Review: close, but no hit
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 19, 2011
Ms Gala was apparently pursuing something new with this work: had she done it thoroughly this would have been a five star review with no qualms.She did not, unfortunately, and all we have is a nice read with some interesting points and several inconsistencies to overlook. It is not little, in a subgenre where amateurs abounds, but after the first few pages I expected to be in for a most exciting ride and was a tad disappointed to be faced with a normal if decently written M/M romance.The problem for me is not the work's length (as noted by other reviewers): for me it just suited the story right (and at $4.50 it was a little too pricey but not outrageous).The two main characters are two former mobsters: only one of them was a killer but both were involved and both have been convicted felons. This was quite audacious a choice because we have to come to terms to hoping for a happily ever after for two people who should be rotting in jail. Ms Gala possibly felt this predicament and decided to make her reader feel as sympathetic as possible but I feel she overdid it. Carl and Pete are just too nice for their past to ring completely true: this made me feel good but it was not good for the sake of the story. Add to this that, when exploring their thoughts (third person POV of the two men alternatively), the author put thoughts in their heads which were a little too well phrased, too politically correct and too endearing to belong to two supposedly uneducated criminals. I am not saying their feelings (and repentance) were false but I expected them to be expressed much more roughly. It is a problem of style and she should have put more thought about it.On the up side, sex scenes were not entirely bad: true, as most lady authors, Ms Gala seems convinced that gay people have fixed roles when in between the sheets and this is irritating, but luckily enough her Carl may be submissive in sex but at least he has quite a backbone and does not bend it easily outside the bedroom.I am at loss with whether to buy anything else by this author: her other available works seem to be utterly conventional and maybe I shall wait for new books to come out to see whether she is willing or not to distinguish herself from the mass with something new.