Review: Loved this book!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 23, 2012
I LOVED this book!  The writing style, the characters, the story- so good!Jesse is a senior and stage manager extraordinaire in the theater department.  He is brilliant at his job but with people not so much.  His exacting, demanding, controlling nature doesn't make him a lot of friends and he is fine with that.  He is graduating soon and has his eye on the future, a full-time career as stage manager.  However, he doesn't count on meeting Simeck.Sim is a sophomore and fills in as a lighting tech in Jesse's control room.  Sim is open, friendly and fun.  He refuses to take Jesse's gruff manners in stride and calls him out.  From Jesse's apology they start a friendship that grows into more over the course of the book.I loved Jesse.  His "voice" was so wonderful.  His acerbic humor (both thought and spoken) had me laughing out loud.  I truly felt for him as he struggled with panic attacks and high levels of anxiety while trying desperately to maintain his controlled grip on life.  It was just so Jesse to say, "I didn't like the term `nervous breakdown'...I preferred `stress-related loss of composure".  My emotions snuck up on me and I actually got teary-eyed during Jesse's phone call to his Mom.  Not sure if the emotional connection I feel towards Jesse is because I can all too easily relate to him or if it is due to the quality of the writing.  Probably both.  Either way, I loved him.It was beautiful to watch how Jesse and Sim's relationship developed.  They were so quirky and yet so real together.  They did normal couple stuff.  They had real fights and made up, spent time just hanging out watching TV and doing homework, worked together on theater productions, and then there was the hula hooping.  Sim is a skilled hula hooper.  Not the kind you had as a kid, he uses hoops of all different sizes and spins them all over his body.  Jesse is captivated by Sim's talent and thinks he looks beautiful, like a dancer, when he hoops.  Sim teaches Jesse to hoop and, surprisingly, Jesse is good at it.  They connect emotionally and, in some VERY hot ways, physically through this activity.  I really liked how different this hobby was and thought it brought a lot to the story.  I also was so glad that hooping seemed to help Jesse with his anxiety.I liked how Jesse and Sim worked to figure out their relationship in the bedroom.  So interesting watching them determine what they want/need from the other.  Both have D/s interests yet struggle with defining roles and labeling what they are doing.  This felt like real people developing a relationship and exploring their kink together.  Loved it.Their relationship WAS the story yet there was enough plot and action to keep you moving forward.  I liked how we learned about their backgrounds and families over the course of the book.  Aside from the drama on stage, there was some tension and drama in the story but it didn't feel contrived or melodramatic.  This story was funny, touching and engaging.  Usually I like an HEA with a tighter bow but, in keeping with the rest of the story, it felt like real life.  Don't get me wrong, Jesse and Sim ended up just fine.  Although I really hope we see more of them in future books.  It would be so great to see how their D/s relationship further develops and how they handle the rest of Sim's college years and Jesse's career.It is difficult for me to define and articulate why a certain story touches me and others just bounce off the surface quickly to be forgotten.  I read for entertainment and escapism so I absolutely love it when I find a story that I can fall into and invest in emotionally.  A story that I can just feel.  I read a lot of m/m books and so many of them are formulaic and just...meh.  Not to mention way too short for the price.  This is absolutely NOT the case with Calling the Show.  It is refreshing and wonderful to get a story like this one to remind me why I love the m/m genre.  Highly recommended!"Is this what it's like to have friends?  It was kind of horrible and kind of awesome at the same time."  ~Jesse