Don't Let Me Go

Don't Let Me Go

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4.24 of 5 stars 4.24  ·  rating details  ·  778 ratings  ·  174 reviews
Some people spend their whole lives looking for the right partner. Nate Schaper found his in high school. In the eight months since their cautious flirting became a real, honest, tell-the-parents relationship, Nate and Adam have been inseparable. Even when local kids take their homophobia to brutal levels, Nate is undaunted. He and Adam are rock solid. Two parts of a whole...more
Paperback, 344 pages
Published December 27th 2011 by Kensington Publishing Corporation
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Sarah (saz101)
Love. It’s romanticised, mythologised – frequently sanitised – and at its most beautiful, its most pure, there is no single greater force for good in this world. Yet soured or corrupted, or viewed from aside with a poisoned heart, the hatred it incites is perhaps the most destructive, and it is this – love and hate, and the price of both – that Don’t Let Me Go examines – in often heartbreaking extremes.

It’s a basic right, particularly in the Western world, that we may love who we choose, or, sho...more
Deeze
A lovely story of first love.

We get to follow Nate and Adam as they journey through the upheavals of first love and life. Their journey is a roller coaster ride that will leave you feeling everything from hope and love to frustration and heartbreak.

Along the way we get to meet some wonderful characters and some pretty nasty ones too. All play a big part in this story.


I admit I struggled with the way this book was written. The time line was not always clear, and as in most cases the flash backs...more
Nichole (Dirty H)
So bottom line: I Fucking Loved This Book.

Now, that said, I must give fair warning because there are some of you out there who are just plain picky, and if you're not going to like it, then you should know now so you can skip it. There are some issues in this book that, while they didn't bother me, are hard limits for others.

1. Oh, the teenage angst. While this did not approach Amy Lane levels in my opinion, we are dealing with high school students who are dramatic and immature, as well as some...more
Lettersalad
Nate und Adam lernen sich auf der High School kennen und lieben. An sich nichts Ungewöhnliches, wenn man die Tatsache außer Betracht lässt, das sie beide Jungs sind. Gerade für Nate ist dieser Umstand neu, denn er hat sich erst vor wenigen Wochen zu einem Outing entschlossen. Wie man sich nun denken kann, stößt er damit nicht nur bei seinen Mitschülern sondern auch in seiner eigenen Familie auf Unverständnis und muss sich schlimmsten Anfeindungen und Vorwürfen gegenüberstellen.
Doch da ist Adam,...more
Pamela (slytherpuff)
See more of my reviews at Bettering Me Up.

This book had SO much potential and fell terribly flat. I absolutely love the premise and I totally swooned over the cover. Other reviewers compared this to works by David Levithan and John Green, so I was expecting to be wowed.

And I was. Just not in a good way.

To be fair, I am not gay. I am also not a guy. So I have no idea what it's like to be a recently-out 17-year-old high school boy. But I DO read a fair bit of GLBT YA fiction, so I'm not completely...more
Gwenith
OMG~The Plot & Concept of the book JUST AWESOME!!!! BUT...This is how I felt reading this book~

The Flow took me on a ride that made me feel like I needed to just hang on ...Okay~ 1st, it took me a while to get into the book, and when I finally thought, hey I'm liking this...I loss my grip ...~Example~ (view spoiler)[In the mist of reading one of the chapter's I got "Nate was hit and kicked and than was dragged by the hair, and then his hips were lifted up and....End of chapter, start a new c...more
Natalie
He made you feel like you were the only person in the world, that what you had to say was more important then any other worlds uttered since the dawn of time
This was such a sweet and beautiful love story about Nate and Adam. Two young boys, who met in high school in their late teens, fall in love immediately, came out to the world and lived happily ever after...well, not really.

This books starts when Adam and Nate has been together a year and they are as happy that any couple can be. Their happ...more
Justin
I have to begin by saying that I have never, never in all my life become so attached to a book's characters or so utterly engrossed into the world of a novel. Not since I read Maria McCann's As Meat Loves Salt have I actually let my emotions meld with those of the characters themselves. I fell in love with these characters. I got angry at them. I felt their pain and their loss and their joy. There were at least eight times when I had to turn the book over and set it aside for a moment because I...more
Elisquared
Don't Let Me Go was an amazing, heartfelt, intense, hilarious read, and it couldn't come at a better time. With the surge of GLBT-related suicide plaguing our country, a book which empowers GLBT kids is very needed. J. H. Trumble has written such a book.

