Jake Biondi
Boystown Series
Release Date: May 1, 2015
Pages: 268
GMR 5 Star Review
“As the bomb exploded, it filled the area with thick, black smoke and flaming debris. It would be a while before the smoke cleared and hotel security could see the extent of the damage. Everyone hoped it would be the best new year ever.” -BOYSTOWN Season Two
It’s a race against time to save those caught in the New Year’s Eve explosion. The survivors may not be the lucky ones as they struggle to restore normalcy to their lives. As the smoke clears, families are torn apart and lives are permanently altered.
Even more dangerous than the bomb, the Mancini-Ciancio feud heats up as family members fight for control and survival. At the same time, Jesse Morgan faces the fallout from his plan to break up his mother and her husband, Keith Colgan works to keep his past from destroying his future, Rachel Carson begins a plan that may have deadly consequences, and the search for the fourth Mancini brother reveals secrets that threaten to tear relationships apart forever.
It all culminates in a fabulous fundraiser like none that anyone in Boystown has ever experienced.
Welcome home to BOYSTOWN!
The New Years Eve explosion leaves everyone fighting for their lives and leaves the survivors trying to put their lives back together which is no easy task with this bunch. The Mancini-Ciancio family feud is getting seriously out of hand with members fighting for control.
This series could completely be made into a television series and I believe that it should be as when reading this series I actually felt that I was watching a drama TV series. Emmet and Max, all the drama and story seems to be focusing on these guys and the explosion that erupted when they announced their engagement. Derek has no choice but to accept and realize his love for Cole. So much happens in this novel and the series and the drama that follows these characters is quite intense so get ready for a wild ride that Jake will take you on. A great twist happens with Emmet and Max as their friendship wasn't quite what they have been portraying.
I enjoyed the 3rd installment in the Boystown Series and at times it was intense as some of the characters and their actions were not the most lovable by any means but this just speaks volumes of the brilliant writing as not everything in life is roses...lol I won't go through all the characters as I would be here for a very long time as the novel is filled with some hot and riveting well written characters. Jake will have you glued to each page and the high intensity will make it very difficult to put the book down. I found that I wanted this 3rd installment to go on and on and what amazing characters. Yes there are quite a few of them but Jake blends them so well together. This is a fascinating series and I for one hope it never stops or in the show format, hope it never gets cancelled and keeps getting renewed. Trust me you don't want to miss Boystown Season Three or the entire Boystown Series by Jake Biondi!!!
Dressed as his brother, Marco slowly helped his aunt into the chair in her San Francisco hotel. Deliberately leaving the room dark, Marco sat himself in a chair to Concetta’s side. Holding a cloth bag in her lap, she turned slightly to her side to try to face her nephew from behind her thick glasses.
“Thank you for arranging this hotel room for me, Gino,” she said softly. “It’s lovely.”
“No problem at all, Aunt Connie. As I’m sure you can understand, I am eager to hear what you have to tell me.”
“Of course,” she replied. “Your mother and I were sisters. Few sisters are as close as we were. We told each other everything.”
“She always spoke very highly of you.”
“So whenever our lives got crazy or stressful, we turned to each other for support and help, as I hope you and Marco do as well.”
Marco smiled. “We do.”
“You know that her affair with Antonio Mancini was something that she struggled with for a long time after it was over. She loved him. But she loved your father, too.”
“I know she did.”
“So when it ended and something happened, she turned to me for help.”
“Something happened?” Marco asked. “You mean her cancer?”
“No,” Concetta replied. “Your mother didn’t actually have cancer at the time she came to stay with me.”
Marco’s eye widened. “What? But that’s why she went to Rome. To participate in those experimental studies. Why else would she have left us for so long?”
“The cancer and those treatments was a story that she and I made up so that she could get away and stay with me for an extended period of time.”
“You lied to all of us?”
“I protected my sister.”
“From what?”
“From the truth,” Concetta stated, clearing her throat. “Your mother came to Rome with a medical condition, but it wasn’t cancer. She was pregnant.”
“Oh, God,” Marco said.
“She came here to live until she had the baby so that no one at home would know.”
“But she died of cancer.”
“She did,” Concetta said with a nod. “Which they ironically discovered while she was here. So her lie became the truth.” Concetta paused for moment to catch her breath. “She always said that cancer was punishment for the sin of her affair. God’s punishment. I tried to explain to her that God doesn’t work that way.”
“And what happened to the baby? Did she have it?”
