Review: Not Bad, But I Can't Believe She Went There
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 26, 2014
"Make You Mine" is a pretty good book. Don't let the subtitle, "The Rock Gods", mislead you, there's virtually nothing about rock and roll in this book, no concerts, no recordings, no touring, just the estates and private jets that are the inevitable end result of success in the music world.It was a bit long, and a bit heavy on the sex. This is another one of those books that has 400 pages, 350 of which are sex scenes. Oh, but I wish that, even in my prime, I could remain aroused for twenty-four hours a day, for weeks on end.The two lead characters, Jayson and Cooper are good together. Jayson is a carpenter whom Cooper meets at a rock-star party on Martha's Vineyard - a house where Jayson had done some work. After about fifty pages of commitment-phobia, they spend the rest of the book learning what a successful relationship is all about, navigating the shoals of hurt feelings and lack of communication (original, right?).A fair amount of time is spent winding up the previous book in the series, including an ending dedicated to the commitment ceremony of Alex, Danni and Chase, celebrating the three-way created in the earlier work. I don't know why, but three-ways just don't ring my bell, especially in a book focusing on two men who fall madly (and exclusively) in love with each other. In fact, Ms. Lister sets up an abortive three-way with Jayson, Cooper and a stranger as a "birthday present" for Jayson. It was a terrible idea, works out terribly (except that it's the first time they tell each other that they love each other), and seems to be more about the author's particular fetish for "menages" than it does the characters'.Add in a radically homophobic stepfather who beats his son, and the requisite number of arguments and reconciliations between Jason and Cooper - all of which, of course, end up in bed, and you have all 400+ pages, some of which was rather repetitive.Also, unlike some of the other female Gay Romance authors I've read (and there have been many!), the constant dwelling on how much they feel their love and how each smile throws them into a trance, and how perfect their bodies are reads somewhat "girly". I don't mean to denigrate girls or women in any way, but authenticity rather requires that men act like men - and I don't mean running around scratching themselves and belching, but not like teenage girls having their first crush.The writing was fine. Dialogue was generally believable and the voices were in keeping with the characters. Descriptions were vivid, though, at some times, overboard. In several cases, Ms. Lister goes on and on with descriptions of flowers decorating a pagoda and details of the dresses worn at Chase, Danni and Alex's commitment ceremony. At those points, there's little doubt that the book was written with a woman's voice.The editing was better than some reviewers noted. I suspect that the book must have been re-released with updates, as I have read many M/M Romance books where the editing was much worse. The only thing that sticks in my craw is my endless surprise that so many authors don't appear to have completed Junior High School English before they started penning their novels. It's downright embarrassing when an author like Ms. Lister doesn't seem to have a clue how to use apostrophes. Please, Ms. Lister, there are NO apostrophes in plurals! Never, ever, ever. And "yours" doesn't (or shouldn't) have one ("your's"). It is sad that the editors seem to be as bad as the authors whose work they edit.But what really upset me, and caused me to give this book three stars (and I considered that generous, but I liked the characters when they weren't mooning over each other) was, to my mind, almost unforgivable.If an author is going to write a gay novel, the very LEAST they can do is research the LGBT community and get to know them. Above all, you must NOT offend your gay readers. And Ms. Lister did.In several places in the book, she refers to a gay "lifestyle", even has some characters referring to their own sexual orientation as a "lifestyle". Anyone who knows the LGBT community, at all, would know that that is extremely offensive. The word "lifestyle" is used only by the worst "Christian" homophobes to denigrate and diminish gay people. It turns our sexual orientation into a casual "choice", like which restaurant you dine at, what trendy shoes you wear, and what movies you go to. Those are "lifestyle" choices. Sexual orientation is NOT a lifestyle choice. In fact, it is not a choice at all, but rather an immutable, essential part of your being - which has NOTHING to do with lifestyle. The whole intent of the use of that word is to signify that straights have a life, gays have a "lifestyle".I know the author didn't mean to be offensive by using the term "lifestyle", but she was. I can't believe she went there, parroting the words of the worst anti-gay bigots and putting them in the mouths of sympathetic gay characters.To be honest, it ruined this book for me, and I'm loath to read or recommend any other books by Ms. Lister until she is able to demonstrate that she is not as clueless as she appears to be about her subject.Until I wrote this, I didn't realize how angry I was about this. I really want to drop my rating to two stars, but now that only seems vindictive. But, if you care about LGBT people and how we are perceived and persecuted, I strongly suggest you let Ms. Lister know that "lifestyle" is not a synonym for "sexual orientation", and if she's going to continue writing gay fiction, she needs to figure that out and get it right.For that reason, alone, I do not recommend this book.