Review: Geekdom Meets Nerdom in M/M Romance!!!!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 21, 2013
~ ~ ~4 Stars!In a nutshell, this is geekdom meets nerdom. Magic happens between the two main characters and it's fun to be along for the ride. Although I think this book will find its audience; it just may be a very specific audience. The continuous pop culture references will be too much for some. But, for those who love the geek scene, this story was written for you. It is unique, fresh and romantic.I loved most of it, but I did have some troubles here and there. The story arc was fine: first passion, then drama, then heartache, then repair. However I found myself having to fill in some blanks and connect some dots. There were many areas where I just had to "go with it" and hope it all came together, and it did.I fell hard for Trip and Silas, it just took some work to do it.THE CHARACTERSTrip Spector - Shy, reclusive, inhibited and artistically gifted. His introversion keeps him from experiencing life, until he meets his superhero."He'd never imagined a world where his art and his heart mingled and smeared together, the possibilities explosive and infinite."Silas Goolsby - Handsome, attention seeking and artistically talented. Silas has earned his good looks and his reputation , but he's wonderfully down to earth. Trip is his perfect sex demon, if only Silas can convince him to come "out" and play.Side CharactersKurt - Gotta, gotta, gotta have his story.Ziggy - Yeah, and his.Cliff - Hate him!Max - The wisest of them all.The women in this story; Rina, Jillian especially, will make you stand up and cheer. They're real, familiar and full of witty wisdom."Only strangers can be perfect."THE STORYTrip meets Silas at a zombie event where there's instant attraction but no hooking up. It's actually a nice slow burn to relationship building. The first "encounter" they have is sultry and incredibly sexy. Public sex meets repressed lust. That scene will be with me for a long, long time, whew!Trip and Silas are two guys who couldn't need each other more. They're surrounded by a*holes, shysters, geniuses, friends, unboyfriends and more nerds. Despite their friends, or more likely because of them, the relationship that Silas and Trip develop is sweet and charming and fraught with hidden insecurities that linger just at the edge of the page. Their love of everything counterculture helps them create a comic masterpiece. They find themselves, and each other, within their work.If pop culture, comics, FX and gay romance is your thing, this book is your thing. If endless catch phrases, slang and made up vernacular isn't, this might not be your book.THE WRITINGThis is where I struggled. I found this to be a little bit awkward to read. Surprisingly, to me, the terminology and all the references to pop culture didn't confuse me. In fact, I was delighted to find that I could follow along and even enjoy the frequent references. That part was fun. However, during the dialog, I found that the responses didn't match the ongoing conversation. I had to back up often to see if I had skipped something. When I couldn't make sense of it I had to fill in the blanks, or as I said earlier, just "go with it." I guess the conversations just didn't flow smoothly for me. Generally the point was made, but getting to the point was sort of rough.This story felt like it was very personal to Mr. Suede. Like it was something that he wanted to explore, for himself, and not written to simply appease a typical mm reader, that's wonderful and I couldn't respect that more. Maybe that is why I got off track in places though. It almost felt like the author was seeing something in his mind's eye but didn't quite get it on the page.Character-wise Mr. Suede does an excellent job of hooking you. The imagery is spot on and I knew where I was all the time. Even during a few slower chapters I was completely connected to Trip and Silas. When it came to Kurt and Ziggy I was even more engrossed. I couldn't get enough of them. Indeed I'm asking for more. I just hope it's a bit smoother."No.""Pressure."~ ~ ~I would like to thank Dreamspinner Press for supplying me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.~ ~ ~