Aside for this side of the story, the rest of the plot is about two teenagers falling in love; Heath and his high school mate Ryan have a lot in common, but they are also desperately shy. It will be not the easy “jump” of the title for them to realize they have feeling for each other, but once they do, there is really no drama for them. They are young, they are trouble-free, and the future is bright for them. They have also probably a career ready in front of them, and I can see them becoming an upper class suburban couple, maybe even with a kid or two, or maybe a dog (or two!).
I wondered a little on the author, if this was a story taken by his own experience. If I have to trust the bio at the end of the book, he is a married man in a same-sex couple… maybe this is explaining a little his attitude towards the character of Marguerite, but it’s also explaining Heath and Ryan’s relationship: if you are part of an happy and steady couple, you are probably able to instill this positive attitude in your teenager characters, if you have it, why not prospect it to your own characters?
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2300
Amazon Kindle: Jump First
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (May 3, 2011)
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott