Title: Neon Yellow: Obsessive Adhesives
Authors: Andy Slayde & Ali Wilde
Publisher: Torquere
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Length: Novella (34,200 words)
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
A Guest Review by Cole
Review Summary: A good story with characters I liked, but which ultimately fell short on it’s stalking sub-plot.
BLURB
What happens when a shy accountant goes from being invisible to Mr. Popularity? He gets scared… and lucky, that’s what. Spencer Whitfield is used to being ignored. When explicit Post-It notes regularly start appearing on his computer monitor, he’s sure someone is having a laugh at his expense. Stalker? Don’t be silly, who’d want to stalk Spencer?
Jason Doyle, hot IT tech, can have any man he wants. He wouldn’t give the painfully shy Spencer a second thought. Breakfast, a James Bond double feature and a Chinese Good Luck Banquet for Two change all that. As the men become closer, the notes become more threatening, until it all comes to a head early one Sunday morning. No one knows why shy geeky accountants get all the boys, but Spencer certainly deserves the special one he has.
REVIEW
Neon Yellow: Obsessive Adhesives tells the story of Jason and Spencer. Jason is a playboy. Well, maybe not a playboy, but he certainly never wants for a date. He is easy-going, incredibly sexy, self-assured, and until his friend Sky settled down with his partner, Jason was content to play the field and have as much fun as he could on a nightly basis. Now, seeing how happy Sky is with his new man, Jason decides that it couldn’t hurt to keep his eye out for someone that could give him more than a night of fun, and almost immediately, Jason realizes that he’s already found that person and has been looking at him across the office for months. Spencer puzzles Jason. At first thought Spencer seems bland and boring — an accounting nerd. Yet, the more he gets to know Spencer and the more he gets the shy man to blush, he realizes that Spencer is possibly one of the most interesting men he has ever met. Behind the glasses, the button down and bland office attire, and away from the office where Spencer is always dutifully at work, Jason comes to know a new side of Spencer — passionate, innocent, and beautiful.
To Spencer, Jason represents the unattainable man. He is sexy and outgoing and Spencer cannot allow his new attentions to go to his head. He knows that for men like Jason, this innocent flirting is just a fun game. The minute he gives in, Jason’s attentions will wander somewhere else and he, painfully shy and a virgin at 22, will be heartbroken. Why would someone like Jason be interested in him anyway? Surely it must be some kind of game. Spencer is used to games and he is used to being picked on, bullied, and made fun of — which is why he gives no thought to each successive neon yellow post-it note attatched to his computer screen every morning at work. For the past month these little notes have been waiting for him and as time passes they seem to get more and more dangerous. What most would consider stalking, Spencer knows is probably just an office game to make fun of him again, or possibly to out him in front of everyone. Then, as he gets to know Jason on a personal level and finds that the man isn’t like the persona he projects, the notes become dangerous, ultimately leading to vandalism, breaking and entering, and a possible threat on Jason’s life.
This book is a good, solid read. I liked the characters quite a bit. I sometimes felt like we could have gotten to know Jason a bit better, as much of the story focuses on Spencer, but they were both well drawn and likeable. I liked reading about a character like Spencer who is incredibly innocent, but not for some dramatic reason or by nefarious outside actions in his past — he is simply a shy man who has found life easiest to navigate by staying alone and keeping out of other people’s ways. I liked that when he found he could trust Jason, we saw him bloom before our eyes. Spencer is incredibly passionate about geology. He is a self-professed rockhound, spending whatever free time he has in Herkimer, NY looking for Herkimer Diamonds. The progression of their relationship is slow, though it only spands a couple of weeks. The romance part of the story was done pretty well, though I would have liked to see a bit more time go by in the middle, before the climax of the story, just so that the changes in Spencer didn’t seem rushed.
