Review: Merely an Okay Read... Not as Good as Spot Me
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 13, 2011
Pump Me Up is the second book in a series of workout related novellas by Andrew Grey. I read Spot Me and enjoyed it, so decided to continue on with the series. (The books do not have to be read in order, but some overlap does exist between Spot Me and Pump Me Up).Spot MePump Me Up (Spot Me)Core TrainingCrunch Time (Work Out)Positive Resistance (Work Out)Personal Training (Work Out)Pump Me Up, a shorter M/M romance novella, was nowhere near as engaging as Spot Me.In a nutshell, main character Maddoc is being stalked. Somebody is leaving flowers and freaky notes on his front porch and car. He joins a gym in an effort to gain strength so he can defend himself should the stalker choose to make himself known. At the gym, he meets Ivan, a former Marine, who becomes the protector and is the type of person Maddoc wants to become.While I applaud Grey for writing two extremely realistic characters (Maddoc with his self-image issues and confident, protective Ivan), the entire "stalker" thread was not well developed. We figure out who is stalking Maddoc but not why.Additionally, the stalker theme completely overshadows the budding relationship between Maddoc and Ivan.A disappointment when compared to Spot Me, but I will continue to read the series regardless.