Written by Joe Perrone, Jr., Escaping Innocence is the story of Dave, a high school graduate who is going through the growing pains associated with the flow of testosterone while in the presence of the opposite sex at times combined with the liberal imbibing of alcohol. It is a novel that I enjoyed immensely and this is coming from a female!

Perrone is a gifted writer and his work is easy to get into and flowed with ease. I could see myself floating down a lazy river reading the novel on my Kindle. It was something I looked forward to reading at the end of the day. A bone to pick is the use of the word giggle as it applied to Dave. If the character were eight, then it might be appropriate. Not for a high school graduate that uses his noggin a fair percentage of the time.

Escaping Innocence is also the story of learning to feel and what that means for a male—in other words, machismo is not always required, or even suggested. Things happen that trigger emotions. In my line of work, and once on the day this review was written, people needlessly inflict terrible consequences on themselves, and others, because they react without thinking.

The scenes that could have been developed was: the death of his friend and Dave’s emotional response to that, Dave’s decision at the end regarding school, and what made Loretta’s parents like, and trust, Dave.

Escaping Innocence could be the next American Pie, though much better because there the story line speaks from experience.