Review: Fake it 'til you make it
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 13, 2014
The fake it 'til you make it trope is pretty overused in m/m romance fiction. Typically it goes something like this: supposedly heterosexual playboy needs to fake homosexual interest (optional: with the purpose of ticking off his rich daddy), approaches an out and proud gay man who goes along with this preposterous idea for, usually, altruistic reasons and/or revenge. It's a paint-by-numbers plot and you know from the moment you start reading how it's going to pan out. Not just that it will, but you can be reasonably sure of the 'how' as well.'Bad Company' is very much one of these paint-by-numbers stories. As far as plot goes, it would be an insult to unoriginal to call it unoriginal. And if I could get rid of one character type in m/m romance, it would be the rich evil corporate father.However.I actually find 'Bad Company' pretty well written. As someone who has earned her fair share of university credits in disciplines like sociology, anthropology, psychology, gender studies, etc., Nate  and his holier-than-thou attitude is like coming home. Well. Home to my alma mater, at least. I've known a good few 'Nate's' in my time and though they make horrible associates, they make pretty funny fictional characters. One thing that I can't commend highly enough about this book is the way Nate deals with his initial sexual encounter with Kellan. He realises he has taken advantage and he feels bad about it. I've seen the same type of scene, with the same power dynamics, being swept under the rug in so many other books and it was so nice to see it dealt with maturely in this one.I think the dialogue is well written, the prose mostly above average, the plot unoriginal but well handled. It sags in the middle but not enough that I gave up. On the whole, I enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone who's interested in the genre.