Every Time I Think of You
1978: In a snowy Pennsylvania forest, Reid, a studious high school distance runner,
meets Everett, a privileged and capricious charmer. As their lives become intertwined,
Reid is swept up in Everett's adventurous world. When a near-fatal accident changes
both their lives, Reid and Everett's determination to keep their love alive faces obstacles
of family, time and distance.
Now on Audible, narrated by Michael Wetherbee
Published review excerpts for the
2012 Lambda Literary Award winner
Every Time I Think of You
“Their love is a force of nature ... Provenzano’s sweet humor
throughout the book is what makes it such a moving and
satisfying read. While he certainly brings the reader to a
deeper understanding of being differently-abled,
he never resorts to preaching his message. These boys are too real for that.”
– Dick Smart, Lambda Literary Review
“A sense of youthful, romantic optimism ... permeates the novel as a whole.”
– Erika Jahneke, Breath and Shadow
“Every Time I Think of You opens readers' eyes, minds and hearts to corners of the world they may never have realized existed. Everett's paralysis is less metaphoric, more an opportunity to explore the effect of disability on two growing boys who just happen to be gay. It's not easy to write a novel about sports, gay teenagers and sex in (and out of) wheelchairs. Jim Provenzano has done it, with grace and power.”
– Dan Woog, syndicated columnist, The Outfield
“With Reid and Everett, the author has created two counterparts that complement each other beautifully. Their romance, simple and pure, yet heated and passionate, is strikingly genuine. Furthermore, they’re both likable, so much so that the reader can’t help but cheer for them. Even the most jaded among us will experience a renewed faith in love and romance after reading it.”
– Christopher Verleger, Edge on the Net
“There are so many levels of nuance to Provenzano's story. But reading about the clever ways in which they find to spend time together is inspiring and touching. It's an exciting voyage of discovery, for them and for readers alike. When the story takes its more serious turn, Every Time I Think of You becomes a tale of heartbreak, courage, and healing. It's a remarkable, uplifting story.”
– David Elijah Nahmod, Bay Area Reporter
Watch the video trailer for Every Time I Think of You,
with a beautiful version of the title song by Eric Himan.
“A beautiful story of friendship, devotion and love,
as well as a practical lesson on dealing with physically challenged individuals.”
– Eric Lind, Echo Magazine
“Sweet, and tender, with the right feeling for a teenage love story.”
“Provenzano’s characters are rich and complex. Provenzano’s sense of pace and plotting are dead on, so things never drag, and his prose is straightforward and never showy. It’s a well-told tale whose aim to inform as well as entertain certainly hits the mark.”
“This is a unique coming of age story replete with the surprise one feels when he realizes that he is in love. I love the way the writer brought opposites together here—heartbreak and peace, familiar and unknown, humor and near tragedy.”
(2020) Listen to the terrific review on the Big Gay Fiction Podcast!
Advance Praise for Every Time I Think of You
“Every Time I Think of You is a rare combination of delicacy and power, a story of 'the unbearable weight of first love' told with both innocence and urgency by its wise and charming adolescent narrator. It rekindled faded memories of the intensity of youthful desire - the mystery, the promise, the excitement, the disappointment. Intelligent, subtle, and compelling, Jim Provenzano's novel is, most of all, audacious. Bravo!”
– Andrew W. M. Beierle, author of First Person Plural and The Winter of Our Discotheque
“The coming-of-age story gets a welcome and much needed shake up in Jim Provenzano's graceful and surprising novel about falling in love. Always going where you least expect it, the story is by turns heartbreaking and arousing, comic and introspective, familiar and altogether new. These are characters you'll remember long after the last page.”
– Michael Thomas Ford, author of Full Circle, The Road Home, Last Summer
“Every Time I Think of You captures the joy of finding love for the first time, with all the sweetness, comedy and tragedy that experience inevitably entails. And it does so with the audacity and brutal honesty to admit that yes, even the broken and imperfect among us deserve to experience everything that life has to offer. Kudos to Provenzano for daring to show that disability and sexuality aren't mutually exclusive, and that crips can be just as good in bed (or elsewhere) as their non-disabled counterparts.”
- Ray Aguilera, former editor of Bent Voices
“Jim Provenzano has written a tender, nostalgic tale in a simple yet elegant prose that comes straight from the heart. It's beautiful, literary, and effective without affectation. We're moved by these characters because we recognize in them our own once-believed indestructibility.”
– Eric Arvin, author of Woke Up in a Strange Place, Simple Men and Subsurdity