Cédric de Mylo
Reviews
"This novel, filled with tenderness, subtlety, and restraint, beautifully captures that suspended moment when high school is coming to an end, when bonds of friendship unravel or deepen, when identity hesitates, forms, and reveals itself, when desire surfaces and the future, still uncertain, begins to take shape."
PlumKreole, Booknode, may 26, 2025
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De Jack_and_mouss
Booknode.com, 22 juillet 2025
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Nous avons toutes et tous une perception différente des choses. Cela s’est avéré encore plus vrai lorsque j’ai eu terminé ce récit.
Je n’ai pas lu un roman, mais «vécu» le roman. Quelle sensation bizarre de repartir si longtemps en arrière et de revivre cette année de terminale, grâce à l’auteur, grâce à son style d’écriture sobre et dépouillé, à sa façon particulière de «sublimer» les choses du quotidien, de donner vie à chaque lieux en exprimant des émotions profondes avec beaucoup de pudeur.
J’ai été en immersion totale dans cette salle de classe «qui sentait la craie, le vieux bois et le café froid avec les fenêtres grandes ouvertes qui laissaient passer une lumière blanche, trop vive.» Tout au long de ma lecture, j’ai pu visualiser les visages et les lieux grâce à une excellente communication de l’auteur qui a imaginé des photomatons et des vidéos des lieux décrits, sur son instagram.
Nous découvrons un véritable Young adult avec tous les premiers émois, les premiers coups de cœur, les premiers regards, les coups bas de l’homophobie et les premières sensations de bouleversement intérieur face à une sexualité inconnue.
Tom m’a conquise grâce à sa sensibilité et à sa simplicité à communiquer sur ses ressentis avec Ulysse. Nous découvrons également une multitude de personnages secondaires, qui nous laisse à penser que le tome 2 qui sort 1ère semaine d’août sera fourni en découvertes et j’espère en éclaircissements sur l’évolution de la romance naissance de Tom et Ulysse.
Message d'un lecteur à l'auteur
Instagram, 21 juin 2025
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Bonsoir.
Je viens de terminer le 1er tome Du côté de chez Tom. Merci beaucoup pour cette belle écriture, cette belle histoire entre garçons et amis. J'ai trouvé ça très frais, très pudique. J'attends sincèrement la suite.
Bravo et encore merci. Vincent
Avis déposé par une lectrice
Amazon.fr, 21 juin 2025
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from Linkdramas
spotted on booknode.com, may 27, 2025
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Like a return to the basics, with just the right amount of tenderness and softness during a time that is hard for many, adolescence. Cédric De Mylo offers a simple yet touching book, laying down on paper a wide range of wounds and themes.
Far from today's novels where every detail is overanalyzed to the point of feeling voyeuristic, Where Tom Stays takes a different path. It is gentle, charming, subtle. Cédric De Mylo's simple style brings a refreshing clarity we too often forget in favor of more elaborate books. Maybe it is because I am not naturally modest, or maybe this kind of story makes it easier for me to see myself in it. Even though I am straight.
My only criticism is the ending, which caught me off guard. I could see the percentage of the book left and could not figure out how the author would reach a final point. For me, it ended too quickly. An ending that hints at a sequel is fine. But here, it felt a bit too abrupt.
All in all, this first volume, Where Tom Stays, is a rediscovery of the genre, alongside Tom, a likable teenager who surprises himself by experiencing new feelings and choosing to explore them slowly. Simply. Quietly.
from PlumKreole
spotted on booknode.com, may 26, 2025
From the very first pages, I was swept away by this story and couldn’t stop reading, only to emerge deeply moved and profoundly touched.
Where Tom Stays delicately explores the major tremors of adolescence: friendship, family, first love, but also violence. Both the kind that wounds openly, and the kind that scars in silence. Homophobia, whether verbal or physical, is addressed without voyeurism, but with sensitivity and clarity. Never overdramatized, these themes are not only denounced, but also explored in their private resonance and the scars they leave behind.
This novel, full of tenderness, subtlety, and restraint, beautifully captures that suspended moment when high school nears its end, when friendships weaken or grow stronger, when identity begins to form, hesitates, and slowly reveals itself, when desire surfaces and begins to take shape, and when the future, still uncertain, starts to emerge.
The relationships are built in half-tones, woven and unwoven with quiet precision, especially those connecting Tom to his circle of friends, to Simon, the loyal companion, and above all to Ulysse, the new student with his magnetic, mysterious presence.
The author’s style is simple, precise, delicate, and luminous. Never overemphasized, it speaks volumes through silences, lingering or avoided glances, and restrained gestures.
Only the ending left me slightly unsettled. It felt too fast, almost skipped over, as if something were still hanging in the air. Is it a deliberate choice by the author, a way of leaving the door ajar for a second volume, or simply the desire to confront us with that sense of incompleteness that life sometimes imposes?
With this first novel, the author offers us a story that will certainly speak to teenagers, but will also whisper to adult readers — those who vaguely remember what they may once have gone through.
Now it is your turn to step into Tom’s story — a young man who is both funny and sensitive, endearing and disarmingly mature, finding his way as best he can through the noise of it all.
As for me, I have to confess that another character quietly captured my attention... Loïc. Quiet, withdrawn, but so present he intrigued me and moved me. I found myself wanting to know more about him. What does he keep inside? What does he feel, what is he hiding? Perhaps, one day, his story too will come into the light.
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