Review of Let's Hear It For The Boy by T A Webb

Let's Hear it for the Boy by T.A. Webb 5*
BLURB: Auntie Social is the biggest, baddest drag queen in Atlanta—she knows what she wants and she gets it. She’s tough, merciless, and top dog. That’s what Paul Stewart, reporter for the Journal, had heard, and all he expects when he’s assigned to interview the legend.. But nobody really knows the person behind the make-up.
What if…what if the person behind the sarcasm and music was more than just a man in a dress? What happened in his life that, thirty years later, made him a successful CEO, a philanthropist, and a legend in the gay community? Thirty years and almost a million dollars raised for people living with HIV/AIDs, yet still no one knows the real story.
Until one night, one man breaks through the shell, and Matthew Trammell—Auntie Social—opens the door he closed many years ago and lets his secrets spill out.
Pain is like rain, it covers your skin and soaks in bone-deep, but it eventually recedes and allows fresh things to grow
My Review: I loved this book. Auntie Social is a great character, but the man behind her is even better. He is vulnerable and sincere and in so much pain at the loss of his true love through AIDS. He is inspiring in the way he uses that loss to raise awareness and funds to fight a disease that is still around today - reminding the reader through the story that this is so. I wept as he told his story and I felt a glimmer of hope at the end when the journalist admits to his own loss and they feel a need to look for renewal together. T A Webb deserves the 5* for making me feel so much and think about what the gay community still live with every day.