To the Max by Julie Lynn Hayes

Title: To the Max
Author: Julie Lynn Hayes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance/Paranormal/Shifter
Length: Novel (350 pages)
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Guest review by Lily

BLURB

What’s a man to do, I ask you, when his own mother is more accepting of his lycanthropy than his homosexuality? I’ll tell you what I do: absolutely nothing. (I’m really a laid-back kind of guy, despite that werewolf thing.) Maximillian Jean-Baptiste Montague, at your service. But please, call me Max. I write a syndicated column—To The Max—offering advice to the romantically challenged, and I think I’m doing pretty well for myself. Yet I can’t seem to find the backbone to stop my mother from setting me up on blind dates of the female variety. Go figure.

I do my best to get along, not cause any trouble, and keep my life on an even keel. But right now somebody’s rocking my dream boat, and I don’t like it. Not one little bit. My longtime live-in lover Richard is coming and going without explanation. Amy Rose, a wannabe lover from my past, is back in town, and she’s brought her nephew, Morgan, who is making a play for my Richard—why does no one see that but me? And on top of all that, my mother is dating a homophobic minister, and she wants to “cure” me. Can life get any worse?

REVIEW

Maximillian ‘Max’ Montague lives a bit of a crazy life. He’s a werewolf, gives advice to the lovelorn in a syndicated newspaper column, his family and his best friend like to get in his business and Richard, his lover of over twenty years has a habit of leaving and coming back with no explanations. On top of that his Mother still doesn’t fully accept his homosexuality and an old wanna-be girlfriend is back in town and she’s brought someone with her who wants to steal his boyfriend away.

The story is told through Max’s POV and at first he seems to be a likable guy with a complicated life but after a while I found him to be a weak and whiny man. He’s totally in love with Richard and they’ve been in a ‘committed relationship’ for twenty years. During this time Richard apparently likes to take off and do whatever it is he wants to leaving Max brokenhearted and crying until Richard decides to waltz back. No explanations given or asked for. When they are together Richard is very nice and loving but how Max puts up with that kind of behavior from him for so long was a mystery to me. This made Richard a totally unlikable character in my eyes even though when they are together he seemed nice. The story is told using flashbacks from the time they met to the present and after a while I was a bit tired of flipping back and forth. By the time I reached the end and Richard’s activities are explained it just wasn’t enough for me to change my mind about him or Max.

Max’s relationship with his family and best friend is often chaotic as well. Even though his mother loves Richard and they’ve been together so long she still wants to see Max marry and have kids. Things get worse when she starts seeing a preacher who of course is totally against homosexuality. Then there’s the nosy meddling best friend and a woman from his past who wants to be much more than a friend. She comes with an added complication, her cousin who sets his sights on Richard.

Another complication in Max’s life is that he is a werewolf. This subplot had me a bit puzzled throughout. Are werewolves known to exist or like in real life are they considered just a myth or legend? My confusion stems from how easily those that know his secret accepted it versus how he doesn’t want people to find out. Also, he is the only werewolf in this story and there is no mention of him knowing others. During the full moon Max has always locked himself away so that he has never experienced running and hunting under the moon much less been with a pack. I think the story would have worked just as well without the werewolf subplot.

I first saw this book on the coming soon page at Dreamspinner and was intrigued by the blurb. It sounded like an entertaining and fun story and I also liked the cover. Unfortunately while there are some entertaining scenes and sometimes Max’s musing would bring a smile to my face overall I was disappointed and towards the end I sometimes had to force myself to continue reading.

These are just my opinions and if you like the sound of the book  you may find you like it once you’ve read it. However, I can’t recommend it.