Sometimes when you read a story it hits all the right notes. Sidecar did more than hit all the right notes. It sang like a world class opera star.
Casey is 16, lost and abandoned. Two months ago his parents kicked him out for being gay. He's got nothing but the clothes on his back and the shoes on his feet. He's prostituted himself for food and when we meet him he's just getting out of yet another abusive situation.
On the side of a rural road a motorcycle stops and a tall, mustached, long haired angel named Josiah Daniels offers Casey his leather jacket and a new life. Josiah, Joe, and Casey don't know it yet but that moment is the start of something truly epic.
By 50% into the story Sidecar had made its way onto my Top 5 Stories of The Year list. That first half of the book is the story of how Joe and Casey form their own little family. Joe gives Casey guidance, support, structure and unconditional love as Casey grows up.
I was concerned about how Amy Lane was going to work taking Joe and Casey's relationship from something parental to that of lovers. I shouldn't have been worried at all. Joe is never Casey's parent. He never tries to be. He's an adult who's become Casey's protector and who makes Casey want to grow up to be a solid and exceptional man.
For that first half of the book we watch Casey and Joe share a life as friends and form an unbreakable bond.
Casey knows he loves Joe both as a friend and as the man he wants to spend the rest of his life with from the beginning. Joe makes it crystal clear that anything romantic is off limits. Non negotiable. Joe doesn't even think to think of Casey romantically until one day when Casey is grown and Joe sees him. Joe is properly knocked off his feet by that moment. I cheered because I knew something great was about to happen.
The romance between Joe and Casey didn't progress without any bumps in the road and I loved that. It was very real which made it all the more satisfying. Casey acts a little too rashly, Joe is solid but a little hesitant. When these two finally come together it felt completely destined.
One thing that was great about this book is that the reader gets to see a lot of Joe and Casey's Happily Ever After. They don't just get together and the story ends. A good chunk of the book is these two men together romantically and making a life for themselves. I was in Heaven. The way Casey and Joe loved each other made me fall in love with them.
By the end of the book Sidecar had become my favorite book that the year has had to offer me thus far. With this book and Gambling Men: The Novel Amy Lane's writing is really impressing me this year. I cannot wait to see what's next.
