Blog Tour: Femme Faux Fatale by Susan Laine

Help author Susan Laine celebrate the release of her Dreamspun Desires novel, Femme Faux Fatale! She's here today to tell a little about her inspiration and she brought an exclusive excerpt too!

Hello. I’m Susan Laine. I’m a Finn and the author of Femme Faux Fatale, a contemporary mystery book that came out two days ago, on November 2oth, by Dreamspinner Press.

Here’s the buy link 

You’ll find more info on the story below, but here’s a quick rundown: This is a love story between a surly private detective and a sultry burlesque starlet who both end up in a dark and seedy (and sexy) adventure.

Today I’m a guest here at Boy Meets Boy—thank you kindly for having me—to talk about one of the themes in the story, which is… pin-up art.

I was way too young, just a pre-teen, when I first encountered pin-up art. Namely through the artist Olivia De Berardinis, or just Olivia as she’s called. She’s an American artist most known for drawing beautiful, semi-clad women. Her pin-up art, especially, is utterly amazing, beautiful and detailed. Wish I could share them with you… *sigh* Ah well, guess you’ll have to look her up yourself: http://eolivia.com/

In any case, pin-up art, for those who are not familiar with the term, is a photograph, drawing, or painting of a pin-up girl—or a male pin-up to a lesser extent. These pin-up models can be famous actors or singers, fashion models or simply celebrities of any variety. An air of glamour is key.

What makes art pin-up? Most people recognize them on sight. The models are sex symbols of their era, be it Bettie Page or Bernie Dexter, a Vargas Girl or an Olivia cheesecake. The models are, as expected, either half-dressed or fully naked, mostly the former, though.

Despite the semi-nudity, however, with pin-ups a girl celebrates her sexuality in the public sphere. It’s all about female beauty but also about female empowerment, how a woman doesn’t need to hide her body or her sexuality from the public world of men. The racy images are a blow against the patriarchy trying to control women. It is self-expression taken to the extreme in terms of visual delivery. The phenomenon even allowed women of color to come out in public as sexual, independent women, such as Josephine Baker in her infamous banana skirt.

While pin-up is associated with the 1950’s and WWII era, pin-up art style exists today too, in a type of subculture, much like burlesque. Be it Lana Del Rey’s song “Pin Up Galore” or Christina Aguilera’s “Candyman,” modern pop culture has embraced the iconography of pin-ups and made them their own.

Long live pin-ups!

My story stars a male burlesque starlet who adores pin-ups. It’s a part of his lifestyle and persona. And why not? It’s fun and colorful and pretty. Add to that a grouchy private dick who loves dime detective stories, dangerous Hollywood nobility, plus a crime of the century, and you get… Femme Faux Fatale.

Here’s the blurb:

“Mystery. Murder. Men in silk stockings. Hollywood nights are heating up.

Hardboiled Los Angeles PI Cain Noble is hired by wealthy and gorgeous Camille Astor to find her husband and a priceless work of art, both of which have disappeared.

At the nightclub owned by Mr. Astor, Cain encounters the mesmerizing Lily Lavender, who has the body of a goddess and the sultry voice of an angel—but is really a young man named Riley who attracts trouble like a magnet.

What’s a private dick in the vein of LA’s bygone era and a cross-dressing burlesque starlet to do when faced with the hidden decadence and lethal dangers of the Hollywood Hills? They have their work cut out for them because they haven’t even scratched the surface of an elaborate scheme more twisted than anyone could ever have imagined.”

Once again, thank you Boy Meets Boy, for having me here today. And, as promised, here’s a short exclusive excerpt from the book. Enjoy!

“As Cain studied the posters, his hands still over Riley’s hips, Riley looked at the images too, loving the look of them, as he’d done from the beginning.

“That one’s by Olivia and it’s called Tapioca.”

Riley pointed at a poster where a voluptuous girl lay on her side on a bed with white sheets and pillows, wearing a white silk corset, black silk stockings, and a black transparent mask. She held a long pinkish-white ribbon casually above her blonde curls, and two cats lay curled up beside her. On the bed and on her leg rested several theatrical masks.

“Why?” Cain asked, seemingly baffled. The picture had no tapioca in it.”

That’s it for now. Thanks for taking the time to check out this guest post. I hope you enjoy the book as well.

