Title: Angel of 13th Street
Author: Eden Winters
Publisher: Torquere
Genre: Contemporary M/M
Length: Novel (59000 words)
Rating: 5+ stars out of 5, DIK
Summary: Dispite Noah’s noble intentions, Jeremy gets under his skin in a way that is impossible to ignore.
THE BLURB
The Angel. That’s what the young hustlers call Noah Everett, the man who’ll help them get off the streets. Once a hustler himself, Noah doesn’t take his own good advice, which is, “Don’t let this ruin your life.” Haunted by the past and those he couldn’t save, Noah carefully keeps others at bay until his self-imposed loneliness is shattered by determined, ambitious, but homeless eighteen-year-old Jeremy Kincaid.
A ruthless pimp has targeted Jeremy, but if Noah will fight to get anonymous young men out of the life, he’ll fight harder to keep Jeremy from getting in, even if it means a return to old stomping grounds to make a deal with the devil. To save Jeremy, Noah risks more than just his body. He risks his soul as well, because Willie Carnell, pimp, was once Billy Cordell, Noah’s lover.
THE REVIEW
Jeremy is 18, but looks closer to 15 and the street thugs that work for the local pimp want to add his body to the stable of young male prostitutes. But Jeremy has different ideas. He wants to graduate high school, win a scholarship, and go to college. His struggles are vividly described in the first few paragraphs. It’s early winter and raining and Jeremy is hiding from Trent, Willie’s recruiter, who won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Jeremy gives the gang the slip and makes it to his ‘home’, a flooded, cold warehouse basement. His thin, patched, second hand clothes are dirty and he needs to wash them before school the next day. He takes the last of his carefully hoarded money and makes his way to a laundromat called Tub of Suds. It is close to a busy bar and grill and Jeremy is fairly certain his enemies won’t attempt a capture there.
Noah owns the 12th Street Bar and Grill, misnamed because it sits on 13th street. Noah has a mission in life, to pass forward a kindness done to him 12 years ago, to persuade these messed up male prostitutes that selling their bodies is not all there is to life. Some he persuades to return home and some he helps get a job and return to school. But if the kid doesn’t want the help, Noah can do nothing to force the issue. Noah understands life on the street only too well: 12 years ago he was a young male prostitute, selling his body for a night or a few hours but he escaped that life and has the scars to prove it.
Noah also owns the Tub of Suds right next door to the bar. He once glimpsed Jeremy doing his laundry and has been on the watch for the kid ever since. Tonight is his and Jeremy’s lucky night. Noah befriends the wary Jeremy, offering a dry, warm apartment above the laundry in exchange for help with that same laundry. Jeremy immediately assumes the worst, that Noah is looking for sex. But Noah only wants to give the teenager a chance to make it off the streets.
Eden Winters weaves a tale that is heartbreaking, humbling, and exciting. She takes a homeless teenager and an ex-prostitute and writes a story that is spellbinding. Noah and Jeremy are attracted to each other, but there’s 12 years difference in their ages. Noah has physical and emotional scars that he wants no one to see, or let no one close enough to care about. Jeremy is just rolling with life’s punches, evading the street gang, and trying to make a better life for himself.
You know, I look at sex as something that happens inside the safe bounds of love and respect for each other. I know that there is prostitution, both male and female, but I’ve never thought of it in the terms that Eden writes about. She lays open the stinking, rotten underbelly of it, and it makes me sick to think that young men have to sell their bodies just to survive. And makes me even more grateful that I live in rural Texas.
The story has it’s twists and turns in dramatic ways, but nothing over the top. It is all very believable. The ending is fast paced and quite unexpected. I would find myself wishing I could read faster, then dreading the next page because the gang was still waiting to find Jeremy alone. Would they capture Jeremy and ruin all his dreams? Would they try to inflict harm on our Angel?
Read the story, it is well worth the 6 bucks Torquere Press is charging for it. And you’ll need a box of tissues too.
My rating!! DIK
Wow John, that’s some review! I really like the way Eden writes so it doesn’t surprise me that you loved this. It sounds like she’s done it again. And it is so sad that this is reality for many people.
