Review: Muscling Through
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 23, 2011
"Muscling Through" by JL Morrow, is a great story about a big hulking, not so intelligent man named Al Fletcher, who meets a posh, Cambridge art-history professor named Larry, in an alley one night while taking a 'whazz' and quickly form a very strong, romantic relationship. From the moment they meet, Al is immediately taken by Larry's intelligence and his delicate, handsome features. Larry is drawn to Al's brute strength and good-natured soul. Even though to others (including Larry's family and University colleagues) Al and Larry are a complete mis-match, they actually balance each out fairly well.The story is told in first person narrarive through Al's perspective. Morrow does a great job at portraying Al's dim-witted, but very likeable personality through her colorful use of language and dialogue. Al may seem to be just another muscular, not-so-clever thug to others, but readers get to see that he is actually very loyal, caring, funny, and artistic.The plot is fairly standard of most romance stories. There is a brief moment, when Al and Larry's relationship is nearly threatened by the arrival of one of Larry's art students, leading to emotional friction between Al and Larry. However, readers of this genre already know that things will work out in our heroes favor, and what really makes this story work is the strong characterization and relatability of Al and Larry. I would definitely like to read more from this author, and hopefully there will be another Al Fletcher story in the future.Michael S. BookerAuthor of "Shadow", "Anomaly", and "Freshman"