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A Better Place (Gay Youth Chronicles #5)

3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 · rating details · 275 ratings · 31 reviews

What do the poorest boy in town and the captain of the football
team have in common? More than you might think. Casper has nothing, but a trio of bullies who hound him, a distant father and an older brother who makes his life a living hell. Brendan has it all; muscles, money, fame and popularity. The boys come from different worlds, but both share a constant desire.

A Bett...more

Paperback, 332 pages

Published February 20th 2001 by Writers Club Press (first published January 1st 2001)

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Sep 29, 2009 DarkHeart "Vehngeance" rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m, 2009, young-adult

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. Brendan and Casper were sweet characters, but the story was just a bit too much for me. The dramatic events would have had more impact had it only been a couple of them, but pretty much every horrible thing that could happen to this pair happened. It was just too much to be believable, which distracted from the story. And while I didn't mind the changing POV from Brendan and Casper, I thought the addition of Nathan and Ethan in the latter half w...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Jacob rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The book was... Interesting. The first half was the standard "gay boy falls for high school quarterback and said quarterback turns out to be gay too" gay coming of age story, full of cliches that left me a bit bored. The addition of Casper's brother as a character mixed things up a bit, but in a way that made the book difficult to read because of the horrible things he did.

The second half of the book though... God. Mental hospitals, genital torturing, multiple suicides, dreams foretelling derang...more The book was... Interesting. The first half was the standard "gay boy falls for high school quarterback and said quarterback turns out to be gay too" gay coming of age story, full of cliches that left me a bit bored. The addition of Casper's brother as a character mixed things up a bit, but in a way that made the book difficult to read because of the horrible things he did.

The second half of the book though... God. Mental hospitals, genital torturing, multiple suicides, dreams foretelling deranged killers on the loose hunting gay boys... The book was much more original and definitely not cliche after the halfway mark but... It was very difficult to read. I just wasn't expecting the last half of the book to be so damn depressing. Seriously, because of the dream foreshadowing, you spend like 25% of the book dreading the deaths of one or more major characters. The psychological horror in the novel makes me think that I would probably never recommend this book to anyone gay; far from being a helpful book, or escapist gay fantasy, or teaching us about the human condition, this book alternates between dredging up a horrific chapter in the history of American homophobia and describing some truly sadistic acts that happen to be performed on gay men who are largely powerless to resist.

The point is, the book's 1970s setting erases 40 years of gay rights struggles and serves only to depress gays and lesbians living in our more enlightened era. It is not very good as a historical novel because of the distracting presence of a sadistic murder in the book, and it is too cliche and slow-moving at first to be a good gay love story. The only thing keeping this abive a 1 star is the knowledge that some 1970s gay teens really did have to go through shit like mental hospitLs and running away from home, and their story deserves to be heard, even if this book obscures it with other things.

TL;DR: Don't read it unless you enjoy psychological horror with a poorly-executed homoerotic undertone.(less)

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Jan 22, 2013 Jeffery Looper rated it 3 of 5 stars

"A Better Place" is easy to like but hard to love. Before reading I had no prior knowledge that it was related to Roder's previous novel "Someone Is Watching." It has turned out that the two books are more than simply related -- it's more like they're two stories combined into one, and the puzzle fits quite perfectly for that matter.

What I loved about "A Better Place" is its straightforward and simple language and its plot that offers quite a heavy dose of surprises. What I didn't like too much...more

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May 01, 2012 David rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review is for the first five books of the series, Outfield Menace, Snow Angel, The Soccer Field Is Empty, Someone Is Watching, and A Better Place.

Normally, I would want to review each book separately but there is no need as these five books are all exactly the same, over and over AND OVER again. Not only is there a terrible repetitiveness within each story as the characters continue to express the same thoughts and emotions they expressed in prior paragraphs but the plots of each book are a...more This review is for the first five books of the series, Outfield Menace, Snow Angel, The Soccer Field Is Empty, Someone Is Watching, and A Better Place.

