Golden Boys by Amber Green offers the fast pace, colorful dialog, hot sex scenes, and strong sense of place (specifically the strange tropical world of Florida) for which this author is known. Readers like me who seek out diverse viewpoints and cultures in m/m fiction should be especially delighted to find that the hero and his love interest are southern African-Americans. The one thing that readers might find off-putting is that one is a closeted rap-star, which leaves the future of their relationship a bit uncertain. I urge you to read it anyway, however, because all the other plot threads wrap up beautifully, making this a satisfying story about an exceptionally appealing hero.

The story begins with our first-person narrator Ethan whose large, close-knit, religious family is reeling from the double-impact of him coming out as gay right after he’s flunked out of medical school. Ethan, now awash in debt, takes a grueling job as a nurse to save up for physical therapy school. Meanwhile, his uncle, who is an FBI agent, approaches him with a mission. Ethan’s boyhood friend Jell, who is now a famous rapper, has information about some drug dealers but has retreated into a detox facility and refuses to cooperate with the FBI. The uncle thinks that Jell still has feelings for Ethan, and urges Ethan to go undercover to draw him out. However, this forces Ethan and Jell to attempt a perilous break-out and retreat to a weird retirement village where they struggle with their mutual attraction while trying to stay alive.

Val for AReCafe ( )

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This one had some fun adventure and vivid characters. The writing was a bit confusing and the ending was more open than I like, as is typical of this writer. ( )

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