This is a contemporary novel following the relationship of Nate and Adam, the ups and downs, the good times and the bad times, everything a relationship goes through. These boys aren't in the sidelines but front and center, and make me wish for a...more
Brigid
Oct 08, 2012 Brigid rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of John Green, David Levithan, Barry Lyga
Okay, so this book was amazing.

This book was marketed as adult, but I'd say it's pretty damn fine YA. I'd put this up there with John Green and David Levithan. YES. REALLY.

First off, I couldn't put it down. Seriously. I read on my phone, I read at the gym -- WHILE RUNNING, people -- I read in the car (while someone else was driving), I read any chance I could get.

The romance? Amazing. The characters? Amazing. The whole story was just beautiful and fulfilling and ... seriously, I just want to...more
Dallison
Where do I begin. Have you ever seen movies directed by Quentin Tarantino? Pulp fiction being one of his most famous movies. Well this is how this book reads, like a Tarantino movie. For a first time writer it is outstanding. I laughed, I cried, I cringed, I got mad. I loved it. Well done.
Tamela
I liked the characters and the story but I did have a hard time with the time jumps. First we're when Adam is leaving. Then we jump to when they met, then to when they came out, back to leaving, to "the event", to the separation, back to their coming out... get the idea. It got very confusing and I would always have to stop and take stock of when Nate was talking about. That was annoying... maybe it's just me though, so I only dropped one star off.

Recommended and enjoy.
H.B. Pattskyn
There were times when I didn't like Nate. He's immature. He has lived through a major trauma, to be sure, but he is SO blind at times, he can't see the forest for the trees... oh. Wait. He's a high school student. I seem to remember being that way myself 20 years ago ;-)

Seriously, I don't think Nate was supposed to be "liked" at all times, and even when I didn't like him, when I didn't think that Adam deserved him (i.e. didn't deserve his crap), the character still tugged at my heartstrings and...more
Edina Rose
I don't like stories where one person has to give up his dreams for love. I also don't like stories where the two lovers have an unhealthy interdependent relationship. And I can't stand characters who are self-centred, selfish, whinny and weak. You've got all that in this book, and I can't believe it but I liked the book!?! WTH? I guess I'm changing, or it's this author's magic, or both.

Adam and Nate met in their junior year and felt in love. Nate is high maintenance and Adam likes to be his de...more
Sean Kennedy
Oh, how I struggled with this book. It was YA fiction written with the worst of the m/m tropes. Gay bashing? Check! Rampant homophobia? Check! Hurt/comfort? (view spoiler)[ yes! Rape with a tyre iron, no less! (hide spoiler)] Check! Fag hag who tries to sleep with her gay best friend, and then vicariously lives through their relationship until she gets her own? Check! Straightsplaining by the straight characters? Oh, yes, check! Add to all of this a horrendously co-dependent relationship which m...more
Josh
I honestly can't remember where I heard the early buzz for this book. All I do remember is putting it on my wishlist and checking the release date every Tuesday for at least a month before I was finally able to download it to my nook. I gotta say, it was well worth the wait.

Don't Let Me Go is told from the point of view of Nate, a gay high school senior recounting his relationship with Adam, his first and only boyfriend, and the many events that bind them together. When Adam leaves Texas to work...more
Keith
This book is truly a masterpiece. The biggest thing that I like about the book is the way J. H. Trumble wrote it. She wrote it in such a way that you feel as if you know the characters personally, so when I put down the book at the very end, then it still felt as if it wasn't finished, like there was more, even though she did a very nice job of summing up the whole story.

It is about the relationship between Adam and Nate. If you ask me (and probably many other people) I will say I like Adam much...more
Nicole
Stayed up til 3:30am reading because I just couldn't put it down. Definitely one of those books where you want time to read the whole thing at once. Too much to say about it to write a review now, but maybe I'll say more later. I will say that I think books like this are what should be on school reading lists as they are so much more pertinent to what kids and young adults are going through today.

Okay, I've had more time to think and go back and read my favorite parts at least 12 times. I love t...more
Dave1962uk
I am only a little way into this book and I love Nate and Adam.
Does this kind of falling in love or even finding another gay soul mate happen at such a young age? As it is set in the U.S I am unsure of the ages as the school system is different to the UK. I am not sure how old a Freshman is.
However. I am a sucker for romance and love and I choose to believe that love and gay love has no age barriers.
It is a good read that I am savouring. That's all for now.

Update 20 July

What a fantastic read....more
Gwen
I might try and stick in a review later when I'm a little more coherent, but at the moment I honestly do have all these feelings and no idea what to do with them.

It's a damn fine book.
Jason White
Excellent book. Probably more like a 4.5 star. The throwbacks kind of threw me at first until I began to look for them and understood their meaning.
Josh
This book took me awhile to get into because the flashbacks kept throwing me and taking me out of the present story. Once I got used to the structure and settled into the story, I highly enjoyed this young adult novel about first love. J.H. Trumble did a great job taking the reader inside the woes of a first relationship involving long distance, jealousy, sadness, and a horrific act of violence. I liked the fact that the details of that act were only briefly described as it's not actually the ma...more
Vanessa
Seriously loved this book.
Trisha
This is a very intense exploration of a very intense relationship. Nate's assault and subsequent dependence on Adam deepens and changes an already completely devoted love affair. Interestingly, the assault occurs and stays mainly off-page, so even though we see the results of this devastating event, we have distance from it. Which might be why some of Nate's actions don't sit well with me.

I know Nate is damaged and angry, but I hurt so much for Adam.

Realistic, and gritty. I totally invested in...more
Michael Ngo
I started this book about a week ago and had to put it off during the midterms time. However, I was finally able to finish it on my long flight to Vietnam a few days ago. And guess what I'm doing? Of course, re-reading the excerpts that are imprinted in my head.

I just have to say, the book, the storyline, is just so REAL, so powerful, but so delicate. I see myself in Nate, I see someone else in Adam; and I wonder if I was that deeply passionate in such a relationship like theirs before. They som...more
Alex Bennett
I was very eager to read Don’t Let Me Go since I first started hearing about it—because all I was hearing was how fantastic this book is. At the beginning of my reading it, I wasn’t so sure I was going to love it as much as everyone else was seeming to, but once I got going, I learned that everyone was right. Don’t Let Me Go is a truly outstanding book.

Essentially, Don’t Let Me Go is about relationships and how they can go through the good and the bad. I loved that Nate and Adam’s relationship w...more
Don
Excellent read that captivated me and held me to the end. So many times it was frustrating and Nate's angst and need were irritating...but given the fact he was a victim of a hate crime made him more tolerable. I don't always have to like the characters in a book, even the main character, if it's as well written and entwined with other interesting characters with a good story to tell, as this book is.
Taryn
I thought that this book was simply incredible. You have Nate and Adam who are being forced apart by a career opportunity for Adam. It tears up Nate inside, but allows him to finally express his feelings in a blog that really stirs up the local community.
Add jealousy of another man in Adam's life, family drama, and even bullying from peers, Nate and Adam struggle to get back to each other.
J.H. Trumble created a book that I was unable to put down and though the ending was a little bit ... forced...more
Tim
For a vast majority of the book it’s a riveting read, although emotional exhausting. I had some stylistic issues but not substantive. (Speaking as a layperson, of course. I could no more write a book than I could flap my wings and fly to the moon…)

Lots of confrontation/lots of misunderstandings…if the two protagonists had broken up one time I was about ready put the book down and walk away. (I understand the need for conflict or there isn’t much point to a novel, but still….) Having said that I...more
Terrence
The second consecutive novel about teenagers in love. I hope it's not becoming a habit. In this case, it's high school junior/senior Nate and high school senior/college freshman Adam. Like the previous novel I read, "Something Like Summer", the story takes place in Texas.

The narrative bounces back and forth over a short amount of time leading up to a horrific joint experience and its aftermath. Adding to the difficulties of the recovery, is Adam's extended departure to New York for long-desired...more
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Q&A with Josh...: February 2012 61 93 Apr 04, 2012 09:37am  
Don't Let Me Go (Kindle Edition)
Don't Let Me Go (ebook)
J.H. Trumble is a Texas native and graduate of Sam Houston State University. You can visit the author online at http://www.jhtrumble.com and on Facebook and Twitter.
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“I’ll never understand why some people can’t just let others live their lives, you know,” Danial said. “You don’t have to understand. You don’t have to agree. Just leave people alone. When I look at the moon and planets and stars, all that narrow-mindedness and hate seem so petty. The universe is such a big place. One hundred thousand light years just from one end of the Milky Way to the other. One hundred. Thousand. Light years. In the time it’s taken for light to travel from one end of our galaxy to the other, thousands of generations have passed. It really makes you realize how small we are, doesn’t it? How short our time on earth is.” 21 people liked it
“Our nights were filled with passion and long soft gazes and sweet words. We weren't behaving ourselves, and we didn't for one moment feel guilty about that.” 20 people liked it
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