Review: Trick or Treat by Sydney Blackburn

Drew hates labels, but loves Halloween and he wants a trick-or-treat of his own. At his mother’s​ to deliver emergency candy, she has him get the door in his gender-bending costume. The handsome man with the little trick-or-treater would be Drew’s perfect treat.

David’s attraction to Drew is no trick. He wants the whole Drew, in all his unlabeled glory, making Drew think this could be a treat that lasts long past the holiday.

Well, this was a delightful treat! I’ve been gorging on the Christmas stories since before Halloween and it really is time to come out of my gingerbread house and read something different. And since I’m not ready to give up holidays all together yet, heading back to Halloween seemed like the perfect plan and I was so right!

This story of Drew and his hookup with promise is utterly adorable. Drew labels himself as a genderfluid pansexual man, but he also labels himself just because he kind of feels like he has to. Being a model, a lot of his relationships/hookups see him as an embodiment of a label, but none have taken the time just to know Drew. And oh, how sad is that? He’s funny, he’s fabulous and he loves and appreciates his mother. What’s not to love there?

He’s put together an amazing costume for Halloween and he has an all too brief meeting with a man he has an instant connection too. Drew is helping his mom with a candy crisis and answers the door to David (hot and hunky connection guy) and his nephew trick or treating. Drew drops a hint as to where he’ll be later and HEY, guess who shows up at the club?

This is a short story, so I didn’t get a whole lot of David, but the author did a really great job of showing me who he was through Drew’s eyes and I was as smitten as Drew was in no time. I loved how David made Drew feel, how Drew felt important and cherished even if they just met. This is one of those stories that gives you the most optimistic of HFN’s and I would love an expanded version of Drew and David’s story. There’s a lot to work with just on the setup here alone and the characters are ones I would love to get to know better.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

Review: The Straight Boyfriend (Loving You #3) by Renae Kaye

Aaron Hall has never been able to remain faithful to a single woman, and for most of his life, he’s dated two women at once. Recently his girlfriend tracked him down and knocked on his door—and his live-in girlfriend answered. Now he has no girlfriend and a mortgage he can’t pay by himself.

Vinnie Rosello needs to change his life—get a better job, stop drinking all his money away, find himself a serious boyfriend… and move out of his parents’ house. Aaron needs help with his expenses, so they become housemates.

Even though Aaron harbors some misconceptions about gay men and Vinnie misses his large Italian family, both men find comfort in their friendship. It’s a good arrangement until everything between them changes

Vinnie falls in love with Aaron, and Aaron is shocked to realize he feels the same. There’s only one problem—he’s still straight. He’ll have to overcome his fear of labels in order to love the man who’s captured his heart.

Labels. Like them or loathe them we are surrounded day in, day out by labels. Alcoholic, bi, cis,  depressive, disabled, dyslexic, dyspraxic, female, gay, husband, male,  partner, queer, straight, teacher, trans, wife,    , .. I could go on, the list is endless. Human instinct is to categorise, to order, to try and understand, and labelling is a way of doing this. Is it right? I don't know. Sometimes labels can become very dangerous, an alcoholic is more than an alcoholic, yet you can bet your life that is the term that defines them, I know from personal experience; dad, son, husband, chef, loving, funny... they all come after the alcoholic label. It can be so dangerous to reduce a person to a label.

BUT...

...and this took me a while to understand, for some people labels are exactly what they need. It helps them understand themselves and gives them a place to belong. Pansexual. For someone who has never understood their attraction because it doesn't conform to what society understands, to be able to be labelled as pansexual gives something to identify with. As humans we are all different. We are unique. Our feelings and emotions and identities are ours to own and label as we please. Right?

Aaron, frankly on the surface I didn't really like him, for a start he consistently cheats on girlfriends because he's not getting enough sex. Not exactly endearing in a romantic lead! Then he has a relationship with Vinnie yet refuses to label himself as anything other than straight... but the more I thought about it, the more I realised, isn't that his right? It's his label for himself. To me, maybe to the majority, he is bisexual. When I google the meaning of bisexual it says:

noun

1. 1.

   a person who is sexually attracted to both men and women.

Aaron is attracted to women, but he's also attracted to Vinnie, a man. Therefore by dictionary definition, he's bi. Just because it's only one man doesn't change the fact that Vinnie is a man to whom Aaron is sexually attracted. Yet he really doesn't want to identify as anything other than straight. And that is his right. Nobody has a right to tell someone they can't identify the way they want to, and that works every way. Bi-erasure is COMPLETELY wrong, but so is taking away the right for an individual to identify with whichever label they want. Personally, I think bisexuality makes more sense than anything else, we are all people and are attracted to people... but that is just my opinion and I don't expect anyone else to have the same view as me!

So what does this have to do with the book? Well Aaron is very hung up on the labels and it makes admitting that he has fallen in love with Vinnie difficult, he is adamant he's not gay, nor bi, he's straight. See above for my feelings on this. 

