The Sin-Eater's Confession by Ilsa J. Bick

The book is Ben's confession. He's over in Afghanistan now, but there was a chain of events that landed him in the military.  Back in his hometown of Merit, Wisconsin, a boy takes Ben's picture without his knowledge.  And Ben is shirtless and asleep in a hayloft. And hot.  Ben is the valedictorian and a bit of a social outcast anyway, and now the rumors are that he's gay.  And here lies in my problem with this novel.  I never felt Ben's voice believable.  So much waffling about whether or not he's gay and how concerned he is with people's perception of him.  I understand why he joined up to escape. But I don't understand that he never directly addressed any of his problems. So many secrets, but I never felt connected enough to Ben (or Jimmy, unfortunately) to care about them.