What if youth wasn't wasted on the young?
On the eve of his fortieth birthday, Ian Parker is looking for a reboot. He may be the proud owner of a trendy coffee shop in Austin called La Tazza Magica, but his love life has been MIA for years. During a trip to Denver with his best friend, Mark, Ian buys an enchanted chocolate from a mysterious candy store—then wakes up from a nap two decades younger. After the initial shock, Ian realizes a quirk of the universe has given him a second chance and, with Mark’s help, he devises a plan to start over.
With a new lease on life, Ian sets his sights on handsome architect Bartley James, a regular customer at La Tazza. He pursues Bartley as Ian’s twenty-one-year-old alter ego, Ryan, with decidedly unexpected results. Joining Ryan on his adventures are Matthew, the dreamy new barista, Jeremy, the geeky high-school math teacher, and Sam, the pizza delivery boy. Even as misunderstandings and expectations collide, Ian remains determined to right his past mistakes and find his off-ramp to happiness.
On the eve of his fortieth birthday, Ian Parker is looking for a reboot. He may be the proud owner of a trendy coffee shop in Austin called La Tazza Magica, but his love life has been MIA for years. During a trip to Denver with his best friend, Mark, Ian buys an enchanted chocolate from a mysterious candy store—then wakes up from a nap two decades younger. After the initial shock, Ian realizes a quirk of the universe has given him a second chance and, with Mark’s help, he devises a plan to start over.
With a new lease on life, Ian sets his sights on handsome architect Bartley James, a regular customer at La Tazza. He pursues Bartley as Ian’s twenty-one-year-old alter ego, Ryan, with decidedly unexpected results. Joining Ryan on his adventures are Matthew, the dreamy new barista, Jeremy, the geeky high-school math teacher, and Sam, the pizza delivery boy. Even as misunderstandings and expectations collide, Ian remains determined to right his past mistakes and find his off-ramp to happiness.
Ian Parker lives a comfortable life, he is a successful business owner, has great friends and is liked by pretty much everyone he meets. A mistake he made a decade ago changed his life irrevocably and Ian lives with that everyday, but with his fortieth birthday approaching he's feeling a little nostalgic. On the plane back home after a trip to Denver, Ian has a chocolate kiss that promises to be magical, then wakes up twenty years younger. Once he convinces his best friend Mark that he is, in fact, Ian and stops Mark from having him arrested, or committed, they set a plan in motion for Ian to have a do-over.
You know how we always say, "If I knew then what I know now." well, Ian is about to learn the truth of that statement. Ian becomes Ryan, Ian's nephew, to explain the resemblance and comfortably inserts himself into Ian's life, and he is just as friendly and liked as his uncle. Ryan is thoroughly enjoying all the attention his younger, fitter body affords him. From pizza delivery boys to grindr hookups, the barista at the coffee shop and the elusive architect that Ian had his eye on before he ate a jacked up chocolate kiss and woke up twenty years younger. Ryan has always been under the impression that Ian was gone for good, that this second chance at life would be the rest of it for him. But as he gets to know Matthew and Bartley he becomes more aware of himself and what it is he truly wants in life. He comes to realize that his second chance at life could cost him his chance at true love.
This book is full of twists and turns, mostly with the Ian/Ryan character and what he wants, but doesn't really want, but does want. Yes, it is a little bit confusing at times, but then Boney's books are always full of this type of story line. I absolutely loved the moral of this story though, the grass is not always greener you know. Ian lives with HIV, he is very responsible and conscience about it, but of course he wonders what his life would be like had he not made that mistake. When given the opportunity of a life free of the disease, would he make different choices, you'd like to to think so. What if the right choice is back where you started?
Full of strong secondary characters that help keep the story going, and there are a lot of familiar faces from the Nothingness of Ben world. So I really enjoyed the chance to catch up with Quenten, Topher and Stanton, see how the Walsh boys are doing and how marriage is working out for Topher and Stanton. This is a story rich with dialogue and full of musical, TV and movie pop culture references. There are conversations about the guys favorite gay porn stars as well, which was quite hysterical. Overall this was a fun read for me all about appreciating what you have and living life to its fullest. A different kind of love story for sure, but I quite enjoyed the ride.
You know how we always say, "If I knew then what I know now." well, Ian is about to learn the truth of that statement. Ian becomes Ryan, Ian's nephew, to explain the resemblance and comfortably inserts himself into Ian's life, and he is just as friendly and liked as his uncle. Ryan is thoroughly enjoying all the attention his younger, fitter body affords him. From pizza delivery boys to grindr hookups, the barista at the coffee shop and the elusive architect that Ian had his eye on before he ate a jacked up chocolate kiss and woke up twenty years younger. Ryan has always been under the impression that Ian was gone for good, that this second chance at life would be the rest of it for him. But as he gets to know Matthew and Bartley he becomes more aware of himself and what it is he truly wants in life. He comes to realize that his second chance at life could cost him his chance at true love.
This book is full of twists and turns, mostly with the Ian/Ryan character and what he wants, but doesn't really want, but does want. Yes, it is a little bit confusing at times, but then Boney's books are always full of this type of story line. I absolutely loved the moral of this story though, the grass is not always greener you know. Ian lives with HIV, he is very responsible and conscience about it, but of course he wonders what his life would be like had he not made that mistake. When given the opportunity of a life free of the disease, would he make different choices, you'd like to to think so. What if the right choice is back where you started?
Full of strong secondary characters that help keep the story going, and there are a lot of familiar faces from the Nothingness of Ben world. So I really enjoyed the chance to catch up with Quenten, Topher and Stanton, see how the Walsh boys are doing and how marriage is working out for Topher and Stanton. This is a story rich with dialogue and full of musical, TV and movie pop culture references. There are conversations about the guys favorite gay porn stars as well, which was quite hysterical. Overall this was a fun read for me all about appreciating what you have and living life to its fullest. A different kind of love story for sure, but I quite enjoyed the ride.
Boney is offering up five paperback copies of YES through a Goodreads giveaway! Follow this link to the Goodreads page and enter to win, be sure to add YES to your TBR list as well.
sounds like a great story..added to tbr
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