4.5 stars I really didn't know what to expect from this read. This is a new author to me and added to that: it's a short story with a very familiar trope: two young men with an immediate attraction, one is out the other isn't, it doesn't work out for obvious reasons, they part, they get back together years later...
How wondrous to be so engaged right from the start, to be sucked in so effortlessly. What sets this read apart is the sweet writing. Ms. Chapel seduces with her two distinctive voices for Whit and Tucker. We get each of their POVs but their separate dialogues are effectively colored by their personalities and their inner conflicts. Whit wants Tucker, Tucker doesn't know how to be what his is. Whit is the starry eyed younger one, bewitched. Tucker is the bad boy jock who keeps his secret at a great cost to himself and can only have Whit on the side and in the dark.
Yes, False Start has a familiar storyline but Chapel has a way of infusing it with longing and melancholy that keeps us reading and hoping for these two sweet guys. My only quibble is that I want to see how Tucker deals with his issues. He makes promises that we don't get to see kept. I hope there is more to come of these two. But don't let this keep you from reading this great bit of poetry in motion.