The Jock Nerd Conundrdum by Hayden Hall

[Ulysses]

The Nerd Jock Conundrum (College Boys of New Haven 1)
By Hayden Hall
Published by the author, 2021
Four stars

Troy Harrison, meet Jackson Jones. Troy is nineteen and a freshman at New Haven University (so, not where I met my first boyfriend 45 years ago). He is what we would have called in 1975 a chemistry rock. He is also small, skinny, a nerd and into boys. Not that he’s ever kissed one in real life.

Jackson Jones is twenty-four and a senior, in his fifth year at New Haven University and the football team’s quarterback. He likes to write computer code, but he loves football. He doesn’t really like studying all that much, which is why he’s still a senior. He is huge and blond and friendly and open-minded.

This is a classic setup for a YA coming-out novel. Except that, it’s not really YA. Not at all YA. This is as much a sexual awakening story as it is a self-discovery story, and that’s what makes it both more realistic (as I remember my own college years) and surprisingly poignant. I liked both of these boys, and loved reading about them through the voice of Hayden Hall, who I am assuming is young enough to be my son.

Troy’s family loves him. Too much. They smother him with love. Troy has only one friend, really, and that’s Beth, his BFF from high school and his roommate at college. Yes, roommate, and eventually it dawns on Troy that this might be unusual. Jackson thinks his family, specifically his father, hates him. Distant, demanding, always disappointed. Jackson has lots of friends. Everyone loves the beautiful football hero. Even the gay guys love him and flirt madly with him. Oddly enough, only Troy, who finds him completely irritating, catches Jackson’s eye.

The story moves back and forth between Troy’s brain and Jackson’s. Troy can’t believe that he’s drawn the attention of this huge gorgeous stereotypical jock. Jackson is even more surprised that he’s attracted to this feisty little nerd in a way he’s never felt about another boy. What happens is, of course, predictable, but only on the surface. What Troy and Jackson discover in each other and about themselves weaves a story that seems funny, but is really gently heartbreaking, as they struggle to trust each other and believe in themselves.

Without spoiling, let me just say that all the parents are vividly, if briefly, drawn for this book. Parents matter to me, only because mine mattered to me a lot all those years ago when I was in college in New Haven and figuring it all out. Hayden Hall writes nicely and with a wry charm. Nobody is idealized, but nobody is demonized either. There are no bad people, only confused people. That, as I can assure you from my perspective, is simply the way life is. I look forward to more books in this series from this author.