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A bar-hopping, disco-dancing, beer-swilling nostalgic tale outlining the terrors and tribulations of growing up, finding one’s authentic self, and claiming a sexuality problematic in the 1970’s of one’s youth.

It’s 1975, and Nicky DeMarco, our third person POV narrator, is an eighteen-year-old freshman, away from his Long Island family for the first time, checking into his co-ed (exciting!) dorm in Boston University. With his unruly curly hair and scrubbed-clean skin, Nicky is shaky and (to this reader) sweetly naive as he agonizes over his fit and footing amongst his self-generated view of easy, confident, self-sufficient dorm-mates.

When Nicky meets Lori Conover, a gorgeous, vulnerable and friendly Susan Dey lookalike, a fast and firm friendship is quickly established. (Note: Lori’s tv-star doppelgänger is just one of a plethora of 1970’s memorabilia that infuse this story with both the ecstasy and the agony those of us who were teenagers in this time period can so relate to). As Nick and Lori become closer to Joe O’Rourke, the older, handsome son of police detective (who is also a winner, with a roving eye for the ladies) it soon becomes clear that the relationships, drenched in dopamine, of this particular three-some are to become very complicated.

Hookups, lust, and passion. Drugs and drink and sudden mind-numbing freedom. A gloriously youthful first Bruce Springsteen concert. Family pressures, school pressures, exams and midterms. Friends and roommates and all those maybe-soon-to-be-lovers. All co-existing within a whirlpool of unexplored, crazy, unsettling feelings encountered raw and head-on for what feels like the very first time.

As Nick struggles to be true to his (still evolving) self in 1975, the timeline alternates with an unexpected visit he will pay back to Boston in the current day. In this timeline, Nick, now sixty eight years old, returns to BU with a lifetime of memories, where he will reconstruct his former world, with the eye of one who has lived on beyond it.

Capturing both the frenzy and the soul-searching of Nick’s exploding youth, the author deftly spins a tale, as relatable as it is engaging, that encourages the reader to consider:

• Will Nick find a way to live his life with authenticity – and is it ever too late to claim true love?
• Who are we when the craziness stops? And it’s just our life, spread out before (or behind) us?

A poignant and immersive read, this trip down memory lane (for Nick and of course, the reader) is both delightful and thought-provoking.

A great big thank you to the author for an ARC of this story. All thoughts presented are my own.