Book Review: Jack of Hearts (and other parts) by L. C. Rosen

Title: Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts)
Author: Lev A.C. Rosen
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date: 30 October 2018

Synopsis: My first time getting it in the butt was kind of weird. I think it's going to be weird for everyone's first time, though.

Meet Jack Rothman. He's seventeen and loves partying, makeup and boys - sometimes all at the same time. His sex life makes him the hot topic for the high school gossip machine. But who cares? Like Jack always says, 'it could be worse'.

He doesn't actually expect that to come true.

But after Jack starts writing an online sex advice column, the mysterious love letters he's been getting take a turn for the creepy. Jack's secret admirer knows everything: where he's hanging out, who he's sleeping with, who his mum is dating. They claim they love Jack, but not his unashamedly queer lifestyle. They need him to curb his sexuality, or they'll force him.

As the pressure mounts, Jack must unmask his stalker before their obsession becomes genuinely dangerous

Review: This book is a little bit of everything. You;re getting a LGBT Teen Romp. A Self Help and then a Thriller all wrapped into one AND. YOU. NEED. TO. NOT. SLEEP. ON. THIS. AND. GO. BUY. A. COPY! I'll wait on the rest of this review whilst you do that.

Great, now you've got a copy I can tell you why you're going to love this book. 

I remember first hearing about Jack of Hearts and thinking of that sounds fun I want to read it...cut to a year later when I have have it in my digital hands and it's not the book I thought it was going to be IT WAS SO MUCH more and I'm so grateful that it exists in the world. 

Jack is out and proud openly gay man in his high school (something we need and are getting more of in literature). He has this swagger and personality that you can't help but get on board with. I really appreciated seeing and reading his openness because for a lot of us it is something that we didn't have growing up and this viability of characters shouts you are seen too, its ok to be who you want to be and its ok to have sex. THIS BOOK CONTAINS GAY SEX and we're not sorry about it. The last line really says it all, but I won't spoil that for you. 

As I was reading this I bought a very loud red/black sequins jacket and I felt empowered with this book to wear what I wanted and not care any which way what people thought...I see you looking at how fabulous I am...that was Jack affect on me. 

Trying to be anything in school aside from just getting by is difficult. We're all trying to find a place in the world, with the only references around us being our peers, parents and teachers. Now we all know the latter aren't great in giving us any practical life advice outside of the curriculum and how they think we should be living our lives (at least in my case). Where then do we turn when we have questions! The internet, which in itself provides its own plethora of problems. 

So early on in the book Jenna convinces Jack to write an anonymous but open column, giving people who have  sexual questions real life applicable answers. This highlighted a lot of issues I feel exist in the world.

1) people have questions and want honest answers and experiences (this book is FULL of sex positivity, body positivity and experience positivity using real people as examples!) 
2) people aren't as one dimensional as you may think and we shouldn;t shy away from those topics
3) people do have sex so we might as well show them how to have good safe sex with education, and finally
4) that there is a sever lack of sex education for all children but especially LGBTQ+ teens. 

Lev wrote a great piece in the Guardian about this which you can read HERE.

What was also really highlighted here was other peoples perception of gay culture and how they go about talking about it. Not everyone is a bottom (don't come for me in the tweets). A lot of Jacks peers in the book are straight cic teens who have this idea of what it is and means to be LGBTQ+ and they express themselves in terms of these perceptions. That's not working for anyone.....This then leads to rumour and conjecture, that creates a sort of Easy A situation where as Jack says "My rumoured life is so much more fun than my real life" and someone thinks its a way to get to Jack

This leads into our thriller section! Jack becomes the target of love notes and I say target because they take on this malicious tone and you wonder why they;re doing it and what for. It creates a lingering vibe of uneasy and though the culprit was somewhat expected it was also an 'I knnnnew it' moment that kinds of made you look at the bigger issues of the book again because the book was about this isolated situation it was about all these bigger issues and how everything played into this. 


There is sooooo much to this book. I was stopping every other page to highlight a phrase or an opinion and that' how you know you're connecting with a book. Just sign me up to the Lev train for all future releases mic drop I'm out!

Jack of Hearts (and other parts) is out NOW as well as Lev's second book CAMP!

About the Author

L. C. Rosen, also known as Lev Rosen, has written several books for adults and children, including the critically acclaimed Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts). He lives in New York City with his husband and a very small cat. You can find him on Twitter HERE