Tracey Michael

He Didn’t Have to Be was written for the Goodreads M/M Romance Group’s 2014 Love’s Landscapes event. It’s told in third person through the eyes of the MC’s, Toby and Griffin, best friends from grade school.

Toby and Griffin have been best friends since they were little. They’ve never had any romantic feelings between them. Toby is gay, and Griffin is straight with a girlfriend. Griffin has always defended Toby from the bullies even now that they are in college. When Toby and Griffin were helping to set up at a music event, Griffin’s basketball team mates harassed Toby. To get them to leave Toby alone and to mock one of the bullies, Griffin kisses Toby. From that point on, things change between them. A few events take place between the kiss and the ending but I won’t go into that.

This story was an easy, fast read mostly filled with dialogue which I liked, since I prefer dialogue over vast amounts of monologue and descriptions. The author divided up ‘time’ during the chapters. The advancement of time could be one day or a week, but the author made it pretty clear how much time had transpired. I like the way that time was divided per chapter.

This is a HEA, GFY story. A fast, pleasant, low angst read, I give this 3 Stars.
… (meer)

Office romance is a my kink, probably due to my chosen profession. I can relate to the office dynamics, and yes, even to the worries Harrison was having in being involved with Gray, who was one of his employees. This is not a long novel, actually it's a novella, so it's not surprise that the reader was plunged right in the middle of the action, meaning that, attraction is already in place and both Harrison than Gray know each other well, and also that both of them are available, and willing in body if not in mind. There is no hesitance of such, is he gay or not, is he interested or not, and the only obstacle is their professional relationship.

I enjoyed how both were sincere with their feelings, how they didn't deny what it was, and that, even if with hesitance, they were trying to find a way to make it work. Sure, they aren't perfect machine, and so misunderstandings are natural, and that is what makes the story. But there was chemistry between these two and this was the good part of the story.

If I have to find a little fault in the story, they were two events, not so essential to the story, that didn't ring right to my reading: first, ending on the tv news for being stuck in a blocked lift for 1 hour, even if you don't have better things to show, that isn't at all a worthy news to air; second, an emergency doctor who asks out to his patient even before he is dismissed, I think that, at least, he would have waited for the patient to be home. Anyway, maybe this is my perception from big town inhabitant, I didn't catch exactly where these two were living, maybe it was in a medium-small town and so what it sounds strange to me, it is normal to them.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008H747P2/?tag=elimyrevandra-20… (meer)