Normally, I would want to review each book separately but there is no need as these five books are all exactly the same, over and over AND OVER again. Not only is there a terrible repetitiveness within each story as the characters continue to express the same thoughts and emotions they expressed in prior paragraphs but the plots of each book are almost identical. Everyone is either well-muscled or too thin. The jock is always falling for the too-thin invisi-boy. Everyone is scared to death that their teammates / friends / classmates will find out, being outed is the utmost, ultimate danger, from which survival is unsure. Gay boys are found out, gay boys are terrorized to a vicious, disturbing, heinous degree, suicide is considered, eternal love is eternally pledged (over and over) all seems well, we all relax and live happily ever... oh wait, another brief interlude of diabolical hatred and violence, a muscle jock saves the day, everyone lives happily ever after...unless the characters are in the next book, in which they do it all over and over, and over again.

The amount of physical violence these boys suffer is disturbing and quite unbelievable. If this were some Lord of the Flies-esque story, where there were no adults at all, it would possibly be believable. In story lines where parents and adults are not only mentioned but included in dialogue, it just doesn’t ring true. Neither does the extent and degree of the violence. How many psychotic, gun wielding, knife toting, dig-a-grave killers are roaming these very, very small towns? At what point does it just become too much? After book one, Outfield Menace.

I would not want a young gay man to read any of these books. The good messages are few and they are so clouded by the never-ending fear, hate, and violence that the characters experience, I fear they may see nothing else. Looking back, as someone who lived through hell, survived, and escaped, I don’t think these stories would have helped me. I was scared enough and these books would have just reinforced my fear and distrust of everyone and everything around me.(less)

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Sep 16, 2011 Elisa Ramblings added it

I went back to read this novel by Mark Roeder since, having read Masked Destiny, I learned some info about one of the character, Brendan Brewer, that let me think it was a nice and sweet love story; in a way it’s and there is also a bit of “fairytale” feeling that makes it light, and on the contrary of Masked Destiny, there isn’t any paranormal event, making it an ordinary, and in this case ordinary is nice, coming of age story.

Brendan is the most popular kid at high school, quarterback of the f...more I went back to read this novel by Mark Roeder since, having read Masked Destiny, I learned some info about one of the character, Brendan Brewer, that let me think it was a nice and sweet love story; in a way it’s and there is also a bit of “fairytale” feeling that makes it light, and on the contrary of Masked Destiny, there isn’t any paranormal event, making it an ordinary, and in this case ordinary is nice, coming of age story.

Brendan is the most popular kid at high school, quarterback of the football team, handsome and friendly, for a very wealthy family that allow him to have a nice car and all the last fashion available, Brendan is even more fascinating since he seems unaware of his good looks and fortune. Brendan has also a secret, but not really something that is causing him trouble: he is gay, and in his openness and yes, lucky youth, he has already realized it and decided it’s fine. Sure, Brendan is aware he cannot come out at school that it’s not easy, but more or less, he is fine.

Not the same for Casper; he is the poorest kid at school, and even worst, he is abused at home; his older brother has more than once abused him and he is still doing that. Most night Casper sleeps under the open sky to avoid being alone in the same room with his brother. In his young mind, Casper associates being gay with being abused, and so, when Brendan makes a move with him, Casper is scared to death.

But as I said, Brendan is such a nice boy that Casper in the end is able to trust him; their newfound happiness is destroyed by Brendan’s family and but the dramatic decision they take on their son’s fate. Again Brendan will prove to be strong and with a self-consciousness that is rare in such a young man; he will maintain the promise he did to Casper to protect him, whatever it will take.

I preferred the first part of the story, until Brendan and Casper are trying to find their path in life alone; I found the last part, when Brendan and Casper go to live with Ethan and Nathan (from Someone Is Watching) a little too similar to what I guess is Ethan and Nathan’s own story, almost a repetition. All in all, I think that, even if Casper is cuter and the one who needs more protection, even from the reader point of view, I think the best character was Brendan, I most of all loved how he is so open with his feelings and ready to love despite all the trouble it implies.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/145657390X/?...(less)

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Sep 04, 2010 Bookwatcher ~Mary MooCow~ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Bookwatcher ~Mary MooCow~ by: Mahyar Alemipour

Shelves: glbt-gay, romance, few-or-no-sex-scene

I hate it… very much.
No, I’m not saying that I hate this book, but the feeling I get reading it. Are you confused? Well, please think about something: you have your good live. Is not perfect, but you are happy, in a good house, with a loving one near you (family or a partner) trying to stay exactly as you are now… happy and enclosed in your perfect or almost perfect little world. So you are there and start to read this book, and all the walls that enclose you, the ones you created, fall down so...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Danni rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have a whole list of things that annoyed me about this book:

For a start, there were characters called: Brendan, Brandon, Brad, Brent. It was like the author went through the baby names book and got stuck on 'Br'.

