Life or Something Scary Like That

Title: Life or Something Scary Like That
Author: T.C. Blue
Publisher: Torquere Books
Genre: Contemporary M/M
Length: Novel ( 55K, 233 pages)
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Summary review: An ‘opposites attract’ romance with protagonists you will love, even though they can’t see the obvious.

THE BLURB

When Jack Cutler’s roommate Paul ditches him to move in with his pregnant girlfriend, Melissa, he recommends someone else to take his place: Melissa’s brother, Cliff. Cliff is young and hot, but Jack is sure that Cliff is straight. And even once Jack learns the truth, he knows he’s not right for Cliff. Cliff wants the real thing, commitment, and Jack’s not heading down that path again. When jealousy flares once Cliff starts dating someone, Jack must re-evaluate his position on long-term relationships and whether he wants to risk one with Cliff.

When Cliff gets sick, the shaky foundation of Jack and Cliff’s relationship is tested. Even so, sometimes true love really does conquer all, for the moment, anyway.

THE REVIEW

Jack and Paul were best friends so it made sense that they should move into an apartment together as they had been roommates in college for 5 years. But it didn’t quite work out that way as Paul decided on move-in day that he would much rather room with his girlfriend Melissa who was expecting his child. This created a problem for Jack since he couldn’t afford the apartment on his own, but Paul and Melissa had a great solution which was that Melissa’s 21 year old brother Cliff should share Jack’s apartment and the expenses. Jack wasn’t happy but he didn’t have much choice since he was in a bind. So Cliff moved in, and far from the skinny nerd Jack was expecting Cliff turned out to be hotter than hell. There was just one problem, he was straight, or so Jack thought.

Cliff had his own issues. His ex had cheated on him and he had no intention of falling for Jack to whom he was attracted, as he soon realized he was a man-whore. He had had sex only once since his break-up with his ex Nicky and even though his right arm was getting tired, Jack was definitely not ‘relationship’ material so he was not going there. Over the next few days as they eyed each other warily and fantasized about having sex, Jack bemoaned the fact that Cliff was straight and wished he would stop walking around the apartment in his sweats with no shirt. It got so bad that he decided to find other men to take his mind off Cliff, but every guy he picked up at his favourite bar looked like Cliff. After 4 years of celibacy Jack was on a roll with his one night stands  – his last relationship had ended tragically years ago, and he vowed never to be vulnerable again. Every night he brought someone new home and poor Cliff had to listen to them having sex through the very thin bedroom walls.

Things came to a head when Ben, one of Jack’s former hook-ups, saved Cliff from being raped after he was drugged in a gay bar. When Ben took him home and explained the situation to Jack and angrily demanded why he would let Cliff go to a gay bar without explaining what to look out for, Jack was shocked when he realized that Cliff was not straight. What should his next move be? He wanted Cliff badly but he knew that he was looking for a relationship and Jack was definitely not interested in anything more than a fling. If he hurt Cliff, Paul and Melissa would kill him, but his libido was out of control. Also, he was even more frustrated now that he knew Cliff was gay. While he was trying to make up his mind it appeared that Cliff had found someone, Ben, who was always around and spent most of his time in his bedroom. Could Jack find a way to be with Cliff without hurting him and coming between him and Ben? And what did Cliff want? Eventually one day when they were both home alone they decided to go a movie and the popcorn did them in. 🙂 But would the path of true love run smoothly given that they wanted different things? The one thing they knew for sure was that the sex was the best they had ever experienced, and they wanted to spend every waking moment in bed having sex

This book had two very well drawn protagonists that I liked a great deal as well as the secondary characters, Ben, Paul and Melissa who were just as three dimensional in addition to being extremely funny, especially Melissa.  The prose and dialogue also flowed well but there were so many sub plots and misunderstandings between Jack and Cliff I wondered if they would ever get together. Everyone around them could see the smouldering glances they directed at each other when they thought no one was looking, and it was obvious they wanted more than sex, although there was no doubt they were on fire for each other,  but neither one was prepared to take that first step. Even after they did have sex and couldn’t bear to be apart they could not seem to ‘get’ that this was really what they had been looking for. If there was a way to screw things up you bet they found it.

Life did have many funny moments and here’s one, as Cliff is talking to Ben about his homophobic brother Ronny

I have a big brother, and I doubt he’d piss on me if I was on fire. Hell, he’s probably going to tear me a new one at the wedding, just because he can’t stand his fag brother living with another fag. He seems to think that just because I’m gay, I’m fucking everything with an asshole.” Cliff chuckled softly, trying not to jar his aching head too much. “I’ve had two lovers in my whole life, and one of those was very serious, but Ronny’s sure I’m not only an AIDS-riddled slut but a danger to all men everywhere. Apparently I’ve got a magic ass that seduces even straight guys into fucking men.” He rolled his eyes.

I had a few niggles, the major one was a  Big Misunderstanding – Jack never realized that Cliff was gay until Ben told him. How was it possible for someone as smart as Jack to miss the signs? I guess gaydar is a myth. Also, why didn’t Paul or Melissa tell Jack Cliff was gay, since their plan was for Jack and Cliff to fall in love? It would have made sense if Jack knew all along that Cliff was gay. However there were many smaller misunderstandings and both Jack and Cliff seemed to be deliberately missing all the signals, as neither one had a clue which end was up. There was so much angst and indecision on the part of  both protagonists I wanted to smack their heads together, I was so frustrated. I realize that in books the romance is not  supposed to work out immediately, but these characters seemed to drag everything out. However in the end they managed to get their act together.

I liked Life or Something Scary Like That, I just wish that there was a little less angst, but that’s just me. T.C. Blue is an excellent writer and her characters are always well drawn. If you love angst you will have a wonderful time with the plot and the characters – even if you don’t, I think you’ll love the story.  The next book in this series is Ben’s story, Life Changes Everything which I’ll be reviewing in a few weeks. I’m looking forward to meeting all of these wonderful characters again in addition to Ben’s new love.

Highly recommended.