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A Time Before Me #1
A TIME BEFORE ME
In this poignant coming-of-age novel, a gay teen struggles to find his identity in the contrasting worlds of rural Mississippi and the big city of New Orleans.Growing up in a small Mississippi town in the early 1990s, shy and inexperienced Mason spends much of his time with his best friend and secret childhood crush, the charming and daring Billy. When a six-pack of beer leads to a passionate encounter between the two teenagers, Mason believes his dreams may have finally come true. Billy's apparent disregard for the incident, however, leaves Mason feeling confused and betrayed.When Billy slips off to glamorous New York City immediately after high school graduation, Mason fears he's doomed to spend another humid Mississippi summer scooping ice cream. But Mason's life changes dramatically when vivacious Aunt Savannah invites him to live with her in New Orleans and work in the box office of her drag queen cabaret. It's there-in the decadent and liberating French Quarter-that Mason begins to fall for Joey, a strikingly handsome and sweet nineteen-year-old, who may just be ready to open his heart to someone new.A surprise visit from Billy hints that he may be ready to return Mason's feelings, and Mason faces a difficult choice. With the help of his spirited aunt and a sassy drag queen, Miss Althea, Mason learns that sometimes it's best to roll life's dice and take a chance.
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
6 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Michael Holloway Perronne
10 books21 followersMichael Holloway Perronne is the author of five novels: "A Time Before Me",
"Starstruck: A Hollywood Saga", "Falling Into Me", "A Time Before Us" and
"Embrace the Rain." His debut novel, "A Time Before Me" won the Bronze
Award, Foreword Magazine's 2006 Book of the Year Award in the Gay/Lesbian
fiction category. In addition, Michael recently released his first travel guide,
"The Quickie Gay Guide to Cape Town, South Africa."
Michael was born and raised in Mississippi. He received a BA in Film from
the University of Southern Mississippi and a MFA in Drama and
Communications from the University of New Orleans.
For a few years he worked as a production assistant in television and film, in
both New Orleans and Los Angeles, on such projects as the television series
The Big Easy and the television movies Rag and Bone, Blue Moon, and
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. Following that, he worked as the Conference
Services Coordinator for the National Association of Television Program
Executives. He has also done script reading and analysis for the Los Angeles
Independent Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Collaborative.
He currently lives in Los Angeles. His next book, "A Time Before Us", is
scheduled to be released in April 2011.
"Starstruck: A Hollywood Saga", "Falling Into Me", "A Time Before Us" and
"Embrace the Rain." His debut novel, "A Time Before Me" won the Bronze
Award, Foreword Magazine's 2006 Book of the Year Award in the Gay/Lesbian
fiction category. In addition, Michael recently released his first travel guide,
"The Quickie Gay Guide to Cape Town, South Africa."
Michael was born and raised in Mississippi. He received a BA in Film from
the University of Southern Mississippi and a MFA in Drama and
Communications from the University of New Orleans.
For a few years he worked as a production assistant in television and film, in
both New Orleans and Los Angeles, on such projects as the television series
The Big Easy and the television movies Rag and Bone, Blue Moon, and
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. Following that, he worked as the Conference
Services Coordinator for the National Association of Television Program
Executives. He has also done script reading and analysis for the Los Angeles
Independent Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Collaborative.
He currently lives in Los Angeles. His next book, "A Time Before Us", is
scheduled to be released in April 2011.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 28, 2011
I really like this book. It is so well written. I was born and raised in New Orleans and now live in Mississippi. The way this story is written is so on the mark of how life is in both places. I could not put the book down. I could see all the places the was mentioned in the book and made me miss (N.O.) home. My parent still live there so I think it is time for a visit. I can't wait to read the next book!
December 4, 2011
A Time Before Me is a coming-of-age/coming-out story. Of the few books of this genre that I've read A Time Before Me is one of the best. The writing is wonderfully rich and picturesque and it deftly pulls you into Mason's world. The characters are nicely developed and fit well together which adds to the beauty of the story. In general, I really liked this book, enough so that I bought the two other books in the series.
I give A Time Before Me four stars.
August 10, 2016
3.5*
A very sweet coming of age story. The author did a very good job describing the sights and sounds of 1990's New Orleans.
As a typical teen trying to figure out what to do with his life. I loved how Joey didn't pressure Mason. Billy is an asshole all through the book. And OMG! Aunt Savannah was perfect! Now I need to read next book A Time Before Us!
A very sweet coming of age story. The author did a very good job describing the sights and sounds of 1990's New Orleans.