Dreamspinner Press buy link: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/femme-faux-fatale-by-susan-laine-9982-b

Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Femme-Faux-Fatale-Dreamspun-Desires-ebook/dp/B07HNSB3C6/

Barnes & Noble buy link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/femme-faux-fatale-susan-laine/1129437333

Author website where all my social media and other writing-related sites can be found: http://www.susan-laine-author.fi/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susan.laine.author

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Laine_Susan

Author bio: “Susan Laine, a Finn through and through, was raised by the best mother in the world. She told her daughter time and again that she could be whatever she wanted to be. It still took Susan discovering the gay erotic romance genre before she dared to take the leap into the publishing world.

Her formal education revolves around anthropology, but her hope is to be a full-time writer. Susan enjoys hanging out with her sister and friends in movie theaters and bookstores. Her other pastimes include walking, swimming, and fantasizing about sizzling hot manlove. Some of her likes are pop music, chocolate, and doing the dishes, and a few dislikes are sweating hot summer days, tobacco smoke, and purposeful prejudice.

Visit Susan’s website at www.susan-laine-author.fi/ or write her an email at susan.laine@hotmail.com”

Review: Femme Faux Fatale by Susan Laine

Mystery. Murder. Men in silk stockings. Hollywood nights are heating up.

Hardboiled Los Angeles PI Cain Noble is hired by wealthy and gorgeous Camille Astor to find her husband and a priceless work of art, both of which have disappeared.

At the nightclub owned by Mr. Astor, Cain encounters the mesmerizing Lily Lavender, who has the body of a goddess and the sultry voice of an angel—but is really a young man named Riley who attracts trouble like a magnet.

What’s a private dick in the vein of LA’s bygone era and a cross-dressing burlesque starlet to do when faced with the hidden decadence and lethal dangers of the Hollywood Hills? They have their work cut out for them because they haven’t even scratched the surface of an elaborate scheme more twisted than anyone could ever have imagined.

I liked the story for the nostalgia it gave me of the classic film noir, detective, whodunit and pulp fiction stories that I have loved for many years. That alone pulled me through the story and yet, I did find it hard to connect with.

Told mainly in the POV of our Private Dick, Cain Noble, the story begins with a bombshell walking into his office and life at the right time. Camille Astor is looking for her missing husband Sheridan as well as the missing piece of artwork that is worth a pretty penny or a few million. Camille and Sheridan are the owners of a burlesque club and seem to have an arranged marriage of sorts as she gives Cain information about his disappearance and he decides to take the case. What’s interesting about this first meeting with Cain and Camille is Cain’s carnal reaction to the woman. Cain is gay and has never had an attraction to a woman but he is lusting after Camille at first glance like an old Looney Tunes character with his heart beating out of his chest. Cain appreciates every inch of Camille and his lust is hard to temper.

But things aren’t as they seem in this book with the twists, turns, lies, deceit and gender bending that goes on. It makes the reading flow easily while you’re trying to figure out who is who, who they lied to and what really is going on.

I did like Cain but while I got the feeling of old school noir from him, his lack of knowledge about the film genre was contradicting. He as a great guy, the traditional anti-hero who did have a thing for pulp fiction novels and loved how the hero could fail, do the wrong thing but still save the day and yet, I couldn’t fully connect with him. I did like how he fell hard for Riley both as himself and as Lily. Cain found himself a new kink when he finds a lover who likes to dress in feminine clothing and lingerie. THAT I loved and got but I never quite meshed with Cain.

If he was really honest with himself, he would have wanted to undress Lily so as to relish his lace panties and silk stockings, to savor the padded push-up bra and tight form-fitting cocktail dress, to slowly do away with the feminine trappings and reveal the masculine treat underneath.

Riley… well it was the same with him. I am not sure what it was but while I liked Riley, I never bonded with him nor really felt the connection between him and Cain. I liked who Riley was as himself and all that brought him to be a burlesque performer. I loved that he liked feminine clothing and that he found Cain irresistible from the beginning. I know how he felt about Cain and I know how Cain felt about Riley because I was told how they felt. I just never got a chance to feel it.

 
The mystery was done well with the twists and turns with who everyone was and who was behind it all. I liked the quoting of old movies and the genuine feel of the story, I just never felt it like I wanted to. Maybe it is just me? Who knows? It wasn’t a bad read at all, I liked it. I just wanted to feel more romance in it than I did.

An ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Dreams and Expectations (Before... and After, #4) by Susan Laine

At what point are differences irreparable?

Tom McAllister and Nick Corwin have always had a comfortable friendship, even though Nick is a Native American webcomic artist and Tom’s father is a rigid Christian. But they’re about to discover growing up means more challenges than choosing a college major. It might mean making decisions that change pivotal relationships—or sever them.

When a bully confronts Tom and Nick and a dark, unsettling aspect of Tom emerges, Nick is shaken enough to end their friendship. As both young men struggle to balance their own dreams with the expectations of their families—both in terms of career and faith—they recognize the emptiness that parting ways has left in their lives. But when reconciliation leads to confessions that might mean something more than friendship between them, will it make their path easier to navigate or more difficult?

This series certainly has its ups and downs. I love the idea of it, best friends going from friends before to lovers after. The trope of friends to lovers has always been a favorite of mine but this installment had something missing.

For me, I didn’t feel Nick and Tom as a couple. I liked how close they were as friends and really wish the whole Bill incident didn’t happen as it did. I think had Tom not been physical and used homophobic slurs and maybe just defended Nick and then came to realize his feelings were more than platonic, the story could have been believable.

The first two stories in this series were more on the exploratory side of bisexuality or ones sexuality being fluid and I liked that. I am not sure why the author decided to throw violence into these last two but it has been a disservice to the romance of these young men. Though the violence was not aimed at either main character, Nick has a visceral reaction to how Tom dealt with the situation and it made this reader take a step back.

The friendship Nick and Tom has was enough to build upon with an “OMG I am butt crazy in love with my best friend” sort of story. They’ve been friends so long and really affectionate that the next step to exploring how they feel would have been organic had the violence not been there. But as it was, the story felt rushed and I can’t downshift that fast to get my head around Tom suddenly realizing he is in love with Nick.

The sex was completely unbelievable for me. It was over the top and borderline cheesy where again, keeping it simple and sweet while still being sexy is doable with a story like this because the author has given it to us with the first two books.

I don’t know. I am just disappointed with the road this series is taking and that makes me sad. This story had such promise to be sticky sweet with a true friends to lovers story and instead, I am left with a bad taste in my mouth.

Review: Train to Somewhere (Before... and After #3) by Susan Laine

It was only a game. Wasn’t it?

At a party one night, Charlie Dean’s childhood friend Will Tucker accepts a dare and dresses up as a girl: clothes, hair, makeup. Seeing Will that way incites a riot of confused emotions in Charlie—and he responds by lashing out. He never meant to hurt Will, and now he must do some serious damage control.

During a school trip by train, Charlie and Will share a sleeper cabin. Charlie intends to mend fences, while Will figures it’s as good a time as any to broach the subjects of attraction and sexuality. They want to get their relationship back on track. But after the secrets they both reveal, their friendship can never be the same.

Oh boy.

First let me say I really adored the first two books in the Before and After series. They were super sweet watching two best friends turn into lovers so I had high hopes going into this one.

But this was one hell of a jumbled mess with a lot of things gone wrong.

Unable to accept it, he’d freaked out and acted like a madman.

First, there should be a trigger warning on this book for abuse. What Charlie does to Will, his best friend, in the first chapter is abuse. Getting turned on by seeing your best friend dressed as a woman is not an excuse for the abuse Charlie dished out to Will. The author tells us from Charlie’s POV how Will is crying and begging Charlie to stop as Charlie decides he needs to destroy what Will has become to make himself feel better. Sure, Charlie feels bad for doing it while doing it but he doesn’t stop. He has flown into a blind and violent rage of emotion and took it out physically on his best friend.

Stomping into the connecting bathroom, Charlie slammed the door shut and locked it. Then he started to yank off Will’s dress. But it was tight and wouldn’t come off, certainly not with Will finally protesting and trying to pull back from the onslaught.

Charlie didn’t relent, though, and he tore at the dress. The sound of ripping fabric was stark in the confined space, echoing from the tiled walls.

“Charlie, please stop,” Will pleaded, fighting to shove Charlie away.

But driven by adrenaline born of rage, Charlie shredded Will’s dress till it lay in tatters on the floor, a scant few pieces still clinging to Will’s body. Then Charlie attacked the silk stockings, which came off without a hitch in thin strips, this time almost soundlessly.

