Review: Interesting
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 24, 2013
Dustin doesn't believe in love. He believes in sex, hot anonymous sex with contacts he finds on the internet. Lust is fine, gay love doesn't exist, or that's what Dustin thinks. Things change for him after his first encounter with CollegeJock22, otherwise known as Kyle. Dustin can't stop thinking about him and wonders if he should initiate another meeting, despite usually only meeting a hook-up once and then onto the next one.Fate steps in and Dustin discovers that Kyle is the new tutor that's been assigned to him. But Kyle makes it clear from the outset that he wants to keep their relationship strictly professional and does not want a repeat of what happened in the men's room. Dustin agrees, but he still can't stop thinking of the handsome student and seeks out some new contacts to try and forget Kyle.Dustin finds the anonymous sex makes now him feel used and feeling as if something is missing, something he never thought he needed or thought he would ever find. He wants love, he wants commitment and he knows he won't find it in the closet and with one-off hook-ups. The problem is he wants Kyle, but can he convince Kyle to come out of the closet with him?This was an interesting read and I loved the contrast between Dustin's internet hook-ups and the things he feels with Kyle. I found the explicit scenes between Dustin and the internet guys a bit of an uncomfortable read, but I think that was probably because as a reader we are in Dustin's head and know how uncomfortable Dustin found these incidents now. We're feeling his discomfort.I did find it a little strange that Dustin, a student at a university in Toronto, in Canada, one of the very first countries to allow gay marriage, felt that gay love was something that didn't exist except in books or movies. Maybe he was just young and didn't realise love could come in any form, whether straight, gay or bi.Some parts of the book were heart-wrenching, such as one scene where Dustin tries to kiss Kyle and it's that which scares him off completely, rather than anything sexual. It was a turning point for Dustin, after that he knows it's time to come out and face things with his friends, if they will still be his friends once they know the truth about him.I think the author has done a good job of exploring how difficult it is to come out, even in this day and age. Some of the language is a bit coarser than what I've read before in M/M romances (but most of those were written by women, not gay men), but I don't think the author does it to shock, it is believable that this is how Dustin thinks of things. I think it would have worked better with a little less focus on the sex and more on Dustin discovering himself. But all in all an enjoyable read.Review copy from Reading Addiction Blog Tours