Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring, Moving, and Exciting...a Great Read
Review: This is the first book I have read by this author but I have to admit, I want to go back and read his previous three books now. The story progresses beautifully and in such a way that you really believe the characters. I got really sucked in to this book and am still thinking about the characters several days later--they really get to you. Roeder really knows how to create a heart wrenching story line with characters you feel deeply for. I felt a wide range of strong emotions as the plot unfolded and the characters revealed their inner thoughts and feelings.
Anyone who loves gay fiction will love this book, I promise. The one critique I can offer now is that I found it extremely annoying that there were so many typos, misuse of words and misspelled words in the book. It had the effect of pulling me out of the story.
All in all, a great book. I hope to see these characters in following works by Roeder.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read
Review: This is the story of Brendan, who has it all; looks, popularity, and money and Clint nicknamed Casper in grade school because he was thin and pale like Casper The Friendly Ghost. Casper is the poorest boy in school and is not in the popular clique, his brother beats him, his father ignores him and his mother passed away a few years before. The first half of this book takes us on the journey of how they come together and begin a relationship. Casper is excited at the attention paid to him by Brendan but the road they travel is not always easy. There are misunderstanding and mixed feeling to deal with along with friendships and betrayals, hardships and heartbreaks. The second half of the book explores just what they have to do for love and to be together. Is it worth it? Can they find their way to a better place? This story was critisized by other reviews for being to juvenile in its writing style and for the characters crying and descriptions of muscles but in my opinion the author hits the nail on the head with these situations. Perhaps others have forgotten what it was like to be a gay teen just coming out. It is not all easy. Crying is par for the course and seeing the muscles in good looking guys along the way is normal. The author switches from the points of view of the main characters so you do get a little overlap of some situations as they are described by each of them but it allows the reader a greater chance to get to know each character more by seeing how they react to the same situations. The boys end up in the town of Verona and meet up with characters from the authors three preious books. This book can be read without having read the others but I recomend the reading of the first three books to get some of the back ground history of the characters. Some authors seem to think that to write a coming out novel it has to be an "event" that the messages have to be grand and larger than life. No so here. Mark Roeder has found the voice of the young gay teen and captures it with depth and compasion without coming off as predictable or shallow. The joy of reading this book is you care for the characters and what happens to them. I can't wait for a sequel or to find out what happens next in Verona.
Rating:
Summary: Jock meets sensitive soul
Review: This is the third book in Mark's Verona series. It was the first one I read, and I wish I had read it after I had read "Ancient Prejudice" and "Someone is Watching". Several things happened in this book that ruined the suprise when I read the first two novels. But the books are all excellent. It's hard for some of us to believe that an incredibly good-looking and well-built athlete could fall for a nobody. But that's because those guys are always on a pedestal, the gods of high school, and we can't believe they would ever fall for someone like us. Mark makes it believable, and spins a heart-warming tale of their developing love. A great read, a great series, read them.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad.
Review: This story is really pretty good, despite all the grammatical errors and typos. I personally thought the level of english was very simple and I was really, really disppointed with that. I have to say that I really expected more, considering all the good and positive reviews here. This is probably a book for young teens.The storyline is very basic and really unrealistic where it's all cheery and wonderful besides the character's pasts and some 'unfortunate' events that happen. I'd say this is pretty much a feel-good story because nothing bad actually happens to the characters and they never really seem to feel any negative emotions or insecurity throughout the story - which you would really expect from the characters because they had such horrible and trumatic pasts. That, doesn't seem realistic to me. Also, how all the characters are good when they're 'supposed' to be good, and if they're bad they're bad all the way, bothers me. There aren't any explanations for why they were bad, or how they became bad, or why they think the way they do - they just are. So although I do like the characters, I think they're not really planned out and designed very well. Like I said, this book is for children. It's too simple! People aren't like that in real life. The fact that this book was written in the first-person narrative means that we should at least get an insight into the character's feelings - regardless of whether they are good or bad. What Roeder has going on is a case of over-fluffing the characters he probably liked personally. Nothing too bad could happen to them and nothing too bad could ever cross their minds. Seems like the 'good' chracters had no flaws whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, I thought the characters were alright, but there wasn't really much character development on the others besides Casper - and that was really only at the beginning of the book. Casper's father somewhat changed too, but it's very odd that a father who never cared for his son and who was only mentioned several times in the book could come in all of a sudden and make things better for everyone on his expense. It's just too idealistic! I bought this book because I liked the odd-pairing thing the author decided to do. I thought it would take quite alot for him as a writer to have that work out. In a way, he did a good job in creating this idealistic, dream world where everything is so special and wonderful. Love is wonderful and people don't disagree; when a person is bad, he is downright bad; when someone is stuck in a rut he gets out of it really quickly without much of a problem at all - and other scenarios like that. Things don't usually happen that way. It's not that simple. The way the story it flows is alright, and I like how it's not so much like the common 'story' structure where it's exposition->complication->climax->resolution. I daresay that it's about a main 'story' followed by a mini 'story' and then another 'story' at the near-end. That is to say that the novel is really like a few stories written seperately and then pieced together. At least the transitions were somewhat smooth. If you want a simple book with a little bit of suspense and overall sugar-coated romance, get it. It's a pretty good book really. It was just some minor problems with the characters and also the writing style that could have been fixed to make it better. Honestly, I'd recommend it for a read if you have nothing better to do and feel like you'd want to curl up and read something uncomplicated and sweet. This book is really addictive. The only reason why I'm keeping it in my collection of ...-themed books despite it's simplicity, is that it did make me feel good and tingly because of the romance in it as well as the idealism. Well, that's just my opinion. I probably had too high an expectation for it. Nevertheless, it's a good, simple read for a boring day. Enough said, get it!