“Ch-Charlie… stop…,” Will begged, tears in his eyes.

[…]

Will sat huddled in the bathtub in his wet underwear, hugging his knees. Black smears of makeup ran down his cheeks, and red smudges of lipstick still covered the sides of his mouth. He looked like a soaked puppy, miserable and confused. Charlie had never seen his best friend so despondent.

He looked… abused.

I think what may be worse is the way Will reacts to it after it’s over. He just needs to find Charlie, ask why and then forgives him? WTAF? I don’t care how long you are friends for, I would not want to see the dude who just abused me, HURT me so that I could find him, make sure HE is okay and then forgive him? Nope. That would never happen.

I was shocked by this event happening within the first pages and then the story just rapidly moves on to the friends now being okay because Charlie admitted he liked the way Will looked all femmed up. What’s super weird is this all happens in Will’s POV where he firmly states, “Neither of them was gay, bisexual, bicurious, or sexually fluid.” Now, I am not saying that people can’t go into a self-discovery mode and explore things they never thought were part of their sexuality but both Charlie was dating a woman at the time and Will had dated women before. Why do I mention this? Because after all is forgiven, we turn the page and the boys are now boarding a train for a school trip where Charlie has upgraded their tiny sleeping car to a suite so they can figure things out.

It was a bit of a whiplash experience being in this book. Everything happens fast and all of the sudden Will goes from being the abused boy to basically a teenage psychologist on LGBTQ labels with his degree awarded by Dr. Google. Again. WTAF?

“Charlie? You need to resolve this or you’re gonna end up in real trouble. Not just friend stuff but, like, mental issues.”

This book was a hot mess and not in a good way. It was way too short to tackle a subject matter like this. Charlie flew into a rage and hurt his best friend and Charlie did his because of his sexual reaction to a boy. There should have been some sort of counseling involved to deal with his rage reaction but no one tells anyone what happened up there, it’s kept a secret and the boys just go along being friends. That scene… it was sickening and reminded me of a brutal rape scene. I almost stopped reading right there but I wanted to see how or if anything would be resolved.

While on the train, Will decides with his new degree to try an experiment out on Charlie who has already hurt him once and who he is LOCKED in a train car with. This experiment? Will wants to see how Charlie reacts to him in heels and makeup, you know, to see if he goes any further with the abuse than he did the first time? Again. WTAF? I know they are all “I am sorry, I will never hurt you again” and “I trust you not to hurt me again” but really? How is this experiment anything that should have taken place? It was risky and it wasn’t smart at all.

A pain he couldn’t explain or account for wrenched Charlie’s heart and twisted his face. “Is… is this what you want to be now? Is this… who you are after all?” His voice cracked, and he had to look away or throw up. And he hated himself for feeling this way.

Especially when his dick stiffened, ferocious as a dog salivating after a bone.

“No,” Will replied.

Charlie’s head whipped up. He saw Will shaking his head and felt a profound confusion.

“Then… why?”

Will locked gazes with him, his eyes mesmerizing and steadfast. “To see your reaction.”

Charlie barked out a vicious laugh. “What, you testing me or something?”

“Verifying a hypothesis, I suppose.”

With all of this going on it’s not a surprise that there was never a connection for me with Charlie and Will as a couple. I barely wanted them to be friends after Charlie attacked Will. I read through the book with a feeling of unease and an upset stomach. I don’t think being confined to a small space with someone who hurt you less than a week ago was the next step this story should have taken. I definitely don’t think you decide you are what your friend needs to figure out their new sexuality. It was frustrating and frankly disgusting to have these two go down the path of a physical relationship in any matter so quickly.

On top of all I’ve already talked about, we turn the page and jump 10 years into the future?! Yeah, so after all Dr. Will and his Google degree have diagnosed Charlie as Demi/BiSexual and Will as Fluid with his sexuality, they decide they aren’t going to be boyfriends BUT if they are both single in 10 years, they will take on a relationship. So Charlie has been in love with Will for the last ten years that he’s been dating men and women and Will was in a relationship with a trans girl since about right after the train trip. But of course they are both now single and Charlie has booked the same room on the same train… a train to somewhere. *facepalm*

I wanted to fall in love with this book as I did with the first two but this tried to tackle some heavy issues and have it wrapped up in less than 100 pages. There is no way that could have been accomplished. There honestly was not one single thing about this book that I liked and it’s not one that I would recommend at all.

