Stuck In Oz by Andrew Grey

 When Jeremy and Petey’s mother died, their house was taken to pay the debts she left behind, leaving them homeless. Afraid Petey will be put in foster care, they have no one to turn to but their Uncle Milt, so they pack up Jeremy’s beat-up car and leave San Diego for Wamego, Kansas.

They arrive in the middle of a snowstorm and stop at the local diner to contact their uncle, where they meet Nate. Nate and his aunt help them contact Uncle Milt, and he agrees to help.

Jeremy and Nate hit it off quickly, but Jeremy runs when he’s made to believe their new home isn’t permanent. Nate goes after him, finds him, and convinces him that he’s wanted. However, just as Jeremy and Nate begin to trust each other, Petey’s estranged father appears and threatens to tear Jeremy’s new life and fledgling family apart.

One thing that I love about Mr. Grey’s books is how he focuses more on the relationships in the books than he does anything else. Every relationship that happens in this story whether it is family, romantic, or just friends, is done extremely well.

In this story, we start out getting to know Jeremy and Petey, brothers who are going through something horrible at the time. The feelings that Jeremy has for Petey just come right off the page, you could tell how deeply he cared for him. As we get further into the story we are introduced to Milt, Nate, and we even get a small glimpse of Lyle and Roger (Their story was Dumped in Oz.).

It was so easy to get sucked into the story and want to find out what was going to happen with Jeremy and Petey, as well as with Jeremy and Nate. The relationship between Jeremy and Nate was one that started out slowly, but progressed along at a steady speed. Being able to watch as both men are faced with difficult decisions, and watching as they both grow because of the other was an amazing journey to go on.

The only reason that this story didn’t get a 5 star rating from me was because overall the story was very predictable. And while I did enjoy everything about the story, I was hoping for a bit more to happen, something that would keep me on the edge of my seat just wanting to find out what the conclusion was going to be. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with this story.

However, even taking that into consideration, I still can’t wait to read the next book in this series to find out who is going to find love next in Oz!