A – Z | Everybody in the Place

Oh, I needed that! I’ve just read Suki Fleet’s Everybody in the Place and I really needed the escape it offered. We need books (all art) at times like this.

Have you read Suki Fleet? I’ve read quite a few of her books, and while she’s usually writing YA, which is a genre I tend to avoid, I do read her books. Her stories are beautiful and her writing style unique. If you haven’t tried anything by her, do!

Everybody in the Place isn’t YA…or I guess maybe it is. One of the main characters, Benji, is nineteen, but Alfie is a little older. The story starts with Alfie getting drunk in a park, he’s lost his job that same day, and should be at a birthday party, but is getting drunk in his lonesome instead.

Benji sees him and goes to talk to him. Alfie left them all a year ago, and a day hasn’t gone by without Benji wishing he came back. The feelings they had for each other hasn’t gone away, but Alfie’s best friend is Benji’s older brother and they both fear what the reactions will be if they get together.

Alfie fears more than that. He’s been running from emotions all his life, and while Benji is just what he needs, he’s afraid to let him in.

I loved this so much! There’s an age difference, but it’s Benji, who’s the younger of the two, who’s the grounded, secure one. He’s a safe haven for Alfie. And this isn’t a long story, 67 pages I think it said, but that’s all you need when it’s done right.

books2read.com/EverybodyInThePlace

49113872._sy475_ Alfie Adams comes at life sideways.
After unexpectedly losing his job in television, and having the script he’s worked so hard on unceremoniously dropped, Alfie turns up at his oldest friend, Jam’s, birthday party drunk, pretty sure his world has ended, and that he’s about to hit rock bottom with a bone-cracking thud.
But it’s funny how Jam’s little brother, Benji, seems to know exactly what Alfie needs. For the past twelve months Alfie has thrown himself into his job and tried hard not to think about beautiful punk-loving Benji—tried not to see how the sweet kid he used to look out for, and who used to trail so adoringly after him, has grown up into a big lad with an even bigger heart. As Alfie sobers up, he begins to see things with a new perspective, and Benji has his full attention.
If only Alfie can admit what it is he wants.