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Stepping Up to the Plate (Stepping Up to the Plate)

by J.M. Snyder (Goodreads Author)

3.68 of 5 stars 3.68 · rating details · 74 ratings · 10 reviews

At 16, Stacy Evans dropped out of high school in the hopes of moving on with his life. But four years later, he's stuck in an abusive relationship with Lamar, a "friend with benefits," and works long hours at a dead-end job just to get by.Then his mother enrolls him in a program to earn his GED. There he meets Darian, a woodshop teacher who is everything Stacy's friends ar...more

ebook, 260 pages

Published October 7th 2010 by Jms Books LLC (first published January 1st 2007)

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Jul 07, 2011 H.A. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: friends, friends-with-benefits, teachers, threesomes, family

A truly amazing read. The unlikeliness of Stacy's and Darian's relationship was interesting to read about. While the characters themselves were a perfect match and really complimented each other, the idea that a highschool-drop out turn GED-go-getter and a carpenter-turn-Woodshop teacher getting together was a nice change of pace from the regular plot lines such as best friends to life partners; which is where I first thought this story would go. (view spoiler)...more

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Jun 18, 2010 A.B. Gayle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recently I rated two of JM's books 2 stars mainly because they were written in the present tense, and I found them really difficult to read.
Thankfully this story isn't.
Again, if you're looking for a synopsis, look elsewhere, LOL.
One of the best things I liked about "Stepping up to the Plate" was the description of the setting. Not being from the US, I have no idea if Petersburg is a real place. The town Snyder wrote about is a believable, however, with its black lower class ghetto, complete with...more

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Dec 30, 2009 Alex rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

To start off with the positive, I read this book in one day (one sitting, if you don't count cooking lunch and dinner). It was an easy read that flowed well and kept up a nice pace to keep the reader's interest. There were enough characters so the romantic pair didn't seem isolated, but not too many to make the story drag out more than it needed.

Aside from editorial problems (which may have been due to the copy I have), I have few complaints about the story. The secondary male isn't given alot...more

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Sep 01, 2009 Kathy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, ebook, glbt, m-m, favourite

This sometimes raw, sometimes dreary, often heartbreaking story is, by the end, anything but. There's a lot wrong in Stacy's life ~ worst of all, in his opinion, is his name. He's also white in an area where white people are in the minority... and he's gay. All these elements are at the root of his problems in school... he's definitely on the outside looking in and those on the inside... they're just happy to make him miserable. Being 16 is bad enough, but being different is death in school. The...more

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Jan 28, 2012 L-D rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed, blue-collar, m-m, romance, teacher-professor-scholar

I really enjoyed reading this book. The writing style was nice and easy and I liked the characters and their interactions. I think the length was good and that the main character, Stacy Evans, was very well developed. The characters of Lamar, Ange, and Colin were good additions and helped me to understand why Stacy was a little F-d up when it came to having real relationships with other people. He is certainly ensconced in his little circle of friends and limited to only the interest that they b...more I really enjoyed reading this book. The writing style was nice and easy and I liked the characters and their interactions. I think the length was good and that the main character, Stacy Evans, was very well developed. The characters of Lamar, Ange, and Colin were good additions and helped me to understand why Stacy was a little F-d up when it came to having real relationships with other people. He is certainly ensconced in his little circle of friends and limited to only the interest that they bestow on him.

When Stacy finally meets Darian Drucker (okay, seriously, the whole book I couldn't stop picturing Darius Rucker from Hootie and the Blowfish), he doesn't really know how to behave or what's expected. His awkwardness is endearing. I liked Stacy even if I didn't really understand him or easily relate to him. I could understand how he ended up living with his friend Lamar for so long, and could also understand the circumstances that trapped him into his life. Meeting Darian and having someone give him a chance and believe in him was pretty cool.

The reasons why this was only a 3/3.5 star book for me was because I don't think there was quite enough time spent on Darian's development as a character. Sure, I liked him a lot - he was a great guy - but what did he see in Stacy that was so special? All he ever says is "you're something else". I could see what Stacy saw in Darian, but I had trouble visualizing why Darian went out of his way to do so much for Stacy. I really liked the relationship between Stacy and his friend Ange, and that situation broke my heart a little bit.

Finally, the ending was a bit abrupt for me. There were a few unanswered questions. (view spoiler) I think a little epilogue would have tied this up very nicely and driven up the rating to a 4 star rating easily.