I really enjoyed it as well, although I’m not sure I completely believed Noah’s obsession with Billy 12 years later, but maybe. It wasn’t enough of a niggle for me to put me off the story and I adore the good samaritan helping kids story-line. I also liked that while Jeremy looked young, he wasn’t naive and innocent which gave him a maturity. A great read.
John is out most of today giving a ride to a bunch of seniors. He will answer your comments when he returns, exhausted from his outing. 🙂 Oh to be a fly in that van – John with a bunch of old women. 🙂
What a good guy. I’d love to see that too!
Great review, John. I am just going to have to bite the bullet, get Eden’s books and curl up with a box of tissues.
I’m usually a sap Wren but no tissues were needed for this one. Touching but no leaks were sprung. John’s just a big marshmallow. 😉
No no no no no! I can’t buy any more books and here you go and review this one.
*chants* Not buying it, not buying it, not buying it, not buying it
Damn, alright, it’s on the list!
Good review, you got me all convinced
Great review, I was lucky to win this book at Jen’s site and I’m looking forward to reading it.
I am about halfway through this book — not sure it’s a DIK for me but I usually don’t know that ’til the story is over. I am definitely enjoying it, though, and even at the halfway point I’d give it a thumbs up.
L
Great review, John, thank you! 🙂 You gave me a very clear idea why you loved this story so much with very few words.
And made me want to buy the book and add it on top of my frightening TBR.
Larissa! Don’t you stop chanting that mantra! I need your support…
I’m shocked and humbled. John, words cannot express what I’m feeling right now after reading your amazing review, and by all the kind words here. I recognize many names in these comments, and since I began publishing, ya’ll have been there for me, reading and commenting.
TJ mentioned that some parts of this story are a sad reality. Yes, they are. This novel was inspired by an article I read on teens aging out of foster care, and how many fall prey to predators, and/or wind up homeless. With all the government programs out there, some, like Jeremy, still slip through the cracks. I do believe in happy endings, though, and wanted to ensure Jeremy and Noah got theirs, even if they had to work really hard to get there.
Wave, thanks for all your support, and for having such a great blog for writers, reviewers, and readers. If I’ve caused any of you to shed tears with my writing, know that your kindness is causing me to shed them now. Thank you all.
I’m a big ‘marshmellow’? WTF? lol Thanks alot, Tam. grin Ok, so I wear my emotions on my sleave and cry easy. Not big puppy dog eyes and tears running down my cheeks, but at least moisture having to be blinked away.
Eden, you write really well and I FELT the cold and the rain and fear of Jeremy as he tried to evade Trent’s gang. It takes skill and a gift to get that from words. I’m glad we can encourage you in this process.
A fly on the wall of the van would have been swatted. What goes on in the van stays in the van, my lips are sealed. lol I will say that this is a once a month trip that I’ve been doing for a couple of years now. Museums, presidential libraries, christmas shopping are the kind of trips we take and the old ladies pay for my meal in appreciation. I give as good as I get.
Thanks for your comments. As the DIK rating shows, I REALLY liked this story. It moved me. Thanks Eden.
John
Great job on the review. I could tell you were moved by the story however, you don’t know for sure if similar kids like Jeremy don’t fall through the cracks in rural Texas.
>>A fly on the wall of the van would have been swatted. What goes on in the van stays in the van, my lips are sealed. << I want pictures. 🙂 Do they make you wear a cap and when it's time to go home do they say "Home Jeeves. And don't spare the horses?" 🙂
Hey John – Don’t you feel bad for having emotions. I’m a guy and I’ve cried lots of times while reading books. Men are allowed to feel. That’s one of my top requirements in a guy.
I absolutely loved this book and fell in love with Jeremy and Noah,thank you John for the review and Eden Winters for a brilliant story.
I’m starting to compare Eden Winters to M.L. Rhodes in her writing ability.
Glad you liked it, Arlene.
M.L. Rhodes? Oh my! That’s high praise indeed! I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Rhodes! Thanks so much, ya’ll. Glad you liked the story.
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