Concetta nodded again. “She did. A baby boy.”
“So I have a half brother?”
“You do. But, Gino, remember what I told you. This information is for you and you alone right now.”
“But why?”
“Your mother loved and trusted you more than anyone else in your family. Even me.”
“How is that possible? She told you everything.”
“No,” Concetta said, reaching into the cloth bag on her lap and removing a large, leather covered book. “She toldyou everything.” She handed the diary to Marco.
“What is this?”
“Your mother kept a diary during her time in Rome. She said it helped her process and work through all that had happened and how she felt about her pregnancy. Even after she gave birth, she kept writing. She wrote in it all the time, until she decided it was time to return home to America and her family.”
“And she gave it to you.”
“When she left, she gave me very clear, strict instructions. After her death, at a time determined by me, I was to give the diary to you. She specifically said it was to go to Gino and no one else.”
“I see...”
“No one has ever opened that book since she locked it closed. Even I have no idea what’s inside of it. But when your brother Marco visited me recently and began asking questions about your mother, I knew it was time to deliver this to you as I had promised.”
“And what about her other son?”
“I have no idea what happened to the boy after she gave birth to him. I never saw him again and she never spoke of him again. She said everything that you would need to know about him -- and other things -- would be found in there.”
“What kinds of things was Marco asking?”
“Questions about your mother and the affair. I provided as little information as possible. As I promised your mother.”
“Is there a key to this?”
“She destroyed it,” Concetta said. “She said you’d have to break it open; that way you’d know no one else had ever been in it.”
Marco ran his fingers over the book’s lock. “Mom was certainly clever, wasn’t she?”
“Gino, please remember this. That book is like Pandora’s Box. Once you open it, you may learn things about your mother that you never knew. And your family as well. Whether or not you choose to open it is entirely up to you. I promised my sister that I’d deliver it to you and I have. Be careful and think long and hard before you break that lock.”
“Of course, Aunt Connie. I understand.”
“Good, my boy. Now, I have done what I came to do. And I need to rest before my trip back to Rome tomorrow.”
“Yes,” Marco said. “And you’re sure you don’t want to see anyone else while you’re here? Even just to say hello to Marco or my father?”
“No one must ever know I was here.”
“I understand,” Marco said, standing up. “Your secret is safe with me. Is there anything else I can get you before I go?”
“No, dear. I just want to rest now.”
“I’ll go then. Thank you so much for this conversation. And the diary.” Marco kissed his aunt. “I’ll be back to drive you to the airport in the morning.”
“Thank you, Gino,” Concetta said. “And remember what I told you about opening that book.”
Marco nodded and then left the room. Once in the hotel hallway, he looked at the diary and smiled wildly. Then he headed to the elevator.
Author of the popular BOYSTOWN series
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Jake Biondi fell in love with "The Windy City" at an early age. He left the Chicago area for four years to attend the University of Notre Dame, from which he graduated with degrees in English and Business. He was awarded the university’s prestigious William Mitchell Award for Playwriting. Upon graduating from Notre Dame, Biondi returned to Chicago where he attended and graduated from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He has been living in Chicago's Boystown neighborhood for over 20 years.
While studying literature, Biondi became a huge fan of Charles Dickens whose novels were originally released in installments, each ending in a cliffhanger to keep readers coming back for more. Because of his love of those novels as well as television dramas such as Dynasty, Knots Landing, Dallas, and Revenge, Jake Biondi decided to create a serialized saga for contemporary audiences. Thus, the BOYSTOWN series was born.
Biondi began BOYSTOWN in June of 2013 as an online story and intended to release one "episode" online per month, each ending in a cliffhanger. The story became so popular -- and the online reading audience grew so quickly -- that people from all over the country began to email him demanding to know what happened to their favorite characters and wanting the episodes to be released faster. They also had suggestions for future storylines. Excited by and grateful for his readers’ responses to BOYSTOWN, Biondi began to write and release installments more quickly.
In November of 2013, Biondi moved BOYSTOWN offline and published the first ten installments in book form as BOYSTOWN Season One. The book became an international hit, with fans all over the globe clamoring for more. BOYSTOWN Season Two was published in July of 2014 and BOYSTOWN Season Three was released on May 1, 2015.
Because of the popularity of the book series, fans have suggested that BOYSTOWN be turned into a television series. Biondi recently completed the TV scripts for the first season of BOYSTOWN and hopes to bring the series to television in the very near future.