2 out of 5 stars
DNF 50%
Kindle Edition. 53 pages. Published September 21st 2019 by JMS Books LLC (first published February 11th 2015)
Blurb:
Will Grant only attends the PFLAG meeting because his mother guilts him into it. But the instant he hears the night’s speaker, Will is glad he showed up. Joshua Rhinehardt is dynamic and engaging. Although Joshua isn’t physically Will’s type, Will can’t get the man out of his head.
Joshua may be comfortable in his own skin, but it isn’t often men like Will are attracted to him, and he’s not comfortable changing for someone else. He wants to make a life with Will, but his own insecurities keep getting in the way.
Will’s unwavering acceptance helps Joshua see that when two people connect, physical appearance just might not matter at all.
Likes:
- Will was willing to go at Joshua’s pace.
Dislikes:
- Didn’t click with Will.
- No tension.
- Will feels like a chick with a dick.
- Didn’t care.
DNF 50%
I once had to listen to a newly engaged couple gush about how they’d met and fallen in love. Reading this story was similar, in that I didn’t care and ended up bored. Now, to be fair to this story, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it in technical terms. But I felt massively disengaged from Will right from the start, which was really strange given that the story was told from his point of view.
Will and Joshua seemed like okay characters. They simply didn’t have anything interesting about them or their lives. Will isn’t exactly the kind of character I generally gravitate to – he’s hot and he knows it, is a self-professed attention whore, and his reaction to the first date gave me strong ‘chick with a dick’ vibes.
“I stood there for a moment, letting the giddy “first date” feelings wash over me. It had been so good, and I had to trust there would be more. I was still hard, but I didn’t do anything about it. I just puttered around the house, slowly getting ready for bed while my brain replayed that kiss over and over.
Eventually, I stripped off my clothes and crawled into bed. It wasn’t that late – not even eleven yet – but I wanted to lie in the quiet and remember every moment of our date. I didn’t care if that put me in the same category as a teenaged girl. I relieved it as though it were happening all over again. I fell asleep several hours later, a smile on my lips and anticipation in my heart.”
I think the strangest part of the passage above is that it doesn’t mesh with my overall impression of Will. He’s bold and flirtatious, going for what he wants because he knows he can get it. His willingness to go at Joshua’s pace was nice, but he admitted several times that he wasn’t good at waiting and got impatient easily.
I’m not used to romance stories that don’t have anything else going on besides the romance. Even in short stories like this one, there’s background stuff happening. I think that contributed to my feeling of boredom, as did the fact that the story is stretched out over the course of weeks. There was a lot of jumping around, from Joshua and Will’s initial meeting, to their second meeting, to the first date, a random phone call, etc.
I honestly feel bad for not finishing such a short story, but I had to force myself to even make it halfway. I kept putting the story down and finding any excuse not to pick it back up. It simply wasn’t worth the time to finish.
Love is Love Reviews 