Quote: "Have you been avoiding me Brandon?" "It's Brendan, and no." She'd had sex with me, but she didn't even remember my name.

I'm not bloody surprised, I couldn't remember his name either!

The writing was pretty poor - all short sentences, loads of cliches, lots of tell not show.

(view ...more

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May 07, 2011 Tayanna Daliese rated it 1 of 5 stars

This is the last time I pay for a book before getting a preview on it. I bought it on my kindle because I love young adult books and I love books about gay youth. It's hard for me to find anything quality or something that just isn't smut, and I made the mistake of thinking I might find what I needed from this book. I absolutely despised it. The plot was nice and the author obviously meant well but the overall writing quality was terrible. I couldn't stand his stilted sentences or his tired phra...more

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Sep 07, 2010 Mahyar rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-favorites, 2010, m-m, made-me-cry

Thank you so much for helping me *wink* get this book, Camila. You don't know how grateful I am. I REALLY wanted this book, the plot sounds like just what I want in a M/M romance.

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Mar 14, 2011 Lola rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was amazing because it was truly a gay romance novel in the purest form with high school teen angst. This story begins with high school football captain in love with the high school most bullied, abused, and poor boy. Suffice to say certain events in the book is shocking and these unfortunate events that occurred to the two main characters only made them better in retrospective. To be honest, I read the book in a time period of 2 weeks because the main character were so likable and I w...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

what do you do when you fall in love with a boy that is being abused and neglected by his family, when your parents send you to a mental hospital you cure you of being gay. where the sickest thing in the place is the guards.

Well, you escape, grab the guy and run as hard as fast and as far a you can in search of a better place. and theres nothing that you wont do to keep your love save.

Mark Roeder writes the gay youth chronicles. a series of books looking at relationships, bullying, depression, a...more

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Sep 25, 2011 Amy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, young-adult

I can't get through this book.

It has a good plot and I was eager to read it to see the underprivileged triumph against all odds, but does this author even know how to write? Or is the book being dumbed down to better sound like a juvenile boy? The writing is so poor I can't even make it to page 30. One example was that the kid was comparing how one boy looked like someone else. Except he was better built. And taller. And he had dark hair. And his eyes were blue. No...that would mean he looked no...more

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Oct 07, 2012 Jayson James rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: coming-of-age, young-adult

From the momment I opened up this book I fell in love with the characters Casper and Brandan. As they struggled to be together. I have never cried as much as I did reading this book. I spend two days straight doing little beyond reading this book and was hooked on the series. Mark Roeder has found the voice of the young gay teen and captures it with depth and compasion without coming off as predictable or shallow. The joy of reading this book is you care for the characters and what happens to th...more

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May 27, 2011 Lutawolf rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

I love this book! It was very emotional charged and perhaps if I hadn't seen things like this happen, I wouldn't believe that such bad things could happen to a person over and over. The characters draw you in and even while you are screaming at them not to think a certain way, you get why they do. Those that are familiar with abuse certainly do. However because of the age of one of the characters 15, I kind of had a hard time with the happy ending but perhaps the other books later on will help m...more

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Feb 25, 2013 W. rated it 1 of 5 stars

The writing is repetitive, the characterizations are trite, and the first half of the plot feels like a rip-off of Todd Brown's Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook. That is a much, much better book about being poor and coming out in a small town in the 1980s, and I would recommend that you read it instead.

Also, I really didn't need to be told that the main character is poor and skinny every other page. It wasn't just telling instead of showing, it was telling, and telling, and telling again.