A copy provided for an honest review.

Blog Tour: An Island in the Stars by Susan Laine

Susan Laine is here today talking about her newest release & she's brought a teaser too!

Unicorns do love a good tease. 

Here’s the blurb:

“Sam, a geeky college freshman, has bigger problems than lusting after Marcus, sexy jock, college junior, and his big brother’s best friend. Chasing after a beanie caught in the winter wind turns into a tumble down the rabbit hole for them both—science fiction style.

Sam and Marcus find themselves trapped on a tropical island in the middle of a strange ocean on an alien moon. The sole structure is a ruined temple devoted to the art of love. Flustered, confused, and unable to return home, they need to figure out a means of escape from a hostile jungle teeming with dangerous life-forms.

In this tale where opposites attract and secret crushes are revealed, two very dissimilar young men discover they actually have a lot in common after all, but it will take their differences as much as their points of connection to survive on an island in the stars.”

Thank you kindly, BMBR, for having me here today. Hello, readers. I’m Susan Laine, an author with Dreamspinner Press. I’m here to talk about my upcoming novel, An Island in the Stars. It came out earlier this week, on June 12, 2017.

The topic today is erotic romance. If you’ve read the blurb, you know that my heroes, Sam and Marcus, are in college, secretly crushing on each other, and end up stuck in an ancient temple of love on an alien planet. Though the boys are young, there is lots of sensuality and explicit sex in the book.

I loved writing those scenes where the guys come face to face with the intricate, graphic nature of the temple and its deliciously tempting artwork. It was fun exploring how an alien species might view sex and have sex. It was intriguing to let go of the religious ideations and how oppressively religions view sexuality. I just went wild with all the multitude of ways to be intimate.

Here’s an exclusive teaser excerpt showcasing sensuality inside the temple:

The statues sprawled throughout the complex were magnificent and imposing with their realistic depictions, each muscle and tendon in its proper place. Their jeweled eyes glimmered eerily as they stood on stone plinths and raised daises, carefully observing Sam wandering about.

Their positions appeared far from threatening, though. Each and every mural, fresco, relief, carving, and statue depicted sex in some form.

The images appeared shameless, lifelike, and graphic, nothing held back. At any minute Sam half expected the shapes to come to life and step out of the walls and stone bases as living, breathing beings. He wondered what they might have thought of humans, who were smaller, weaker, and weird-looking. Would they wish to engage in love or war with Sam and Marcus?

Love certainly seemed to be their predominant pastime on the island. He saw singles, couples, threesomes, foursomes, and more, all the way to wild orgies. He saw things he had zero experience with and no name for.

If you liked that little scene, here’s the buy link: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/an-island-in-the-stars-by-susan-laine-8561-b

Thanks again to Boy Meets Boy for arranging this guest post.

You can find me:

ü  Website http://www.susan-laine-author.fi/

ü  Dreamspinner Press https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/authors/susan-laine-52

ü  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/susan.laine.author

ü  Twitter https://twitter.com/Laine_Susan

ü  Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Laine/e/B006HGQXRU/

Guest Review: An Island in the Stars by Susan Laine

Sam, a geeky college freshman, has bigger problems than lusting after Marcus, sexy jock, college junior, and his big brother’s best friend. Chasing after a beanie caught in the winter wind turns into a tumble down the rabbit hole for them both—science fiction style.

Sam and Marcus find themselves trapped on a tropical island in the middle of a strange ocean on an alien moon. The sole structure is a ruined temple devoted to the art of love. Flustered, confused, and unable to return home, they need to figure out a means of escape from a hostile jungle teeming with dangerous life-forms.

In this tale where opposites attract and secret crushes are revealed, two very dissimilar young men discover they actually have a lot in common after all, but it will take their differences as much as their points of connection to survive on an island in the stars.

Guest Reviewer: R *A Reader Obsessed*

Having never read any of Laine’s works but seeing the love for her Before and After series, I thought I’d give this a try due to the lure of a little sci-fi plus a favorite trope (falling for your brother’s best friend). That’s a heady combo, and I really had high hopes for this, but there were several components that just didn’t quite gel.