As a typical teen trying to figure out what to do with his life. I loved how Joey didn't pressure Mason. Billy is an asshole all through the book. And OMG! Aunt Savannah was perfect! Now I need to read next book A Time Before Us!
April 6, 2009
bittersweet, the reader develops a love/hate relationship with the main character but the rest of them are just funny and endearing.
December 6, 2018
This is an engaging novel written from the perspective of yet-to-mature teenager. My teenage self (which I am not) enjoy indulging in the reverie and impulsiveness of teenagers. My adult self has qualms against this novel as an educational tool. I heard on NPR that teenagers look to YA novels to educate them on their sexualities as high school teachers are not teaching them the facts they want to know. So if such naive teenagers get a hold on this novel, that's would be disastrous! It will be like a blind person leading another blind person. So as long as I know the facts of life, reading this novel told from the perspective of a seventeen years old boy isn't damaging to my future. I shudder to think if I were to imitate the protagonist of this novel by rejecting a scholarship over a chance to live a "freer" life exploring myself while working at a minimum wage job. A praise for this novel is that it is a truly gay novel, not an M/M novel. As a man, I find erotic descriptions in M/M extremely unappealing to my reading taste. I hope there will be more gay or lesbian novels that tell the lives of people of these sexual orientations instead of unrealistic M/M novels from my perspective.
November 13, 2016
Damn, I liked it the whole lot when I was reading it, but then it just had to end with cliffhanger with sequels skipping 15 or more years (and I didn't like how things has developed in them -_-)
June 16, 2020
A sweet gay 'coming of age story'; light on pages but big on characters.
Read
June 19, 2020I might revisit at a later date but for now I just can't get into the writing style so no rating.
August 20, 2018
Usually I read romance. This was a coming of age story with a romantic element. I really like this.
Mason's mother and father both seem like deeper people than they are portrayed here. Mason's father had a crush on a girl in middle school and ended up marrying her. Mason's mother loves and cares for her sister, but is so uptight. Is she uptight because her husband is uptight? Is there something inside herself which closes her up with Aunt Savannah is so accepting?
Review after re-read:
I don't want to read more about these characters. My favorite is Joey who is being jerked around by Mason. Mason the narrator has friends Daniel and Billy. Daniel knows and accepts himself, that he sleeps with men for a place to stay or a meal to eat. Billy tells himself that he has boyfriends. And he keeps toying with Mason. I didn't like Billy and don't really like Mason. So, while I enjoyed reading this book, I don't want to read any more about Mason or Billy.
Mason's mother and father both seem like deeper people than they are portrayed here. Mason's father had a crush on a girl in middle school and ended up marrying her. Mason's mother loves and cares for her sister, but is so uptight. Is she uptight because her husband is uptight? Is there something inside herself which closes her up with Aunt Savannah is so accepting?
Review after re-read:
I don't want to read more about these characters. My favorite is Joey who is being jerked around by Mason. Mason the narrator has friends Daniel and Billy. Daniel knows and accepts himself, that he sleeps with men for a place to stay or a meal to eat. Billy tells himself that he has boyfriends. And he keeps toying with Mason. I didn't like Billy and don't really like Mason. So, while I enjoyed reading this book, I don't want to read any more about Mason or Billy.
November 25, 2014
More like 3.5 stars but since I couldn't put it down I gave it a 4 stars. it's a good story, all the characters are really enjoyable (except for Billy, of course), even if I often wanted to slap Mason but after all he's just a baby boy. The end forces you to read the next one and honestly I'm curious about it.
May 6, 2011
I enjoyed this story, and while it's a standard coming of age story, it's still sweet. And everyone has their own coming of age story. I really like Mason; didn't like Billy much (he was such an ass, even if he was young), and I loved Joey.
Makes me wish I had an Aunt Savannah.
Makes me wish I had an Aunt Savannah.
May 5, 2011
I enjoyed it very much. I wasn't ready to for the end. Really wanted to know if they work things out.
July 27, 2011
This was a nice story although the ending felt abrupt.
August 12, 2016
2.5
Everything is very average and/or stereotyped: the plot, the characters...
Everything is very average and/or stereotyped: the plot, the characters...
February 12, 2012
Coming of Age set in New Orleans,
http://luhathoughts.blogspot.com/2012...
http://luhathoughts.blogspot.com/2012...
September 11, 2012
Kind of sweet...there are some editing issues.
December 11, 2011
This was a very innocent, interesting read. I enjoyed the main protagonist and story.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews