt sort of stereotypical or like caricatures.

3.5 Stars

The Stone Rainbow is a good young adult novel.

It includes a hate crime, doubts, fears, and courage. The small town homophobia is illustrated in a fantastic and emotional manner. I seriously couldn't stop myself from gasping out loud at one point.

This young adult romance is inspirational and will make a great read for any young adult who's looking for hope. This book includes a movement to bring acceptance to a small town that is wonderful.

One big problem I have is that the copy I rec'd had some horrible formatting issues. I don't know if that's an issue throughout, or if was just a problem with the reviewer copy I received.

I really enjoyed a great many things about this book. Characters were fleshed out and the plot was well spaced. Some of the secondary storylines could've used a bit more page space but all in all an enjoyable read!

I loved how the author made a conscious effort to be diverse and inclusive. However, the story had many flaws such as ableism and needless cliches that it just didn't work for me.

This is a hard one to rate. This was so clearly geared towards people that are not part of the LGBTQ+ community but should be educated about it and since I am part of that community, some parts of this just didn't sit right with me. I wanted to love it because I feel it is an important book but I just don't think about reading it with fond memories.

This book was a great coming-out story. The main character is gay, and although he isn't officially out, most people have guessed it already and have lots of bad comments on it. The story was easily readable although some things were really obvious and no twist at all. I didn't specifically like the "big thing" that made the change happen, but the ending was really nice. The characters development was well written, and seemed very accurate.

Voilà un petit young adult tout mignon ^^

Jack est un jeune homme de 17 ans qui vit plutôt bien son homosexualité, dans le sens où son entourage l’accepte plus ou moins même si ce n’est pas tout rose tout le temps.
L’arrivée de Benjamin, un nouvel élève va bousculer le quotidien de Jack et va l’amener vers la création de la parade gay de sa ville.

Ce que j’ai aimé dans ce roman, ce sont les messages véhiculés par l’auteur. C’est plein d’optimiste, d’espoir, de persévérance, et ce, pas que par rapport à ce jeune homosexuel car on traite également de handicap ici.
Ce n’est pas tellement une romance ici, même si ces deux jeunes tombent amoureux, mais c’est plutôt une histoire d’acceptation de soi, de sa différence.

J’ai juste eu un peu de mal par moment à certains passages car je trouvais le temps long et me faisait « décrocher » de ma lecture.

Une lecture très sympa avec des passages adorables !
(3,5/5)

This book gave me mixed feelings somehow. While on one hand I felt it was an important book, on the other hand I also felt it was kind of missing the point.

I loved how the author connected the title to the happening in the book. The stone rainbow held an importance in the story that readers will enjoy.

Some instances, I felt unconnected. Like, they felt a little too forced and a bit stereotypical? I don't really know, but I did not enjoy some of the dialogues that were included.

However, I do think that this is an important book that focuses on cross-dressing and positivity of lgbtq. It's a very beautiful and positive book and I did enjoy it. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with the e-copy of this book. All views expressed are fully mine

Heart breaking yet heart warming, The Stone Rainbow explores the journey of Jack, a boy who has come out to his mother. After an incident that almost cost him his life, Jack decides to stop hiding from himself and others and sets out to organize his towns first Pride Parade. Shaw did a good job bringing the issues to the forefront in a tactful way. The writing was also very well done, however -- I could not connect with the characters. Jack felt very flat and one sided many times, though I could see the potential for more. There were several times that I was very bored with it as well. It frustrated me because I really wanted to enjoy this book! The Stone Rainbow is worth a read, but don't expect anything life changing. 3/5 stars.