Rating:
Summary: a must read
Review: This was the first book that I read by Mark Roeder. It certainly wasn't the last. I quickly got hold of every book I could that he's written, and have enjoyed each one. I won't go into a synopsis of the story line here; enough other reviewers have done that. But I will say that deciding to read this book is one of the happiest decisions I've ever made. Read "The Soccer Field is Empty" and "Someone is Watching" before you read this. There are a number of references in this book that make more sense after those two books. And you'll be glad you've read all of them. You've got to add this book to your library.
Rating:
Summary: Romantic Fiction, but EXTREMELY Powerful and Important
Review: We all read novels for different reasons and with different expectations. When I read A Better Place, I was expecting a sort of "Cinderella Story"-poor, downtrodden boy is swept away by the godlike High School super-stud and lives happily ever after. I definitely got my money's worth on that front, but had absolutely no idea I would read anything so incredibly powerful and emotional. I was not at all expecting that I would develop such a love and, yes, deep emotional bond with the characters. I've never experienced anything quite like it. Casper, the poor boy, is almost the poster child for "whatever possibly can go wrong, has". He's almost a caricature at times-but I SO DEEPLY cared for him and what he felt and experienced and thought. Roeder's writing style-while judged by some in online reviews as "immature"-was done with the purpose of making the reader FEEL what it's like to be 15-year old Casper. I think it was remarkable... Brendan, the football jock, is similarly almost too perfect to be true-but the things that he goes through, the decisions he makes and the thoughts he has are likewise so powerful. Brendan is like the IDEAL of who we all wish we could be or have as a soul mate. In fact, I'm not too proud to say that I think of the character of Brendan as supremely heroic for who he is. This IS only a romantic fantasy, but I'd be willing to put Brendan up as a young gay role model anywhere, at any time. In fact, through the character of Brendan, Mark Roeder has written what I would consider the MOST POWERFUL, beautiful, thought-provoking and inspiring dialog I've ever read in any gay fiction (the opening paragraph on page 313). By the time I reached the final page, I'd read something that spoke to me very deeply. I've been accused many times of being a "hopeless romantic"-and will freely admit that I am-but this story meant so much more to me than that. I couldn't recommend it highly enough. I timidly have to admit, though, that there was many a grammatical, editing or spelling error to be found-a common feature of P.O.D. books-but I'm more than willing to overlook those, given the situation. While A Better Place is actually the third novel in Roeder's six-volume Gay Youth Chronicles series, it ended up being the one I read first. I actually read it completely, cover-to-cover, TWICE online before buying it and reading it AGAIN in hardcopy. I've never felt so drawn to any work of fiction before and it's because of the power of the story, the love I found I have for the characters and the way the entire novel made me feel. The complete Gay Youth Chronicles canon (The Soccer Field is Empty, Someone is Watching, A Better Place, Someone is Killing the Gay Boys of Verona, Keeper of Secrets, and Do You Know That I Love You?) has provided the most enjoyable fictional world for me of anything I've ever read-the eternal saga of Verona, Indiana. Each novel has a distinct flavor and deals with some very important topics. I would wholeheartedly suggest you purchase and read ALL of them, and in the above order. While A Better Place can indeed stand alone, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading AT LEAST The Soccer Field is Empty first. A Better Place contains "spoilers" for the earlier story, which-in all honesty-made Soccer Field extremely difficult for me to read (see my review of that incredible book). PLEASE read and understand this book for what it is-and don't be deterred by petty online reviews by anonymous readers. A Better Place and Mark Roeder deserve so much more than that.
Rating:
Summary: SURE TO SEND YOU SOARING!
Review: What can I say? This is one of the most fasinating stories I have read in a long time. I read this book unexpectantly one weekend, and let me tell you I was not disappointed. The main characters, Casper and Brenden, seem to be an unlikely pair.
Brenden, (captian of the football team,most popular kid in school, and all around hunk)notices and befriends Casper (poor little hungry dude who everyone seems to beat up on). At first things go well, then not so well, then things are better again. I don't want to give the story away but I'll just say they find love( and it is tested often). I believe that Mark A. Roeder has done a great job of making a book that is not only engaging but satisfying. The way Roeder goes between perspectives is great, you get a better idea of the personality of each character. It is phenominal how he can incorporate characters from his previous novels to make a rolling storyline. Although part of a series this book can stand alone. I have never read one of his books before but this has left me itching for more.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly Good
Review: When I first received this book in the mail the cover kinda shocked me and i thought "Oh I think I got a bomb" here but I was very pleased with the whole thing it is very well written, a little schmaltzy at the end but I was so engrossed in the story that I finished the whole book in two days. I highly recommend this book
Rating:
Summary: Heart-warming
Review: When I opened this book I had no idea that it would be one I couldn't easily put down. It was heart-warming, moving, and full of emotion. The author's approach to having each character tell his side of the story took a little getting used to, but it added depth and I found it very enjoyable. The punctuation and choice of words were sometimes distracting, but when you place yourself in the roll of each character, it fit very well. I enjoyed the storyline, the emotional ups and downs, and the heart-warming feeling of how true love knows no boundaries. Bravo!
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