For all that this book had going for it, however, I still wish there had been more, simply because it didn’t feel complete. Perhaps the reason is that I’m tired of reading about the stalker theme, but I didn’t feel like this aspect of the novel worked. The suspense and abject fear work well to bring Jason and Spencer together, but the rest of the sub-plot didn’t make much sense. If the story had been significantly lengthened so that we have time to get to know all of the secondary cast of characters well (as they are, they aren’t really fleshed out), the the identity of the stalker would have made sense. As the story progressed and neared the scene which reveals the stalker and all of the plot comes together, I didn’t really have any candidates for who it could be. It is a bit like a mystery in the way it should be constructed — there should be some red herrings and a plethora of secondary cast members, where from 2-4 should be possible candidates and 1-2 probable candidates. Yet, I didn’t even know the possible suspects that they considered and we only met one of the characters who they considered might be the stalker on the page. So, when the time came for the big reveal, it fizzled and didn’t pack the punch that I had hoped for, simply because I had no clue why this character was stalking Spencer. In essence, it felt like the whole sub-plot was present to capitalize on the hurt/comfort theme, and when you take it away, then the story is actually a sweet romance that I would have enjoyed reading much more by itself.
There were a few other things that bothered me, though I enjoyed the story overall (minus the plotline mentioned above). For much of the book, I thought the setting was in Australia, then later that a character was possibly an Aussie, simply from some of the terms used like “Brekkies” and the lack of Americanized dialogue. Later in the book it is made clear that they are indeed in upstate New York and that both characters are American, so I assumed this was something the authors missed. Also, this book is one of the few cases that could have really benefitted from an epilogue (I rarely think they’re really needed), because I never felt like the sexual aspect of Spencer and Jason’s relationship was fully satisfied. I know, I know, it isn’t all about the sex! But, in a story where one character is a virgin and finds that man who he wants to take his virginity, well… you get the picture as to why I felt like I had been all worked up and then missed the payoff.
Still, after all of the problems that I found with the book, I still really liked these characters. That is, ultimately, what made the book enjoyable for me and why I still found the book to be a pleasant read. I would recommend this book to fans of the authors and those that are interested in geology or the hurt/comfort theme, but would caution readers not to expect too much from the stalker subplot.
Nice review, Cole, and I appreciate you pointing out what did and didn’t work for you.
I’ve been planning to get this one since I first heard about it and I still plan on doing that since I really enjoy Andy & Ali’s writing. They work really well together as a team (in my not-so-humble opinion). 😛
I do wonder whether the location-confusion might be because one of them lives in Australia whilst the other really is in upstate NY, though. Maybe they just don’t notice the ‘Aussie-isms’ after working together so long and so well? 🙂
Either way, I’m going to pick this up in the next week or so. I’ll let you know what I think, if you like. *hee*
~Tis
Hi Tis!
Yes, please do let me know what you think 🙂 I’d love to hear your opinions. I figured that the Aussie bits were something that probably fell through the cracks from time to time. That makes sense.
You’re right that they work well together as a team, and I often notice that the paired authors usually have more distinguished main characters, which this book did very well and was the main reason I liked it. I just loved Spencer, but I loved Jason as well 🙂
All right, let me know what you think when you’ve read it, I’m excited to hear 🙂
Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed parts of the story. 🙂
Will do, Cole. Though it might be a bit longer than I thought. I’ve decided to re-read the first two stories just so I’m up to speed. LOL
~Tis
Thanks TC. You know… I am so used to saying Brekkie now that it doesn’t seem like an Australianism. We’ll blame Ali 😉
Andy! 😀
*laughs* Seriously, ‘brekkie’ wouldn’t even register with me either. I spent WAY too much time with the English (characters and in RL) to notice. Hear something often enough and it creeps into your day-to-day vocabulary. LOL
That said… yes. It’s Ali’s fault! 😛
Looking forward to reading the story, though I might re-read ‘Sandalwood’ and ‘Mist’ first, just to make sure I’m up to speed! *hee*
~Tis
Hi Cole isn’t it amazing what people can use to weave stories around? yellow sticky notes and geology, what an exotic mix! Thank you for your thorough review, this book looks interesting to me now where I wouldn’t have looked at it before. Goes on my TBR.
Hi Feliz!