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Jan 22, 2012 Jason White rated it 2 of 5 stars

While I tried to like it, it just didn't sit well with me. I liked what it was trying to achieve, there were just a couple of things that didn't work with me. I really liked the previous two in the series Soccer Field and Someone is Watching. This book seemed poorly written even if it was written with high school age in mind. There was a lot of extraordinary things that happened. One or two things I'd be ok with it, but combined it was a bit much. I liked the addition of Nathan and Ethan at the...more

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Sep 15, 2010 S.J.D. Peterson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-m-m, reviewed

I truly liked this book. The message was loud and clear and tugged at my heartstrings. I read so many wonderful reviews of this book and author that I was expecting a 10. Sad to say I didn't get the 10 I was expecting. I think the message of why we must learn tolerance and acceptance was one every teen should read whether gay or straight. In fact I gave this book to my teenage niece to read but I gave her a warning before starting it. I wanted her to remember that Casper was 15. Sometimes I forg...more

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Mar 14, 2012 JoAnn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle-books-to-lend

This was a story about two high school boys trying to come to grips with their sexuality. On ther journey they each deal with bullys, hatred, no family support. One boy is strong but the "weaker" of the two seems to cope better. Maybe because of what he has had to endure in his short lifetime. Fellow them as they loose old friends and meet new friends that that help them overcome their fears and teach them about a love that can withstand the hardships.

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Sep 04, 2011 Nik rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Had an amazing beginning but while i went on...it felt like I was going through sequels of the story. Cause it changed from one plot to another kinda quick and changed the mood entirely. So i felt like i read three books of the same characters and life adventure. lolz i will say that i was so scared reading the mental hospital bit...read through those pages quickly ha ha

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Oct 15, 2012 Kyrsten rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this during the summer before tenth grade and really liked it. The kid Casper was so cute and I felt so bad for him and I thought this was the perfect combination of fluff and violence. The only thing I didn't really like is it's pretty much the same plot as the other Mar A. Roeder books, but it's still really good and I would read it again.

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Mar 12, 2013 Dee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Probably pretty OK for youth although it is much darker than I prefer. I read for romance and joy. This is romance and dark challenges showing a great deal of the homophobic nature of society. It did scare the crap out me when he detailed about the institute. I never gave thought about what runaways deal. I guess I wanted a happy tone.

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Aug 16, 2011 Dale Hankins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: gay-youth

have not read all of Mark's books yet but I keep thinking I am going to catch up and then he comes out with a new one--out of the ones that I have read so far this is my favorite. I wish there had been someone writing books like this when I was a teenager back in the 60's

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Feb 19, 2012 Claire Walt rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was kinda shocked myself when I decided to pick up this book. I don't know what drew me to it, but I am glad I read it. It was a heart wrenching story and even though I couldn't relate totally to it, being a straight female. It was still potent and beautiful.

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Mar 13, 2012 Vladimir added it · review of another edition

How come the cover for the Kindle edition is so much better? That guy's totally cute. Woot woot! ^_^

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Nov 11, 2011 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Loved it!

Well written contemporary story of young gay love. It never goes easy.

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Jan 01, 2011 DeWanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m-read

First book of the new year and I really really liked it.

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Mar 13, 2012 Jen Wilson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really loved this book.

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Apr 26, 2011 Sandy Malone rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mm-romance, mm-butt-virgins, read-2011, my-favorites-2011

Love this series

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Apr 02, 2013 Amber rated it 5 of 5 stars

Was one of the first books I had the courage to purchase. Its a wonderful story and truly unforgettable series. I will admit the cover got me in trouble... a few times, but I'm blessed with wonderful friends. Back to the book, this series got me interested in reading again.Love the series excellent story!!

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Dec 06, 2010 Olivia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: lgbt

Even though it is #5, it is the first book of this series that I read. I have read nearly 20 of this series now but this one remains one of my top faves. There is just something about Brenden and Casper that grabs my heart and holds on.

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About Mark A. Roeder

Mark A. Roeder grew up in southern Indiana - near a small town similar to those that appear in his novels.

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The Soccer Field Is Empty (Gay Youth Chronicles, #3)

Someone Is Killing the Gay Boys of Verona

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A Better Place (Gay Youth Chronicles #5)

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