Time Out by Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner with Carlyn Greenwald

At first I thought this would be an alternating POV story, but was kind of interested that it wasn't. There are all kinds of gay coming out stories, and I still find them very necessary, but this one adds a layer I'm less familiar with - and I think it's pretty powerful. I enjoy sports to a point. I am not really big into close games and tension, but I do enjoy many games and watching them. One thing this story points out is that many people only love you while you're winning; while your a one dimensional being that fulfills a certain need or desire for them, and you should never place your happiness with them or equate that fulfillment for true friendship or love.

Barclay Elliot is a basketball phenom. Going into his age 16 year he's poised to lead his team to a championship, one this small town has been craving. But he mistakes their enthusiasm and the way they treat him due to team sports as true love and she comes out publicly. The fallout is tremendous, yet the lessons learned - many of them positive - are the real prize here. Yes there is a formula and I bit into the sports cliche at the big game as much as I normally do, and there is the off-beat female lead and the more sensitive gay who'd misjudged the jock - stock characters on the surface, but filled out like real people through the course of the story. I really enjoyed the book, read it in less than 8 hours (couldn't sleep anyway).