Yes, I know 🙂 I’m not sure of course, but they probably came up with the story from the color prompt on the Torquere submissions list, which asks for stories based around a color. Give me neon yellow and I probably would have thought of Post-its too 🙂 I love seeing how other people’s imaginations run in different directions from mine, because when I think of Post its, I probably would have thought…post-its — bookmarks — libarian! and gone off on a different story all together 🙂
This is a good book and I hope you enjoy it 🙂 I certainly loved the characters!
It is amazing how one thing like a sticky note could yield so many different stories. Rock Hounds need more stories 🙂
I really liked the book 😆
I can´t talk about the dialogue, but all the Aussies references make sense to me considering the ending of the prequel. I didn´t feel confused about where they were.
“I still wish there had been more” me too, me too “simply because it didn’t feel complete” It´s one of these endings where the reader is left to imagine how things go from that point, but I think it works well in this series.
I didn´t have much problem with the subplot (the stalker was actually in my maybe culprit list 😕 ) and I think it played well considering the length of the book.
Now, I really want Thad to get his story 😉
As always, thank you for your review 😎
Thank you. Thad will have his story -I promise 😉
I forgot to say that I would love to read Thad’s story! But first, I am going to go back and read Sandalwood and a Potato and Mist Grey, both of which are on my TBR lists, but I didn’t think they were connected at all, or I would have read them first.
Thad seems popular with readers. He will get his and he will also make a cameo in the story we are writing now. I’ll also say that Vanilla:The Dominant Ingredient is a prequel to Mist Gray. Vanilla is Cameron and Ajay’s story.
Hi Helena!
Prequel? What was the prequel? This has happened to me before with Torquere, where I have reviewed a book because I didn’t know from the publisher that it in was a series…
I probably didn’t make my meaning clear in the review, because what you said makes a lot of sense. I didn’t think the book ended too early, I liked the ending (Though I would have liked that one extra sex scene I talked about!), but I just felt like there were some things within the story missing, like characterizations of other characters and a lot of background to set up the stalking subplot.
I suppose the reason why I mentioned that I didn’t know who the stalker could be, is that I didn’t know who any of those characters were. Sure, we meet a couple of them and the rest get only a couple of sentences saying that they are a nice guy or that they are shy or straight so it would be implausible for them to be stalking Spencer. But, for all we know they could be the stalker. We don’t really know anything about them, the same for the character who actually was the stalker… why? We meet him, yes, but he’s basically an extra in the story…
Yes, I understand what you mean. I know that sometimes authors have a word count they must adhere to as well, but if the general submissions guidelines to the color box books for TQ apply here as they’re stated on the website, there is no requirement as long as they are at least 10k. IMO, I think that the book should live up to it’s potential first, then adhere to word count, if there is any requirement at all, which in this case it doesn’t seem that there is.
I know that I’ve gotten a lot tougher with my reviews the more that I have read. A few months ago I would have probably given this 4.25-4.5 stars. And I suppose the reason why I’ve been nitpicky with this particular book is that I really like it and wish I could have liked it on all counts. 🙂
Sandalwood and a Potato features Nathan and Sky. Both take place in Summerset. There are author extras for these stories as well on my LiveJournal.
http://andy-slayde.livejournal.com/17756.html#cutid1
Jason and Spencer might have a short story in their future that would deflower my dear Spencer.
Hi Andy,
I would LOVE to read that! I’ll try to check every now and then, but I don’t have LJ, so if you do ever write one will you try to remember to let me know? I loved these characters, which is why I probably wanted to read that scene so bad 🙂
I’m so glad you liked the characters. That story is on the list of things to write. I’ll let you know, I’ve bookmarked this page and will comment when it’s available.
