RJ

Danielle Urban, Five Stars

RJ the Age of Innocence by Tim Soeder is a stunning young adult romance. A contemporary piece featuring loss, new beginnings, and an unexpected romance. The loss of a mother and wife forces a father to move his son to a new place. But Roger just isn't feeling at home. Then, enters Jessica. Once Roger meets her their lives change. Jessica might become his sister. But fate has other plans. Jessica is popular unlike Roger, aka RJ. Jessica's attitude is crazy. I would label her as the queen bee. As the story develops readers will see why. Yet despite her attitude issues, RJ is finding it hard to forget about her. She's taking up his thoughts…Tim Soeder has created a novel where I can easily lose myself within it. I felt like I was watching a movie versus reading a book. Vivid, engaging, and funny. Overall, I recommend RJ the Age of Innocence to all.

Amy's Bookshelf Reviews, Four Stars

There's something about two characters who think they have nothing in common and in some ways they do not even like each other. This is a quaint story of moving on in life, and realizing what fate has in store for you, even if you don't believe it at first. I like this story and it has a mixture of different genres, so it's not just one note of a plot. Roger is complex character, and I love Jessica, especially all her humanly faults. Good writing. Good story.

Vavek Zivota, Five Stars

This book, RJ: The Age of Innocence, is a riveting read. I only put it down because I had to.

It is a story of Roger who is trying to move on with his father after an accident separates them from his mother. He uses his initials, RJ, to reinvent himself, and in an effort to include Jessica, a girl he barely knows, but whose life becomes more inextricably intertwined with his throughout the story. The name, RJ, can also be seen as an allusion to Romeo and Juliet that is reinforced by the main characters' pivotal visit to Verona at one point in the book. While RJ and Jessica may be star-crossed like Romeo and Juliet, this story brings that idea well into the 21st century.

As a piece of Young Adult fiction, it is a coming-of-age story that questions the meaning of relationships with everything on the outside. It is chock full of emotional situations that explore the characters' relationships with people, institutions, social conventions, and even God. The central focus is on the intricate love/hate relationship between RJ and Jessica that evolves from classmates, to siblings, to lovers, to spouses(!), to soulmates, and beyond. The characters, especially RJ, are well defined and appropriately fleshed out to draw us well into the story, but also draw out our inner feelings about our own life experiences and relationships.

In between the four sittings that it took to finish the book, I found that it affected me greatly emotionally, but I still wanted to find out what was going to happen next. While the text was easy to read, the subject matter wasn't always, even for adults. It was a rollercoaster of ups and downs, but it also has lots of unforseen twists and sharp turns. The ambiguous ending still makes me reflect on the story. I choose to look at the book as a romance, but I think some could see it as a tragedy.

I would like to congratulate Mr. Soeder on a fine, cohesive, well-written work, especially for a first published novel.