Review: A great series to get involved in!!!! M/M Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 22, 2013
~ ~ ~A Well Developed, Long Term RelationshipMilitary School, Gay Dance Club, Hollywood Premiere, and sex on the beach. Tibby Armstrong gives a lot of story here, she wraps you up in scenes that range from tense to indulgent; distressing to devil-may-care. The way she handles youthful sexual exploration is well done as it develops realistically over time.Ah, now here's a book, and a series, that you can get involved in. This is a well developed, long term relationship story with background .It's great to have reason behind the relationship.I've previously read the first three books, but am doing a reread now of all three. I hadn't reviewed them before and I wanted them fresh in my head before I read the 4th book in the series, which is out now.""He'd vowed never to expose himself or Aaron to ridicule again.Except he'd written a screenplay virtually guaranteed to expose them both. Why?""THE CHARACTERS""Foreign emotions flitted through him as he transcribed [...]Hurt. Confusion. Loneliness.As if on cue, a scene manifested, so tangible he had only to pluck it out of the air and place it on paper. He sank into the warm cocoon of fiction--of a world he could control. He loved this headspace. It felt like getting high and getting a hard-on, all in one.""Greg Falkner - Greg is a conundrum. Is he tough or scared? Brilliant or a fool? Awkward or sexy as h*ll? He'll frustrate you, rattle you and win your heart. Even if he stumbles over and over."...and you're not the social pariah. You're just not the dominant paradigm."Aaron Blake - Wholesome, kind, loyal and golden gorgeous. He's the perfect boyfriend. Except he's not gay.THE STORYSo turned on.So f***ed up.The premise is of a screenwriter coming out in an autobiographical film debut. He just hopes his "jury of one", his long time lover, doesn't mind the reveal.During the filming you see a fictional version of Greg and Aaron's youth. Their trials and traumas are portrayed so well that it's easy to forget that you're watching a fabricated version of their lives. It leads to the reader wondering just how much they really know about the "real" Greg and Aaron. Which is a brilliant ploy, I think, to get you to read on in the series. There is much more to know. The happy-for-now ending doesn't leave you hanging, but you will want to read more.THE WRITINGThe author can paint a scene and have you completely in the moment. At times I was so involved in the story that I ached, cheered and cringed right along with the m/c's. However, there are areas, particularly in the beginning, that lead to an initial confusion. Since the story begins with dialog between Greg and Aaron it's easy to not understand what's going on. Stick with it, it all smoothes out. In this vein, there were also times that I thought I was going to be left wondering "how" this or "why" that, but most everything is resolved to satisfaction in this book. That doesn't mean that the author didn't leave plenty to move forward with though.~ ~ ~I would like to sincerely thank Tibby Armstrong and Loose Id Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.~ ~ ~