Thanks Andy! I’ll also keep checking with your Livejournal for the Free Reads 🙂
Cole, Just in case you are interesed
Aunt Lynn did a review of Mist Gray: Falling Apart, Falling Together (part of another series) that as Tam points out includes Avery, character that is mentioned in OA.
btw I would highly recomend the author extras :bravo:
Thank you Cole for explaining in deep your views, it´s always interesting to compare opinions and understand the reasons behind them 😎
Hi Helena,
Thanks for being gracious, I thought after I replied to your comment that I may have come off as argumentative 😕 but I really just felt a lot for the book and wanted to talk about it 😀
I am definitely going to go back and read the other books by these authors now. Mist Grey and Sandalwood and a Potato have been languishing in my TBR pile for a long time now and, if I had known there was any connection, I would have read them first. Anyway, thanks for the reply!
Cole, no prob, you didn´t. I appeciate you took time to futher clarify things 😎
I really liked this one but it helps a bit if you read Sandalwood and a Potato first because that is Sky and Nathan’s story and there is also mention of Avery from Mist Grey although he’s not a character per se. It would definitely let you get to know Sky and Nathan and their issues. The authors told me they tend to weave in people from other books and so perhaps one of the reasons this appealed to me more was I got the chance to see Sky and Nathan again, a bit like a revist with old friends.
I know not everyone is into the stalker storyline these days but it didn’t bother me too much.
It’s interesting, I (can’t speak for Ali she’s asleep Down Under) wanted the stalker point to be down played to reflect Spencer’s view of it being a joke. It gets more attention when he realizes it is a threat. Live and learn, next time we’ll flesh it out more :smile
As for revisiting characters, well they’re a pushy bunch and like more attention. One day I will make a map of Summerset and the surrounding areas.
Hi Andy!
As always, take my opinion with a grain of salt. It seems like other readers and reviewers didn’t have a problem with the stalking subplot, so it might be just me. Like I said in the review, I would have liked more on the possible candidates to understand who and why, but I also could have dealt with the loss of that whole plotline all together, simply because I would love to read about those two characters any day 🙂
I still hope you saw this as a positive review, even though I talked about the problems I had with the book, because I really did love the book, and I especially loved Spencer and Jason 🙂
I’m looking forward to reading Sandalwood and a Potato and Mist Grey!
I did take it as positive and thank you for it. Your comments will help us with future stories – in theory anyway 🙂
We’ll at least write that scene for you. We left it out on purpose. Spencer wasn’t going to give it up anytime soon. No matter how hot Jason is or how much Spencer wants it.
Okay, that makes sense then 🙂 You don’t have to go and write it now or anything like that… I’d just like to read it if you ever do end up writing it. Thanks 🙂
Hi Tam!
I love it when authors do this too, and I probably would have been more excited about the story if I had read the others first — oh well. I probably would have felt the same about the stalker situation though, but that is just my preference. I felt like the stalker subplot became maybe more involved than they intended, because it affected Jason and Spencer’s relationship quite a bit… I don’t know, that’s my opinion. Plus, the stalker plotline always plays like a mystery to me, even if the whole story isn’t a mystery, so I tend to want to ferret out who it is, their motive, etc., which is why I wanted more on the background of the possible candidates. But then again, that is my preference, and I can see where they were going with it. It certainly seems like I’m in the minority, so it must be just me 😕
Anyway, thanks for commenting Tam 🙂
Cole, I always enjoy reading your reviews. They’re very thorough and helpful. I’m a little confused though, on whether this book is part of a series or not. Do you need to read other books first to get it? I also only purchase ebooks from Amazon and this book is not on that site. Do you know where you can purchase this book?
Hi Sarah and thank you!
I would say that no, this book isn’t a part of a series, though some of the books by these authors often have crossover characters. The reason that I wish I had read the other books first is simply because I didn’t know they had any connection. Skylar and Nathan have a small role in this book (they are from Sandalwood and a Potato), so I would say that you don’t need to read the other books first to enjoy the story.
As to Amazon: Most, if not all, of these authors books are available on Amazon and Torquere usually has their books on Amazon after a grace period. Since this is a new release, I would check back in a few days and see if it is available yet, then keep checking. Otherwise, you can download this directly from Torquere (just click the title of the book above where it says Title and Link). As of now it isn’t available in any other third-party ebook sites either (like ARe or Fictionwise). So, I would keep checking on Amazon or buy directly from Torquere.
