Strings Attached Synopsis

From ReaderViews, www.readerviews.com

Author Nick Nolan’s crossover masterpiece, Strings Attached, tells the compelling story of one hopeless boy’s struggle to become a ‘real man.’ Jeremy grows increasingly dissatisfied with the veneer of the fabulous life he is thrown into, as he struggles with his own sexual ambiguity.

Strings Attached (ISBN 1419628895) breaks new ground as author Nick Nolan weaves a modern story around the timeless classic, Pinocchio. Steeped in underlying social commentary, Nolan tells the riveting account of an overwhelmed teenager adapting to cataclysmic life changes - of someone who is pulled in all directions by the agendas of others while rejecting his own needs and desires.

Seventeen year-old Jeremy Tyler is about to enter a world he never dreamed of. When his alcoholic mother is forced into rehab, Jeremy moves from poverty in the slums to a cliff-top estate with his wealthy relatives. Believing he’s just landed in paradise, Jeremy tries to fit in with the upper-crust community of Ballena Beach. His gifted good looks and swimmer’s physique, combined with Aunt Katharine’s money, grant him tentative admission into the elite inner circle.

Soon, Jeremy is deep in privilege - but at what cost? His demanding relatives begin to dictate his every move, and his desire to “fit in” conflicts with his growing need for authenticity. He dates an exotic socialite - the girl he hopes will obliterate his growing attraction to men - until two boys, one a calculating swim champ and the other a rebellious ranching scion, execute their plans for the besieged Jeremy. Then a phone call identifies his late father’s murderer, while suggesting Jeremy will be next, and the web gets even more tangled at the posh beachside locale. Pulled in every direction, Jeremy makes a wish to become a ‘real man’, then seeks guidance from the one person he trusts – his family’s butler, who is an extraordinary man with a stunning secret identity.

Strings Attached is backed by a rich cast of characters - menacing villains, social-climbing teens, and ‘friends’ with ulterior motives. With a thread of the supernatural, and a murder-mystery woven within, this coming-of-age story reads like a cross between Brokeback Mountain and the hit TV show “Laguna Beach“. A page-turner that traverses boundaries of age, gender and sexual preference, Nolan suggests what truly binds people, and teasingly reveals how every major theme in the story - beauty, wealth, love, betrayal, lust, greed and temptation - has consequences, or ’strings’, attached.

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