Everybody Wants Somebody

Title: Everybody Wants Somebody
Author: Shara Bloodstone
Publisher: Amber Allure
Genre: M/M contemporary romance
Length: Extended Novella (30k)
Rating: 2.75 stars out of 5

A guest review by Jenre

Summary Review
A so-so romance about an aspiring screen writer who joins a fledgling production company and finds the star actor very attractive.

THE BLURB

When writer Ken Harrison meets sexy, ultra-famous soap star Patrick Shaunessy, the passion between them is unexpected, but oh-so-delicious. Not only do they have much in common with jobs in the entertainment industry, they also have an opportunity to work together when Patrick and one of Ken’s friends form an independent film company and ask Ken to write a screenplay for their first production. Ken is thrilled that his wildest dreams are finally coming true—he’s found the man he believes is the love of his life at the same time his career goals are coming to fruition.

Patrick shares Ken’s feelings, and would love nothing more than to be with the man he’s certain is his soul mate. But Patrick’s personal life is complicated and his professional life even more so. He’s not out to his producers and his millions of female fans. And an old commitment of the relationship sort has a tight hold on him, with a constant threat of his secret being exposed if he tries to walk away from it.

Torn between their feelings for one another, their careers, what they want and what they know is right, the two men have to face the choice between losing each other, or risking everything to be together…

THE REVIEW

Ken is a former dancer turned writer who has joined together with producer Foster and lawyer Ely to form an indie film company. Their big star is Patrick who is currently a household name as a soap star but wants to use the film company to launch his big screen career. A year prior to the story Patrick and Ken had a single night of passion together and now Ken is hoping for a repeat of that and perhaps to strengthen the emotional connection he feels to the actor.

I was attracted to this book because I liked the idea of a story set in and around the world of show-biz, and particularly that of the behind the scenes work that goes on with producers and writers. I’ve also not read anything before by this author and I’m always keen to try out someone new. In the end, I found this story quite disappointing. Fans of the author may like it, but there were a number of things which didn’t work for me.

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, was that I found it difficult to like the first person narrator, Ken. First person narration relies heavily on the reader having some sympathy and a general attraction to the narrator. I found Ken internal voice and the way he looked at the world rather disagreeable. I think he was supposed to be seen as having a sharp, sardonic wit but instead I found him to be superior, condescending and smug. The way he describes people who do not fit into the Hollywood idea of beauty was quite insulting and he also has a plank sized chip on his shoulder about the fact that he comes from a poor background, as opposed to many of the people he works with who come from wealthy backgrounds. All this meant that I didn’t really care about Ken, about his romance with Patrick, or whether his screenplay would ever see the light of day.

The second part which didn’t work for me was in the relationship between Ken and Patrick, and the way that Patrick is so obviously stringing Ken along. Patrick has a long term lover, Tyler, and he constantly promises Ken that he’s going to break things off with Tyler because he feels a connection between them that he no longer feels with Tyler. Tyler himself never makes an appearance in the book and is described several times as being “vindictive” but I had no idea whether that was true or not, or whether it was something that Patrick was telling Ken in order to avoid breaking things off with Tyler. After making these promises, Patrick would back off from Ken and suggest that they remain friends so that he can talk to Tyler and break things off. However, after saying that to Ken, Patrick would initiate sex with Ken a couple of pages later and tell him how emotionally close he feels to Ken and how sexually compatible they are. Thus their relationship jumps backwards and forwards so quickly it made me feel dizzy. I just didn’t know whether to believe anything that Patrick said to Ken, which meant that by the end of the book I heartily disliked Patrick and found it difficult to trust him.

After reading through pages and pages of possible lies, infidelity and disagreeable characters, I at least thought the book would have a satisfactory ending. Unfortunately the book ends with nothing resolved. I can’t even call it a HFN because neither character is happy with the way things are with their relationship at the end. I suppose there was a note of hope, but nothing which made me feel that these two men could have a future together.

Added to the above was a number of scenes or parts of scenes where nothing happened. For example they go to parties and Ken sneers at everyone there, then they go home, or Ken meets a singer at another party or Ken spends the day writing. None of these scenes had much to do with the main thrust of the plot and I can only assume they were included to show what the life of a Hollywood writer is like. There are also a number of incidental characters, many of whom I kept getting muddled in my head, who again seemed to serve no purpose in the book.

Overall, I found very little for me to recommend in this book, except that it was short and pacey. The sex scenes were well written and I did get a sense that Ken had genuine feelings for Patrick and wanted things to work out between them. Having said that there may be readers out there who would connect with Ken, in which case I think you would enjoy this book. Personally, I didn’t enjoy it but I am just one reader and there may be some who would disagree with everything I’ve said.