So yes, exceptionally smart Sam has nurtured a crush on Marcus for what has seemed like forever. Seeing as how Marcus is straight and is his complete opposite, it’s futile to have such feelings. What Sam doesn’t realize of course, is that said feelings are mutual. When happenstance causes Marcus to help retrieve Sam’s lost hat from a deep dark hole, this good deed somehow puts them in a wondrous world full of potential danger. Hence, entering the foreign realm is a mysterious but easy feat. Exiting however, is going to take a helluva lot more than lucky circumstance to get them out of their unfortunate predicament. The wild, tropical, eerie island that Sam and Marcus find themselves on is mind boggling, more so since it’s completely abandoned by the intelligent beings that once inhabited it. Instead, it’s populated with unbelievable beasts, large and small, and has a hostile environment that is difficult to predict. Are they stuck forever or can they work together utilizing their individual strengths to get them back home before this alien world gets the best of them?

Admittedly, the premise here is intriguing, but right from the start, both Sam and Marcus’s personalities were just a tad off, as it seemed like they were trying too hard to be the stereotypes of the geek and the jock the author portrays them as. They also both read younger than their ages of 17 and 20, and Marcus was alarmingly impulsive that just wasn't very believable. Granted, such things need to happen to spur the plot along, but it felt fabricated. When Sam and Marcus eventually discover their feelings are reciprocated, their actual love proclamations were lightning fast and didn’t ring true, despite the fact that they’ve known each other for years. It seemed like they still had a lot of getting to know each other to do before they could be 100% all in as they already were. Plus, while the new world itself should've been wonderful and fascinating, the speculation on the missing humanoids and the various fauna was tedious, as creature after creature is discovered, named, and hypothesized upon. The guys' innate “knowledge” of various things, especially the scientific aspects, was also a bit too convenient. Good thing Sam's a genius and can easily spout off on topics involving anthropology, physics, biology, and more!

I’ll stop there. I’m not one that typically nitpicks so extensively but this took me an inordinate amount of time to finish, and the above reasons contributed to that. I so wanted to love this. Despite my rambling regarding the uneven storytelling and dialogue, I could see the potential awesomeness! What didn’t hurt at all was that this was quite smexy, so there is that!! I’m not deterred from reading more Laine, but honestly, this just felt like a rough version of the final product - I really do look forward to exploring more from this author in the future and hope to do so soon!

A copy was provided in exchange for an honest review

Review: Kissing Lessons (Before... and After #2) by Susan Laine

A kiss is just a kiss. It doesn’t have to mean anything. Does it?

At seventeen, Merry’s never been kissed. Since he doesn’t want to disappoint his prom date, he asks his more experienced best friend, Boone, for some pointers. Surprisingly, Boone agrees to give him a hands-on lesson.

But they have no idea what they’re getting into.

They explore hundreds of ways to make out, but somehow it isn’t enough. A week later, they’re back together for another session. This time things go further than either of them planned, and their relationship becomes awkward and uncomfortable.

Have they learned enough to salvage their friendship and help it evolve? Their lessons have come to an end. They can either part ways forever… or share a true love’s kiss.

This story goes to show you don’t need full on penetrative sex to make a story romantic nor sexy. This was so ridiculously sexy and it was just kissing… everywhere.

Good lord. I have to say that the blurb made me want this because I am a huge sucker for friends to lover’s stories and asking your BFF to teach you how to kiss and then both of you absolutely getting into it? Sign me up. You see, one of my favorite friends to lovers’ stories comes from the God of Teen Angst Drama, John Hughes and his film, Some Kind of Wonderful.  Watts and Keith are best friends and Watts has had an unrequited crush on Keith for like FOREVER. When Keith finally gets a date with his dream girl Amanda Jones, Watts tells him she’ll let him practice on her so he can deliver a kiss that kills and that first kiss, how they start of tentative and then that grip of Keith’s on Watt’s hip… so freaking sexy. So yeah, this story was right up my lane of favorites and it did not disappoint.

One might think at the beginning of the story it’s odd to have Merry ask Boone to show him how to kiss and that Boone agrees without much hesitation. But, I will let you in a little secret so that you don’t think it’s so way out of left field...Boone has done this before. I’ll leave it at that and not go into more of a spoiler but this isn’t so “OMG! Why would two straight boys do this?” whereas it’s more of two friends feeling safe and secure enough to trust the other with something so vulnerable and intimate.

