AUTHOR: NICO JAYE
Pages: 231KB
Date: 11/12/2013
Grade: 3.5
Details: Received from Less Than Three Press
Through NetGalley
Kindle / Own
The blurb:
When his regular masseuse is called
away on a family emergency, Tomas does not expect Darren, her temporary
replacement, to be such an attractive distraction. Tomas has always been a
serious, no-nonsense type of swimmer; after all, elite competition leaves no
room for unprofessional conduct. However, he finds it extremely difficult to
stay on the right side of the professional line with Darren tending to his
needs.
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This is going to be a
difficult review for me to write. I have absolutely no problems writing about
the books I love; those reviews tend to write themselves. And the only issue I
come across when I haven’t enjoyed a book is that I don’t want to sound to
negative about it; after all, what doesn’t work for me, may well be exactly
what another reader enjoys. Writing these reviews only becomes an issue when
the book I’ve read left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied.
There is not a whole lot
wrong with this novella. It was the easy to read story of two men who are
attracted to each other from the moment they first meet and for various reasons
fail to link up. And those reasons were legitimate and neither farfetched nor
drawn out.
When Tomas and Darren
first meet, Darren is in a relationship with someone else and Tomas, socially
awkward at the best of times, leaves the party before having the chance of
getting to know him. When the two men meet again it is because Darren has to
become Tomas’ masseur while his regular masseuse is away. And although Tomas,
the world-class swimmer and Darren are strongly attracted to each other, both
of them are determined to keep their distance because of the professional
relationship between them.
As soon as the need for
restraint is removed though, the two men engage in a beautiful and very steamy
encounter. An encounter that would lead anybody to think that more was sure to
follow. Much to Darren’s shock and disappointment though, Tomas seems to
withdraw after their one afternoon of passion. And it won’t be until Darren
finds the courage to confront Tomas about the distance he appears to be keeping,
that the two men discover how crossed their wires have been.
Like I said this is a nice
story. The problem is that while there wasn’t a whole lot wrong with it, the
story didn’t quite work for me either. Too much was left untold for my liking.
It is not just the two characters who are left guessing at what exactly is
going on between them. I found myself doing the same thing, and the story just
didn’t give enough explanation to clarify things for me. Even taking into
account that Tomas is not good at communicating his thoughts and feelings, I
had a problem understanding why he wouldn’t have told Darren exactly what he
was doing earlier on. And it would have been more in character for the socially
more than adapt Darren to open his mouth earlier, even if he was infatuated
with Tomas and afraid of what he might find out.
I never got a grip on
these characters. I felt I knew as much about them when I finished the book as
I did after reading the first chapter. I want a little bit more from the characters
in the books I read; I want to be able to get to know them – when I’m lucky
even attached to them – and that just didn’t happen in this novella.
As always, my reasons for
being less than blown away by this book may well be the result of my personal
quirks and tastes rather than any issue with the story. I can’t deny that this
was a very easy to read novella. At no point did my ‘issues’ make me want to
put the book down or walk away from it. The writing is smooth, if a bit
unrevealing and the idea behind the story is great. Personally I can’t help
feeling that this story could have done with being a bit longer or a bit more
emotionally layered though.
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