Blog Tour- The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson

A heartbreaking yet uplifting story of grief about a boy who has lost everything, but finds new hope drawing in the shadows of a hospital. Features a thirty-two-page graphic novel.

Andrew Brawley was supposed to die that night, just like the rest of his family.

Now he lives in the hospital, serving food in the cafeteria, hanging out with the nurses, sleeping in a forgotten supply closet. Drew blends in to near invisibility, hiding from his past, his guilt, and those who are trying to find him. His only solace is in the world of the superhero he’s created—Patient F.

Then, one night, Rusty is wheeled into the ER, half his body burned by hateful classmates. Rusty’s agony calls out to Drew like a beacon, pulling them both together though all their pain and grief. In Rusty, Drew sees hope, happiness, and a future for both of them. A future outside of the hospital, and away from their pasts.

But to save Rusty, Drew will have to confront Death, and life will have to get worse before it gets better. And by telling the truth about who he really is, Drew risks destroying any chance future.

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I am so glad I took part in this tour because this book was simply amazing. If you want to know more, keep reading; if just my saying that it was amazing is enough for you, then stop reading this review and go get this book (and then come back and leave a comment)! I could not put this book down. First off, Hutchinson writes so beautifully and inhabits the character of Andrew so extremely well that he feels so real and so easy to sympathize with.

Not only that, but he writes such an engaging and cute romance. Andrew and Rusty's romance isn't necessarily big sweeping gestures or a love tour de force, but rather one that builds slowly through a few quiet moments together as Rusty recovers and as Andrew becomes more involved with the people in Rusty's life. Also, that ending? Have a few tissues ready because the ending was so perfect and emotional and while I am not usually a person who cries while reading a book, I did cry at this one.

The added aspect to this book is Andrew's comic book, which he discusses in the book and which we as readers also get to see snippets of throughout the book, which really adds a fantastic dimension to the story as a whole. It really gives the reader a sense of who Andrew is and how he thinks.

Overall, again, simply a fantastic book and, while I already wanted to read Hutchinson's previous books, this made me want to even more. Please go get this book, read it, and spread the word. It's such an unconventional book but deserves so much praise and is a wonderful new entry to the list of GLBT YA books.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I’m Shaun David Hutchinson, you can call me Shaun. Or Hutch. I’ll respond to anything. I’m the author of books for young adults, the first of which was The Deathday Letter, and the most recent of which are The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley (out 1/20/2015) and the anthology Violent Ends (Fall 2015).

I was born in West Palm Beach, FL, and grew up in Jupiter, FL where I’ve lived most of my life save for a couple of adventures in Atlanta and Rhode Island. I always knew I wanted to be a writer but it took me a long time to figure out I could be one. I’ve been a database developer, managed a wine company, slung coffee at Starbucks, and once spent a creepy month working in a statuary. Luckily, that was before I’d seen the Weeping Angels on Doctor Who. I studied literature in college where I fell in love with Beowulf and Chaucer and gothic literature. I also studied emergency medicine at one time and insurance at another. Currently, I work in IT and fill my remaining hours with freelance web design, database design, and editing.

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