She Reads Too Much

First, we really really have to worship at the altar of this fucking cover. Because, hello bitches, THAT is how you do sexy. I want to lick his abs. Immediately!

A moment of silence please.







Moving on...

This was a difficult book to read. Both Michael and Nicky were messed the fuck up. Nicky is a closeted firefighter with a dying mother. She's been dying for years but in this book she at he end. He has only been on the receiving end of blow jobs by random park hook ups. It's his only outlet.

Michael is a college senior who previously dated a MAJOR closet case who messed his head up and broke his heart four years ago. He hasn't been in love since and it seems as though most of his relationships have been either brief or just hook ups as well.

So, these two train wrecks meet in a park. Hook up and go their separate ways. And here is where my problems kinda start.

When Michael first sees Nicky he pegs him as a closeted guy who comes to the park, hooks up and then goes home to his wife or girlfriend. But he goes down on him anyway. Totally not cool and kinda made me dislike the character so now we are starting with a deficit and something big is gonna have to happen to make me like him.

Nothing does.

For the most part he remains pretty selfish and demanding throughout the duration of the story. There are times he is quite tender, supportive and understanding. But for me, not enough to completely redeem him. He spends most of the book trying to fucking drag Nicky out of the closet! Really? The man's mother is DYING asshole! Step off!



They actually meet by accident a second time at a firefighter picnic and end up hooking up again. Phone numbers are exchanged because though both are skittish they connected somehow. *sigh* I never bought it



Nicky is all over the place emotionally! But dear God, who can blame him. It's been him and his mother for pretty much his entire life and now she is months way from dying. He's got no one to lean on. No one to support or comfort him. And it's fucking heartbreaking.



However I really felt like maybe this relationship was too built on the basis of the crisis in his life. He was desperate for comfort and attached himself to Michael but for some reason I never figured out quite why.



Now, the sex is hot because Harris gives good sex. The last portion of the book Michael is very consistently supportive and Nicky is very consistently needy. If you like this dynamic (needy man being needy) you've got it here. I greatly enjoyed the younger and physically weaker Michael being the dominant partner in this relationship. Nicky needed that. It's not BDSM or TPE but more a forceful personality on Michael's part and a need for someone else to be in charge from Nicky's side of things.

Firefighting was in name only, there was no fire action in the book. Michael's mother was a interesting character. Nicky's mother was a straight out plot device used to provide angst & conflict. Thank GOD the whole religious thing didn't spiral out of control (except for the stereotypical priest) as it was used more as another stumbling block against Nicky's decision as to whether or not he should come out to his mom.

Brief glimpses of the two couples from the previous books. I think there were missed opportunities there. Logan could have been a great support and friend to Nicky. Tomas as well. In the previous books both had been closeted and Tomas had some religious issues to surmount.

It also drove me APE SHIT that a 29-year old man went by the name Nicky. I kept seeing a 12-year old in my head.

Overall it was okay for me. I'm still a Daisy Harris fan but as a whole I think this series is not my cup of tea.

Then again, I'm on serious bitch pills it seems and I've been hypercritical of nearly everything I've read over the last month. So I'm also shelving this as "me not you" because I think people should totally take this review with a grain of salt.

So, two stars for the story and one star for the cover because, dayum, that cover.