Thanks for commenting Sarah!
It is not part of a series officially. characters so crossover but mainly in minor roles. Sandalwood and a Potato is about Nathan and Sky who have some screen time in this one.
Mist gray:Falling Apart Falling Together is Avery’s story and Vanilla:The Dominant Ingredient is Cameron and Ajay’s story.
All can be read without reading the others. We created the city of Summerset for Sandalwood and tend to revisit it. Mainly because we made it up so it can have whatever we want in it. If we need an opera house we can have it where as if it were a real city someone could complain that city x doesn’t have an opera house.
All the stories mentioned have author extras on my Live Journal. And one day I will make a ‘family tree’ as well as a map of the city.
I forgot to mention that they are available on Torquere and I would say in about a month or so it’ll be available on Amazon. Torquere keeps it exclusive to their site for 2-3 months I think before it goes to 3rd party sellers.
Great review, Cole! Thank you!
I didn’t like the stalker subplot either. It’s very rare that an author can pull it off. Almost all of the time the whole thing doesn’t make much sense. But I enjoyed the rest of the story.
This writing team is one of my favorites and I buy their books as soon as they released. Sandalwood and a Potato is one of the funniest m/m books I’ve ever read and Vanilla has to be the sweetest and most vanilla (in both senses of the word) bdsm story ever. A lot of people didn’t like Mist because of the supernatural element that didn’t explored enough but I liked it too.
Thank you! I’m sorry the stalker bit didn’t work for you. Ali and I will live and learn Sometimes things work sometimes they don’t 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoy our works! Vanilla – that is one of my favorites. Having it be more actively BDSM wouldn’t have worked in my opinion. Same with Mist Gray, the situations didn’t call for it. The characters couldn’t jump into full fledged BDSM scenes. Thank you again for your kind words.
All those stories do have extras on our Live Journals. We tend to go overboard with them.
Where in Germany are you? My family is from Hamburg. Spent Christmas there – loved it. So between German, American English and British English I get tend to get confused at times and haven’t a clue what word is correct or what time zone I am in 🙂
Hi Enny,
I’m really looking forward to reading this team’s other books. I’ve had them for quite a while but I haven’t gotten around to reading them. Thanks for the recommendations, I’m excited to read Vanilla 🙂
we wrote a freebie with the characters from Mist/Vanilla and it’s on the live journal – I need to organize it a bit better, have links to the characters freebies. I’ll do that tomorrow 🙂
It would be fantastic if you could provide us with a link to the freebies. I’d love to read more about these fantastic characters. When I said that Vanilla was very vanilla, I didn’t mean to criticize the book. I loved it just the way it is and I always appreciate it when books about BDSM adhere to the rules.
I’m from Stuttgart and tell me about American/British English. It’s so hard to always remember which words and spellings to use when talking/writing to someone.
I didn’t take it that way, I thought it was a good description. It is very vanilla. BDSM isn’t all about 24/7 and whippings, we wanted to show that. When we wrote Mist Gray I filled out a contract for Avery – he’s very picky.
After almost 5 years of writing with Ali – and about 2 and a half of those were writing in a British setting- I have no clue any more about some spellings or if it’s an American word or British word. And sometimes my German creeps in and gets me all confused. There are British words that I use all the time. And some words we compromise on. Like trash can, Ali won’t use it and I won’t use rubbish bin so we compromised on trash bin.
I forgot to add this to my comment. The author extras can be found here:
http://andy-slayde.livejournal.com/17756.html#cutid1
I need to organize(and add) my journal so all the other freebies we’ve written are there and easily found. I wanted to do that today but I’m sick. I know we wrote an Advent this past December using Avery,Riley, Cameron and Ajay, I just need to find where we posted it. I will do that as soon as I feel better and post the link.
Thank you for posting a link to the freebies Andy! Hope you feel better soon 🙂
I found some freebies – sure there are more I need to add. But here’s a list of what I could find. Now I need more cold medicine. I was fine all winter… bloody March gets me every time.
http://andy-slayde.livejournal.com/33713.html