Still The One

Title: Still the One
Author: Shawn Lane
Publisher: Amber Allure
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Length: Novella (56 pages)
Rating: 3.75 Stars out of 5

Summary Review: A short, angst-free story about long-time lovers who have to decide what’s more important to them; their ambition, or being with each other.

THE BLURB:

The sequel to the Amber Allure best-seller The Best Gift…

Best friends, Malcolm and Dusty, have been together as a happy couple for five years. But now Malcolm’s budding career as a stage actor has taken an exciting turn, sending him across the country to Broadway just as Dustin’s dream of being named Head Chef at the restaurant where he works is coming true.

As the distance tests their relationship, can their love and friendship survive? Can Malcolm find a way to prove to Dusty he’s still the one?

THE REVIEW:

Anyone who read my review of The Best Gift will know that while I liked it, I didn’t feel it really worked as a complete story, more an introduction to the characters of Dusty and Malcolm. I was hoping that Still the One would ‘complete’ the earlier book, but in fact it goes off in a totally different direction, and while the good news is that this results in a book which feels like a self-contained story with a beginning, middle and end, the bad news is that the events in this new book don’t really feel connected to the strong, heady emotions of the earlier one.

Five years on from the events of the first book, Malcolm and Dusty are still in love with each other, but their lives have changed. Dustin has moved up from being a waiter to a Sous Chef in a prestigious restaurant, and has hopes of going further still. Malcolm has discovered a passion for acting – actually we’re told that he’s always loved the theatre – and has been taking part in lots of local productions, to some acclaim. Despite the couple’s devotion to each other, it’s clear there’s a growing separation between their worlds. Malcolm has been an integral part of his theatre group for four years, but Dusty doesn’t know any of Malcolm’s acting friends apart from one person, and what’s more, when Dustin meets Malcolm for drinks with this group, Malcolm is so caught up with them that he doesn’t notice his ‘friends’ being rude and snubbing Dustin. After being ignored by everyone, including Malcolm, for a few hours, Dustin ends up going home alone. Malcolm doesn’t even realise he’s left.

The next day Malcolm meets with a smaller group of three theatre friends for breakfast. From Malcolm’s POV we can see that despite his apparent absorption in the group, he doesn’t really like or approve of them very much. But they tell him that a Broadway director (a friend of one of the group) has seen all of them in their latest play, and wants the four of them to go to New York and audition for his new show. I’m not a theatre professional so I could be wrong, but this seems a little implausible to me, because it’s the sort of chance that any professional actor would carve out their own kidney for, and it just drops into the laps of not one, not two, but FOUR people. Malcolm isn’t even a full-time actor; he’s still working on his M/M romances. But if anyone knows more about this process than I do and would like to correct me in the comments, feel free.

Malcolm, displaying that tendency to be rather easily led which got him into trouble in the first book, immediately agrees to go to New York with the group, despite realising that if he’s successful he could be away from Dustin for many months or even need to move permanently. He knows Dustin can’t go with him, because Dustin is counting on the Head Chef at his restaurant retiring soon and giving him a shot at the position.

Although he has mixed feelings on hearing that his lover is leaving, Dustin is completely supportive. Malcolm feels anxious and unsure if he’s doing the right thing, but he shortly departs for New York, where he and all his friends are successful in getting the parts they auditioned for (again, this seems rather unrealistic, but I guess it could happen, so I’ll say no more).

We don’t get any details about the play, or what rehearsals or the performances are like for Malcolm. All we know is that the play is a success, so Malcolm stays in New York. Meanwhile back in LA Dustin gets the opportunity to become Head Chef, which he’s been working toward for years, and he accepts.

Malcolm is becoming more and more disillusioned both with his friends and the NY party lifestyle they try to drag him into. Dustin, unaware of Malcolm’s unhappiness, is starting to wonder if his partner will ever come home and if this is the end for them. Clearly one or both of them needs to make a decision on what their future is, and what is most important to them: career or love.

Still the One has many good points; once again the writing is solid, and the love scenes (there are quite a lot for such a short story) are really sweet, show-casing the intimacy and beauty of a relationship where each partner knows the other inside out. The author allowed the characters development and change, which was realistic given the five year gap between this book and the events of the first one. I also know that for many people the lack of conflict will make this a soothing read.

Personally, though, I could not get excited about Still the One. Something felt missing. The characters are supposed to be going through a really difficult period in their relationship, dealing with tough choices and being apart – and yet neither of them ever lost their temper with the situation or with each other. Even though their ambition to gain success in their different careers was strong enough to cause them to voluntarily separate, neither of them took any satisfaction in that success when they got it. Malcolm in particular didn’t really seem to care about his work as an actor at all, but just allowed his theatre friends to sweep him along, even when it put his relationship in danger. Given how long it took for the situation to be resolved, this made Malcolm feel rather weak, and also weakened the story’s ending, because nothing important had to be sacrificed for them to have their HEA.

All in all, if you like very straight-forward stories where there is no angst, Still the One may be for you. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for me.