Review: nice and good
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 16, 2012
This M/M erotic romance sports a lot of assets:- it has a nice, elaborated, character-driven plot that is always compelling, except perhaps halfway through when Josh meets Julian again. Tension slacks in those pages but it takes off again after a little while. I would have appreciated it if the author had made more use of the work-setting of the characters but the story is complete as it is.- its characters are exotic enough (musicians and actors) to be more interesting than average people but they are also fully rounded, likeable and make one wish one could meet them in real life (at least I wish I could meet Josh, Corey and Travis, I really do). My only issue is about Josh and Corey being 24 when they clearly need to be closer to 30 to be entirely consistent with their behaviour and thoughts.- sex scenes are many, raunchy and very sexy. They are very sexy not because they are unbelievably well written (though they ARE well written) but because one always gets the feeling the people involved care deeply for each other and that is sexy in itself.Reading the blurb and a couple of pages in the first half I worried a little. Authors (especially lady-authors, truth to be told) have this pervasive fetish for dominance and submission. They do like to put their gay characters into tight little boxes, filing some as strong-dominant-active (and usually big and brawny) and others as conflicted-submissive-passive (and usually lean and blond and boyish). Some go so far as to transform erotica into something frankly unhealthy where the need to be dom/sub goes beyond the wall of the bedchamber. A selected few even try to pass on the idea that rape and enslavement are sexy...At first I thought Mr River was bound to follow that unfortunate path.There are a couple of pages at the beginning, when Travis debates his own feelings with himself, that had me cringe because he seems to be willing to relinquish control permanently to Corey. I do not know whether the author changed his mind halfway through or had it planned from the start but luckily things change. The BDSM element is relevant and shown explicitly but it remains just that: a kink that is part of the characters' sex life but is not all encompassing. BDSM being just a nice little game, it is sexy to read those kinky scenes.AND the lovers here are all versatile, thank goodness for (not so) small favours!- the love story is incredibly satisfying. Travis and Corey fall in love a little too fast and I presume the author could have devised a way to have them get to it more slowly but other than that the whole of it is incredibly heart-warming.- writing is neat and fluid. The POV shifts between the three leads from chapter to chapter and sometimes the same scene is seen again through different eyes which is not entirely new a device but it can work well if well used.There are no typos but grammar is faulty at times. Nothing too bad or evident but this work could use a revision which should also take care of a couple of mistakes in characters' names: Corey becomes Cody and Julian Jules. Characters break the fourth wall often which is fine as the author manages to give an individual voice to each. Only here and there the characters describe things they cannot possibly know, for example I remember Travis saying "...my eyes smoldering..." but there are several other examples of this mistake in logic.That said this is a nice, romantic read I can only recommend. But, please, someone change the model on the cover...