m/m

It’s Complicated by L.A. Witt

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
20816383
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, m/m
Published: 4/28/14
Reviewed by Anne
201 pages
 
Brad and Jeff have a history of serially breaking up and getting back together.  The argue a lot, and their latest breakup left them in separate apartments, missing each other, but tired of fighting.  Brad works in retail and Jeff runs a business with his ex-wife, with whom he is on friendly terms with.  Brad and Jeff have decided to start over from scratch and try to make things work.  They really love each other, but are stuck in their bad habits, and trying to cope with Jeff’s hectic work schedule.  This situation becomes even more difficult when Jeff’s ex-wife ends up pregnant after a one-off night with Jeff that happened when Jeff and Brad were broken up.
 
I love a good marriage in trouble story, and this one fits the bill (despite the lack of marriage between Brad and Jeff).  One of the downsides of a marriage in trouble story is that it’s a painful situation.  In this case, really all Brad and Jeff have is their love for each other.  Their pattern of behavior and their situation is just rough.
 
So, as expectied, this is a painful read.  It’s also very good.  It comes across as a very realistic relationship, but that makes it harder to believe they do work things out.  They have so many problems, and while there’s a fundamental change before the end of the story, I felt like it ended with so much more work for them to do.    The tone of the ending was happy and hopeful, but I felt like the skip ahead to the epilogue was both needed and a little too happy to believe.   It’s probably my least favorite of the Tucker Springs series, but I still enjoyed it.

Double Feature: Whitetail Rock and The Fix by Anne Tenino

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
1221560913248416

Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, m/m
Published: 2011
Reviewed by Anne
73+27 ebook pages

*Note: I’m reviewing these two stories together because they are very closely linked and short!

Nik was adopted from India as in infant by his very white family.  He grew up in a very white town very conscious of his skin color. On top of everything else he’s gay – just one more way to be different in his conservative home town.  Fortunately he’s got a solid family who has always stood behind him and supported him.  It’s when he’s home from college visiting them that he meets Jurgen, who looks like someone Hitler would have drooled over and pushes all of Nik’s buttons.  Unfortunately, those buttons are a mixed bag.  Nik is turned on by Jurgen, but also unwittingly reminded of some bad experiences in his past and people who were only interested in him because of his skin color.

Whitetail Rock is the story of how Nik and Jurgen meet and work through their issues.  The Fix is a very short update on them working through a new issue.  Both were good, hot reads.  Nik is very insecure, and Jurgen is more insightful than he looks.  I would have enjoyed these stories even if I’d paid for them, but it’s an extra bonus that they’re available for free!  And some of the characters apparently feature in the book Too Stupid To Live, which I *did* buy and am looking forward to reading!

Poster Boy by Anne Tenino

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
20795658
Grade: A
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, m/m
Series: Theta Alpha Gamma #5
Published: 4/21/14
Reviewed by Anne
355 ebook pages

Jock (yes, that’s his name) has recently transferred to Calapooya (college) after being horrifically outed as gay and kicked off the hockey team.  His big brother, Tank is a member of the Theta Alpha Gamma (TAG) fraternity and Jock becomes a member, too.  He’s still feeling a lot of anger and shame about how things went down at his previous college, and he’s also feeling a little lost about being openly gay.  However, he’s looking forward to getting the hang of this hooking up thing now that he’s not trying to hide anything.  That’s easier in theory than it is in practice, and he’s still not had that first encounter he’s looking for.  So, seeing Toby, who is known for sleeping around, and ridiculously attractive to Jock seems like a situation meant to be.

For his part, Toby is surrounded by happily committed couples and is starting to think maybe it’s time for him to look for something more permanent.  Jock pushes all the right buttons for him and he’s hoping to actually get to know the guy before having sex.  However, when one thing leads to another, he’s happy to proceed straight to sex with Jock.  This leaves his feelings pretty bruised, though,  when Jock thanks him for a great experience and walks out the door looking for other guys to hook up with.  Toby understands, but was hoping for more.  The two of them manage to avoid each other pretty well until circumstances push them together on a semester abroad in France, where Toby is basically an RA and Jock is one of the TAG students he’s supervising.

I loved this book and I didn’t want to put it down!  It’s really funny, but the issues Jock is facing are real and given the weight they deserve.  Once I was done and thought about it, I realized there were things that should have bothered me, but really didn’t. The biggest issue is that Jock is young – young enough to need a fake ID at a bar – and Toby is not.  Toby is a grad student working on his masters thesis.  Jock is also just barely out of the closet and Toby has been out for years.  It didn’t bother me while I was reading it, though.  Other than his new sexual freedom, Jock comes off as pretty mature.  I also felt like the ending really addressed this age difference and resolved any issues I might have had.

Besides the humor, my favorite part of the book was how Jock and Toby actually talk to each other.  Their road isn’t smooth, but they acknowledge hurting each other when it happens and they work to fix things together.  That was a joy to read.  Their relationship is sweet and hot, and the background of the hilariously immature TAG brothers kept me smiling and rolling my eyes through the whole book.  Seriously, it’s hard to explain how funny this story is!  Beer terrorists.  Testicle poems.  Toby feeling like a babysitter for a bunch of fratbros.  A very unexpected May/December romance.  (Actually, that was more sweet than funny.)  I highly recommend this book, and it’s going on my Best of 2014 list!

I can’t wait for the next book in the series, and I’m hoping it will be about Turbo, one of the TAG brothers they are all sure is straight, but seemed a little confused to me.  Here’s hoping for more TAG fun soon.  In the mean time I’m checking out Anne Tenino’s backlist!