Review: Fall Off of Your Chair Laughing
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 13, 2012
How did I find this little gem of a book? I usually only read supernatural - werewolves, vampires, ghosts, reincarnation (never zombies though; they give me nightmares). So I once read a book about two gay werewolves, and therefore gay fiction was put on my list of recommendations. Now I always check out what gets recommended, but I tend to shy away from books that have too much sex, because that's an excuse to not have plot or dialogue - which is why I like YA paranormal, because the authors have to actually TELL a story.I digress. I saw the title of this book and I was immediately interested. Then I read the reviews, and they said they literally laughed out loud and people looked at them strangely. Well, I like to laugh out loud and people always look at me strangely, so I bought.What a find! First of all, this is the funniest book I have ever read. Literally ever. Stephen is the ultimate king of snark and is quite evil. And Doug is just plain dumb - a 14-year old teenage in the body of a 27-year old male model - think Jason Stackhouse on "True Blood". But - Doug is not as dumb as he speaks, and Stephen is not as evil as he first appears. Doug has a pure heart, and Stephen has a big heart - if only he weren't afraid to open it.Doug works at a gay magazine as a model/column writer (???). He is totally straight, slept with hundreds  of women, and then he meets Stephen, falls in love with him within a week ("You're my homosexual soul mate - let's have gay sex. Um, how does that work anyhow?"), and becomes Stephen's puppy/stalker. That's when the laughing begins.Except, at heart, this is a really sweet love story about two really good people who were meant to find each other. The writing is so good - Valerie Lewis is brilliant - she should write a sitcom for NBC so they can get out of third place. She is a natural at dialogue, and her prose is awesome as well. These are two of the most interesting and endearing people I've ever read, and I beg for a sequel, because I want to hang out with them again.  I did laugh out loud - a lot - and people did look at me strangely. But at least this time, I knew why.BTW, if anyone is turned off by the thought of male-male sex, don't worry - it's only implied and the only thing described is kissing. It's quite tame. BTW, I'm married and straight, and you can be, too. You will love this book.