After saying all that I am going to say this is one hell of a hot story and yeah, I will stand by that even knowing Boone and Merry are only 17. Research will get you everywhere and it’s clear that Boone has researched all there is about kissing and the numerous ways to kiss. Most of the kisses I knew by name and most were adorable to start off with because how cute was the Eskimo and Butterfly kiss? I am one who liked Boone detailed instructions and naming of each kiss, it gave the reader and the boys a second to pause for station identification and move on to the next breathless lesson.

Getting both boys POV’s was so nice as with stories like this, it’s beneficial for me to know everyone's headspace. I loved being in both Boone and Merry’s head while they kissed and while they questioned this new attraction and love for their best friend.

This was deliciously sweet and sexy. I probably shouldn’t have read it at my desk as my blush is obvious on my fair skin but I couldn’t have stopped reading if I tried and I didn't try.  Boone and Merry have had their whole lives as best friends and now a simple question has led them down to road to more and I really hope they plant roots in a town called forever because yeah, they are that sticky sweet together.

Laine’s Before and After series is becoming one that I am looking forward to and can’t wait to see if the author offers up more stories and where she takes the next hopefully pair of best friends to lovers.

Review: After the Romance Novel (Before... and After #1) by Susan Laine

Romance novels always end with a happy ever after. Right?

Evan and Adam are best friends, but they don’t know everything about each other. For one thing, Adam doesn’t know Evan writes and publishes gay romance novels until he discovers one while snooping on Evan’s laptop.

This revelation changes their relationship in ways neither could’ve imagined. Adam’s reaction to reading Evan’s stories is not what he expected, nor is the new way he’s looking at his lifelong pal. After all, Adam is straight, or so he’s always thought, and that is what Evan believes about Adam as well.

When Evan admits he might be bisexual, Adam suggests he try dating girls to find out for sure, but when Evan follows his advice, Adam is caught off guard by his feelings of jealousy. And when the date proves Evan isn’t bisexual, but gay, Evan’s request that Adam find him a guy might be the last straw.

How can Adam admit he wants that guy to be him? His epiphany will either end their relationship—or change it into something wonderful in their very own friends-to-lovers romance.

This was short and sweet so I will keep my review the same.

“I’ve never felt like this. Never been attracted to a guy before.”

Adam and Evan have lived next door to one another for years. The boys are best friends who are comfortable around one another and in one another’s spaces. When Adam goes over to Evan’s and waits for him to get ready, he helps himself to Evan’s laptop to look up funny things on line and stumbles across a story… a gay romance between characters named Adam and Evan. At first Adam is shocked and then he can’t stop reading what is in front of him and it kinda turns him on. When Evan confronts him about invading his privacy, the boys have a quick chat about sexuality – Evan either being bisexual or pansexual – and where this leaves their friendship. They end on a positive note but Adam is having a few issues dealing with the fact that his best friend could possibly be more.

He couldn’t wrap his brain around the fact that Evan was someone new, a person separate from Adam’s mental picture of him.

I like that Adam starts to question things after buying and reading a few of Evan’s stories, in paperback no less. He is confused about how turned on he gets by Evan’s words, about the intimacy and sex between two men and when he goes out on a date with a girl that ends quickly, he really begins to question what turns his crank. The conversation he has with Evan after the date seemed honest on the part of both boys with Adam curious about Evan’s sexuality and Evan wondering where he would stand with Adam as a friend when he came out, either way. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and I love the journey these boys were seemingly about to go on.

I don’t wanna miss your firsts. I want them to happen with me.

With a story told from both Adam’s and Evan’s POV, we get to know each boy and how they feel about their best friend. We get Adam as he struggles with the new way he sees Evan and his sexuality and we get Evan pretty sure about who he is until he’s friend lays one hell of a big truth on him.

I loved that the boys really were best friends and knew one another and yet, this step from friends to boyfriends, this step from  buddies to lovers was one they wanted to get right regardless of how badly they wanted to get it on.

This was super sweet and even sexy at the end for a YA novel, but with Evan having all that research experience writing his novels and all the research that Adam began doing, it was only inevitable that they would end up tangled in the sheets heading toward an optimistic HEA.  

As this is listed as a first in a series, I am curious if they author will continue with this couple or bring in new ones to have more before and after’s. Either way, if the next books are as sweet as this? I’m in.

  

Find on Dreamspinner Press or Goodreads!