The thing is, on the surface this is a funny, sweet love story between two people who don't feel like they would belong together. I'm a sucker for friends to lovers and Aaron and Vinnie are definitely friends before anything else. Vinnie brings out the best in Aaron, he makes us see the nice side of this serial cheater. He is a good friend, thoughtful and kind and the blossoming romance made my heart go gooey. I think you could read this and just be enamoured by the romance. Or you can read it and think deeply about labels and how they fit in society. Is there a definitive right or wrong? I don't think so - but that's just my opinion.

Personally I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone who loves sweet romances.

A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.

Find on Dreampinner Press or Goodreads!

Review: Names Can Never Hurt Me by Wade Kelly

What if sexuality wasn’t a definable thing and labels merely got in the way? 

Nick Jones can’t remember a time when he wasn’t part of the in crowd. Everywhere he goes, he stands out as the best looking guy in the room, and women practically fall into bed with him. Then, after kissing Corey on a dare led to much more and on many occasions, Nick’s “screw anything” reputation escalated, but he didn’t care. 

When Nick meets RC at the restaurant where he works, it throws his whole life out of whack. RC lives up to his dubbed nickname “Scruffy Dude.” He seems Nick’s complete opposite, but Nick can’t get him out of his head. 

Because of peer-pressure and his fears about defining his sexuality, Nick struggles with stepping out of his comfort zone and caring about someone different than himself. If he’s lucky, somewhere between arrogance and ignorance, Nick might find out what it means to be an adult, but if he’s wrong, he could lose everything. 

WARNING: The following review contains a lot of fucking swearing.

Oooooohhhhhkkkaaayyy.

Where do I start with reviewing this? Looking at my highlighted notes I've got way more parts coloured than I normally do - usually if I've got a lot of highlighted passages it means I have really not enjoyed the story or that it was particularly lyrical in an appealing way. This book kinda falls into the former - bits of this story absolutely drove me bonkers... and yet I found it thoroughly readable and enjoyed it. Which makes reviewing very difficult. <insert cross eyed emoticon here>. So here I go with my best effort.

Okay. I think the first thing that griped me about this book is Nick. He's a self centered arsehole. Seriously, even when he was being nice he was annoying... it was kind of the point of the story though, watching him mature. And he did, eventually, but boy oh boy was I ready to shake him by the time he managed it. He's vain - what a freaking put off.

"You haven't met him. He's single and overweight. His skin might have cleared up really well and he has great hair, but that doesn't mean he has room to be choosy. If I'm so hot, then he should have been all over me in the theatre. He's gay. It's what they do."

I mean, really? REALLY? How am I supposed to like this dickwad? (Don't even get me started on that last line. They. THEY. Fuck you, Nick. Fuck you to the stars and back).

It wasn't just Nick though, it was his whole group of friends. The in-crowd. They were petty, immature, snobby, bratty - it was very difficult to find any redeeming qualities in many of them. Especially (and I hate to say this) the girls. They all felt  a little 2d to me, manipulative and playing games, but without any nice to round them out.

Tara bossed Nick about, ordering him to go and take up dog-soiled carpets at her aunts house, demanding where they d=go out and what they see. Then she was all flirty and girly in a major eye roll way.

"I stuck a french fry up my nose and  she giggled."

Of course she did because apparently you're both ten years old, Nick.

I want to like the characters I'm reading about and a well rounded character has good and bad sides. In fact, even the 'nice' girls in this story seemed a little 2d. Marcy came across as an airhead; interfering and obsessed with trying to get Nick attracted to her. It was tedious.

Then there was this line...

"I might be  a slut, but I'd never had non-consensual sex. Tara was the only one I'd ass-fucked without consent and it had happened by accident."

Excuse me? It happened by accident? Yeah, because it's really easy to stick your dick up an arse instead of a vagina by accident. What the actual fuck.

"I would never have consciously done that, I think that's why I felt so bad about it."

Liar, liar pants on fire. No excuses, mate. If she didn't want anal sex then you're just as bad as the person you're talking about. It doesn't just accidentally slip into one instead of the other.

Reading all my highlighted notes I'm getting crosser and crosser and am starting to wonder why I gave it 4 hearts as a rating. The thing is, it was really readable despite my huge list of nitpicks.

I really liked RC. He did feel much better rounded, I liked Nick's progression from a complete dickhead to a fairly likeable person. I liked the writing style, if not the characterisation. I liked the way the book looked at labels as a whole, something that seems particularly pertinent at the moment. For all my dislikes I'll be damned if I didn't bloody go and like this story.

I rate by gut and when I finished this story, I rated it a 4. Now, a little while later I'm wondering why because all my notes say 2 hearts, three at the very most. Do I change my rating? Nope, because my instinctual rating was a  4 and I want to go with my gut. So I wouldn't say avoid this book; just be prepared to roll your eyes. A lot.

Check out on Dreamspinner Press or Goodreads!