A review by erina
Boy Toy by Barry Lyga

3.0

Three stars is probably too low a rating for Boy Toy. It was very well written, and had a very unique plot. However, I found it quite slow and was never very attached to the characters. I also didn't feel a lot of emotion while reading and considering the content of this book I was really surprised that I didn't feel much of anything. As far as characters go, I pretty much uniformly hated all the women in the book—perhaps it is Josh's narration that makes them all seem like total idiotic bitches. I didn't "get" Josh's relationship with Rachel. How do you completely ignore someone in a small town for five years, and why exactly did they have a connection? I was not feeling the love. Josh was alright. I enjoy a male YA narrator as they are few and far between and I liked his narrative voice.
I found this book quite disturbing. The author is very descriptive when he describes the sexual relationship between Eve and Josh and the long build-up/ seduction process. Frankly, I really wonder what the author was trying to accomplish with all of the scenes. This is a story about molestation but could certainly pass (almost) as a pent house letter. How many readers are disturbed by this story and how many are turned on?
It wasn't a bad book but it passed slowly for me and I didn't especially enjoy it, however it was certainly unique and definitely taught me more about baseball than I ever expected to know.