Review: Play Me, I'm Yours by Madison Parker

Play Me, I'm Yours by Madison Parker
Harmony Ink Press
Novel: 238pgs
3.5 Pants Off

Blurb:
Fairy Tate. Twinklefingers. Lucy Liu. Will the taunting ever end? Lucas Tate suffers ridicule because of his appearance and sensitive nature. When he’s not teased, he’s ignored, and he doesn’t know which is worse. He feels unloved by everyone, but the one comfort in life is his music. What he wants more than anything is to find a friend.

Much to his dismay, both his mom and a schoolmate are determined to find him a boyfriend, despite the fact Lucas hasn’t come out to them. His mom chooses a football player who redefines the term “heartthrob,” while Trish pushes him toward the only openly gay boy at Providence High. But Lucas is harboring a crush on another boy, one who writes such romantic poetry to his girlfriend that hearing it melts Lucas into a puddle of goo. All three prospects seem so far out of his league. Lucas is sure he doesn’t stand a chance with any of them—until sharing his gift for music brings him the courage to let people into his heart.

Review:
This was my very first time reading Madison Parker, and if I am correct I do believe this is her first published work? I have to say a very good effort, and I will be willing to read any other released titles. Play Me, I'm Yours follows the typical YA novel style, and with that I felt like I've read it before, written in a different sort of style but the trope is so familiar that eventually it took away from the story and made it fall into the "ok" category.

Lucas Tate lives for his music, he's an amazing piano player and its also where he finds his comfort. He come alive when he plays the piano, the fact that he's shy and social outcast seems to have no meaning when his fingers hits those keys. The only problem is that he often embarrasses himself and those close to him. He has nothing in common with his father, a brother who would rather him be less of himself, and a pushy mom who thinks that all he needs is to work on fitting in (which also means being less of himself). The final blow comes when a popular boy asks him to hang out and then humiliates him in school the following week. Lucas thought maybe he had the opportunity to make a friend and it all just went up in flames. He fits in nowhere and its starting to bring him down.

Hope comes in the form of Alex and Tricia, Lucas's only allies or should I say friends. Alex is the hot guy friend that Lucas sorta has a crush on, and he tries to build his confidence but at often times crash and burns. Tricia is seasoned in having a gay best friend so she's all "hey baby dolls, let’s get you out there and to a party and you should also date my bestie Donovan". So with this glue intact, Lucas gets out there and starts having experiences, not all positive experiences but he's out there. Lucas also spends a little of his time waiting on his brother who is on the swim team, and mostly he watches Zach one of the school star swimmers, and of course there is just no way Zach is gay (or so he believes).

While I did enjoy Lucas (he cries often but that doesn't bother me), I wished he had a stronger voice. There are moments he goes and tries to speak up, but in the end he's the one that ends up crying. It’s the other characters that irked me more than anything else.

The Mom- meant to be supportive and all tender caring but she was causing more harm than good. While she was saying to go out and be more confident I kept reading it as this "Hey you Lucas stop being yourself no one likes you when you are yourself". She wanted him to constantly change.

Donovan- I really disliked him! He had the villain status but his everything was just too over the top. Yet, I feel like he has some story to tell, he's a bit too jaded for it not to have come from somewhere. I wanted to kick him!

The Dad- A character I really enjoyed but his relationship with Lucas just didn't go to the places I wanted to. The author barely scratched the surface on something I think could have been truly special.

I was really loving this one when I started reading it, I even got teary eye a few times but as the story progressed that something special kept disappearing. And with some over the top scenes, and talk of BDSM *raises eyebrow* it all just turned out to be an ok read. I don't know about you guys, but teens and BDSM sound like a spanking waiting to go wrong. As I said, a good effort by Madison Parker but in the end it lost a lot of its spark. I am glad Lucas found love but it was just so after school special...some people are gonna love this one or be like me and just find it to be a little better than "ok".

3.5 Pants Off