Anne Tenino

4 stars

synopsis:
sam is a geek and awkward and gay. and he can't really ever be anything else. ian, on the other hand, has been passing as hetero all of his life, although he has recently made a resolution to stop doing that. the first time they meet, sam is laid out by a well thrown rugby ball. ian is one of the guys trying to catch the ball, and sam imagines that they are highlanders chasing him down. oh yeah, and sam reads romance novels. ian turns sam down, but fates conspires to bring them together again in the form of nik and jurgen's house warming party, and ian hooks up with sam, for one night only. 11 days later, fate conspires again, and they face the fact that maybe they are meant to be.

what i liked: pretty much everything. sam was so endearing, but not stupid or naive, although he figures that he must be the TSTL character. ian was gruff and resistant, but something about his awkward hook-up just got to him. when he's given another chance, ian takes it, but walks away again. when he finally realizes that he just might want a relationship with this guy who is "not his type", he is as awkward and bungling as sam ever is. one of my favourite lines is when sam is expounding on his faults, how he's too skinny and tall and awkward and he's not great looking and he's really not ian's type. ian replies that maybe that was true when they first met, but that "now, i just see you, sam." the growth in ian was heartfelt.

what i didn't like: nothing. really well done, and i've re-read it several times since first reading it a couple of weeks ago.… (meer)

synopsis:
eric is a gay paramedic fireman. collin is a mostly closeted senior in college. they meet when eric goes to the scene of an explosion at his alma matter fraternity. the attraction is pretty much instantaneous for both of them.

what i liked: the coming out scene. the fact that his whole fraternity knew that collin was gay, and then felt like they had to let him know that he was...that whole scene was hilarious. can't-breathe-i'm-laughing-too-much hilarious. also, the scene where collin is trying to make the fraternity understand exactly what it means to be gay, and that "penis is not disgusting" to gay guys was really funny.
the relationship that developed between eric and collin was really quick, but it didn't feel rushed. it felt like a natural progression between to two guys. also, the fact that they didn't bemoan their age differences was refreshing. i also liked the relationships between the guys and their friends.

what i didn't like: everyone was so accepting of collin and him being gay, except his uncle. it felt like his uncle was just thrown in there to balance the good vibes, rather than portray an actual response that some members of some families might have to finding out that someone is gay. it was such a stereotypical reaction that it didn't feel real or natural.… (meer)

Reviewed on Hearts On Fire... http://heartsonfirereviews.com/

I was happily surprised at how good this book was. I was expecting an over sexed coming out story and got so much more. Brad is a college jock who's trying to play the expected straight life by dating a lot of girls and letting everyone think he's a super stud. His fraternity brothers hold him in awe because of his conquests and girls date him just for the prestige. The truth is that girls really don't melt Brad's butter at all and he is coming to terms with the fact that guys do. Brad has a crush on the kind of geeky TA Sebastian but doesn't know how to act on it. Sebastian has taken notice of Brad and after some angst the two get together and Brad gives up his virginity to Sebastian along with his tender heart after a while. Yes there was plenty of sex in the story but there was a good amount of emotional interplay between Brad and Sebastian and Brad and his family and friends. I enjoyed the way that Brad's parents knew that he was gay even before Brad was sure of it. The drunken night with Brad and his older sisters talking guys was well written. Ms Tenino did a great job creating and filling out the personalities of all of the characters. Brad and Sebastian were just perfect together. Colin, Kyle and Ashley were terrific secondary characters and their support for Brad was great. I found the scene where Brad finally came out to his fraternity to be very funny as none of the guys would believe Brad after all his agonizing. The bit about Brad having Home Ec as a minor was a bit cliche, doesn't every gay man love to cook?, but that was a minor fault in an otherwise wonderfully written story. The ending was no real surprise but a HEA is always welcome. I'd recommend this little gem to anyone looking for a real feel good book.… (meer)