All in all, I did enjoy reading this book and I liked the characters.(less)

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Aug 07, 2011 Sadonna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mm, pdf

This was a fairly difficult book for me to read - mostly I think because I couldn't relate to the main characters as much as I'd hoped. While I had empathy for him, I just didn't get how Stacy would keep making such bad decisions and getting in bad situations over and over again. But the truth is, that is my problem - not something wrong with the character or the writing. My initial reaction was that he should have been able to make better decisions and stop sabotaging himself. But when a teenag...more

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Dec 04, 2010 Elisa Ramblings added it · review of another edition

Stepping Up to the Plate is not an easy romance, since probably it’s not even a romance, or at least it’s not only a romance. When the story starts Stacy, the main character, is only 16 years old, but don’t think that this is making the novel a cute coming of age story: Stacy’s life is far from being cute or pretty or easy. He is a troubled kid, a working mum who loves her son but has not enough money, or courage, to pretend a better life for him; a step-dad who probably doesn’t like Stacy and w...more Stepping Up to the Plate is not an easy romance, since probably it’s not even a romance, or at least it’s not only a romance. When the story starts Stacy, the main character, is only 16 years old, but don’t think that this is making the novel a cute coming of age story: Stacy’s life is far from being cute or pretty or easy. He is a troubled kid, a working mum who loves her son but has not enough money, or courage, to pretend a better life for him; a step-dad who probably doesn’t like Stacy and would be more than glad to see him gone; a circle of friends that instead of helping him going through these difficult years is dragging him down. It’s probably only out of luck that Stacy ends only with leaving school.

Four years later a 20 years old Stacy is not much different: he is living with Lamar, but Lamar is not exactly his boyfriend; he has a crush on Ange, but neither Ange is exactly his boyfriend; he is having sex with both of them, and probably with other guys, but Stacy doesn’t see where that is wrong when all of them are fine and good. Sex is nothing more than a scratching an itch and even if he thinks that maybe he in love with Ange, Stacy doesn’t really know what love is. Moreover Stacy doesn’t have much self-esteem, so if people, or Lamar, is treating him like trash, maybe he is not so wrong, maybe he deserves nothing more.

But Ange, and Stacy’s mother, have not the same idea and they convince Stacy to get his GED and try to do something better in his life; if not for his immediately liking of the trade teacher, Darian, Stacy would have probably abandoned also this chance at a better life, but for once sex did something good for him. Darian is an Afro-American big guy who takes a liking for the scranny kid maybe since he wants to be for Stacy what his big brother was for him when he was that same age and needed direction. True, Darian’s feeling for Stacy are not exactly brotherly, but as I said this is not exactly a romance, so don’t expect a steamy story of sex between a student and his teacher: Darian has a better opinion of Stacy than Stacy himself. Darian uses sex as a carrot with an horses, he entices Stacy with it, but he has to do something good before being allowed to reach for it.

The story is very long and it’s all about Stacy; it’s a long journey, from being a kid to an adult, and Stacy is the right example of how sometime the school system is not able to save or comprehend the kids. Stacy is not particularly bad, he is not a criminal, but he is not even a diamond star, he is an average guy, with an average brighteness. Being in the middle, not bad, not good, he was almost forgotten and instead Stacy only need a little care and someone who believes in him. Darian is that man; I like him, he is good to Stacy, but probably I liked better Ange; unfortunately he was not the right man for Stacy, but nevertheless he was a wonderful character, and probably as generous as Darian, only with less chances to help Stacy.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1430306513/?...(less)

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Jan 08, 2010 Kari Gregg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: glbt

Emotionally gripping.

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Mar 03, 2012 Adriana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: male-male, contemporary

I'm between 3.5 and 4 in this one, Stacey was kind of annoying and acting like a child at first, when he started changing I started to like him.
A good book about a young guy who gets a second chance... maybe some high schoolers need to read this, it's not that easy after dropping out of school.

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Jun 24, 2009 J.M. rated it 5 of 5 stars · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

Shelves: keepers, glbt, sex-and-erotica

This is my book so I'm not going to write a review.

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May 30, 2013 Bookbee marked it as wish-list

Shelves: hmmmm, p, jms-books

May 06, 2013 Legato Darksummers added it · review of another edition

Shelves: daddy-dark-s-baby-warrior-list

Apr 27, 2013 Tara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Apr 19, 2013 Heather Skye marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: waiting-to-be-read

Apr 19, 2013 Margaret Lewis marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Apr 14, 2013 Gyvareva marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: maybe-to-read

Apr 01, 2013 Coni marked it as to-buy · review of another edition

Mar 21, 2013 Antonio Scavera marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Mar 05, 2013 Susan A marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Mar 01, 2013 princess marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m-romance

Feb 21, 2013 Alex Mar marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Feb 16, 2013 Kat marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Feb 12, 2013 Krazer Rei marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Feb 04, 2013 Alyssa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: regular-lbgt

Dec 28, 2012 Andrea Dal bello marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Dec 27, 2012 David marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Dec 14, 2012 Triski rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: teacher-student

Dec 12, 2012 Alex Hahn added it · review of another edition

Shelves: bought-own, m-m-contemporary

Dec 05, 2012 Shannon marked it as maybe · review of another edition

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About J.M. Snyder

An author of gay erotic/romantic fiction, J.M. Snyder began in self-publishing and worked with Amber Allure, Aspen Mountain, eXcessica, and Torquere Presses.

Snyder's highly erotic short gay fiction has been published online at Amazon Shorts, Eros Monthly, Ruthie's Club, and Tit-Elation, as well as in anthologies by Alyson Books, Aspen Mountain, Cleis Press, eXcessica Publishing, Lethe Press, and R...more

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Stepping Up to the Plate (Stepping Up to the Plate)

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