Review: I am so conflicted as to how to review this
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 25, 2014
First - what's right about this short novella is its well-realized characters. Their motivations are clear and consistent. The set-up is great. Unfortunately, what's wrong about this story is the crap character development.  The emotional depth of these characters is virtually non-existent. "He's hot, so I love him," is about as deep as it gets. There is a pre-supposed emotional involvement that is never fully realized within the narrative confines of the story.  There are the bones of a very good story here; and, had the story been developed more slowly, had the emotional connection been able to grow over time, this could have been a tremendous tale.  As it is, however, the relationship as outlined in the story is cursory at best.  Rather than allowing the characters' relationship to grow and blossom, we are presented with a cursory glance at a potentially meaningful relationship and told that it's as deep as Romeo and Juliet when it's really not much more than a convenient hook-up.  (The title itself is a dead give-away to its superficiality.)  There is zero depth to this relationship.  Period.  And, to top it all off, we get probably the cheesiest, crappiest cover illustration ever.  It's every bit as cheap, superficial, and second-rate as the story itself.  What's good about this story is very good, but the bad aspects blow this one out of the water.  Leave this one alone.  I ordinarily wouldn't be so angry, but this could have been... So. Much. Better.