Mathias Perras is twenty-four, newly arrived in Montréal, and works two jobs so he can live on rue Sainte-Catherine in the heart of the gay district. During the day, he’s on a fast track to management at the Banque de Montréal. At night, he waits tables at a gay bar down the street. He’s burning the candle at both ends, but it will be worth it when his career takes off and he has the life he’s always dreamed of. When he meets Pascal, one more piece of that dream slots into place. Pascal is everything he wants in a lover: older, self-assured, established in his life and his career. But Pascal doesn’t look at him twice. What’s a boy have to do to get a little action?
Narrated by Jeff Gelder
Listening Time: 6 hrs. 51 min.
Based on the title alone I was expecting something light hearted with a meet cute and a delicious May/December romance to sink my reading teeth into.
Based on the blurb, I was expecting the above, with a side of angst as Pascal has lost the man he thought of as the love of his life and Mathias was going to have to put the time in to convince Pascal to live again.
Cool. I'm in.
And I got that, but the journey was a lot more painful than I expected. By painful I mean, Mathias had to work too hard and I was never really convinced that Pascal was the man for him. Between Pascal’s reticence to give love another go and the formal narration of his speech, I just never really warmed up to the guy. I couldn’t see what his appeal was beyond his physical description and Mathias’ attraction to older men.
Mathias was a good guy. He was constantly being referred to as being too young for basically everything, but he worked his ass off for his goals and I don’t think he got nearly the respect he deserved. His flirtations towards Pascal were very normal and Pascal pushed him away at every opportunity. And then, Pascal would pull him back in. I honestly felt bad for Mathias. Pascal took a long time to explain to Mathias why he was gun-shy to the whole relationship thing and while it is Pascal’s private business, when it gets in the way of a possible relationship and effects how you treat another person, well, Mathias deserved to know. Instead Mathias was left swinging in the wind on more than one occasion.
When they finally got some things out in the open and agreed to take it slow-ish, it was a relief. Mathias unexpectedly got off work early one night and paid Pascal a visit, one thing led to another and an extremely hot encounter was had. Finally, these two were connecting! And then, after it all, Pascal scolded Mathias for moving too fast and for not respecting Pascal’s wishes. Excuse me, my dude. You could have said no at any point, you did not and you encouraged the encounter. Please stop putting your baggage on Mathias, that's not fair. I love, love, LOVE, the May/December trope when it works, but frankly, this pissed me off and killed it for me.
Things took a turn for the weird when Mathias met Pascal’s family and then later when he saw Pascal interacting with some regulars at the restaurant he works. Those reactions were off putting, especially the restaurant one. It was oddly thrown in there and while it made Mathias seem just as dramatic as Pascal it was a balancing act I could have done without.
The narration seemed to fit the characters and maybe my perception of Pascal was put off by his formal French tone, I can’t be sure, since I’ve listened to and not read the story. Either way I never felt an HEA was in the works for these two even though I was told otherwise. They were portrayed as happy though, so good on them.
**a copy of this audiobook was provided for an honest review**
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