Review: Quirky, hot and fun read!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 22, 2013
This review can be found at The Blog of Sid Love.Trip Spector is a talented comic book artist who hates the comics he draws but can’t seem to change his life because of his sexy and sleazy (but straight) boss. When he meets Silas everything changes and his world turns upside down. Now, it’s full of possibilities and new inspiration. When the two get together, it’s more than just a one time thing, it’s the start of something real, intense, and beautiful but with every good thing, there’s always that fear and, more than anything, Trip is scared his new-found happiness will crumble. The chemistry between Silas and Trip is fierce but will Trip let his fear ruin that?When we first meet Trip, he’s this big ball of allergies, dreading having to participate in a Zombie Run (where he ends up meeting the super hot Silas). He’s cute and slightly nerdy and I really liked him because of that. He’s confused and mislead by his Unboyfriend (i.e. his c***-tease of a boss). I loved him but I also wanted to shake some sense into him! He’s sooo stubborn! But, at the same time, he’s insecure and wonders how someone like Silas could like him. I felt bad for him because he’s so wound up and doesn’t know how to handle things. Silas, on the other hand, was my favorite character. He’s out and proud, charming, sweet but a closeted geek. He grew up chubby so he always feels like he’s unattractive even though he’s doesn’t have any issues getting a guy. It’s heartbreaking the low self-esteem he has but I found myself smiling ridiculously whenever he’d do something ‘gentlemanly’ that Trip always ended up ruining somehow. It was funny but also kinda cute. Silas was sexy as heck but the two of them together?! Jesus, I don’t like reading much smut but even *I* found these two smoking hot! The two have a great connection and fit each other perfectly, IMO, and I couldn’t get enough of them.The story revolves around Trip and Silas chartering new waters. Neither of them have much experience in relationships. Silas has a ton of exes while Trip has just been pining after his ‘straight’ boss for the last four years. They start off pretty intense because of the chemistry between them is intense BUT that isn’t the only thing. The story tells how Scratch, an erotic graphic novel that Trip creates based off Silas, comes to be, how much pleasure Trip gets from creating something that’s HIS but also the trouble it causes him to do that. Silas, through everything, is his rock and I really, really loved seeing the conflict Trip always had and how Silas could calm him down. When things start to get rocky, my heart almost broke for these guys.While I loved this story, there was one big issue I had with it. Mainly, I felt like the writing was choppy and confusing sometimes to the point where I had to go back and reread certain passages to clarify how or why the characters got on different subjects. Mostly, this happened between the shift into the philosophical discussions (that I actually quite enjoyed) but I can’t deny the transition between what was originally talked about and that pulled me out of the story multiple times.One of the many great things about this book, though, were the secondary characters, specifically, Max, Jillian, Kurt and Ziggy. Jillian and her son, Max, were just great additions to the story. Always filled with something funny or smart to say, I loved Trip’s interactions with them. More than anything, though, I found Ziggy to be a fascinating character and how Kurt is drawn to him was even better. I really hope that we’ll be able to see Ziggy and Kurt get their own story one day because it really would be something amazing to see.In the end, I adored this story. I found the telling of how Scratch was created fascinating and really cool to experience but I also loved the characters. The journey Silas and Trip go down while they figure out how to have a relationship was sweet, hot and put a smile on my face. I can’t wait to read more in this series and since I haven’t read Horn Gate yet, it makes me want to start it ASAP.