Title: Dress Up
Author: Joel Skelton
Cover Artist: Catt Ford
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Buy link: Amazon
Length: Novel (266 pages)
Genre: contemporary M/M romance
Rating: 1 star out of 5
A guest review by Leslie
In a nutshell: A lying main character completely ruined this mediocre story for me.
Blurb:
Broadway director Wyatt Stark’s smash hit, Dress Up, a free-spirited, spaghetti strap of a tale set during New York’s legendary fashion week, has played at full capacity for almost two years. Wyatt is taking his wildly successful musical to Hollywood with the help of his business partner, Murphy. But Wyatt is on the edge, overworked by the industry and overwrought by a terrible breakup, and so he agrees to spend the summer before production starts recuperating at Murphy’s secluded beach house in Maine.
It’s there that Wyatt meets and falls for Ryan Taylor—but Ryan isn’t who he portrays himself to be. Distressed and desperately in love, Ryan weaves a web of lies in an effort to secure Wyatt’s heart, hoping and praying that their romance can survive the deception. When Wyatt discovers the truth, will their love be there to stay, or will it be, like a worn-out fashion trend, yesterday’s news?
Review:
This would have been an ordinary 2 star book, full of pointless scenes, silly dialog, and cartoonish characters, except for the fact that the main character, Ryan, lied. He didn’t just lie a little bit and tell a foolish fib every now and then, he lied a lot. He built lies on top of lies. When he had the opportunity to come clean, he didn’t but instead, told more lies. After doing this, he had to go off and throw up which (I guess) was supposed to show how remorseful he was. But did he change his behavior and tell the truth? No. In fact, when Ryan’s deceit is exposed it’s not because he has suddenly grown a backbone and decided to be honest, it comes through another character’s inadvertent spilling of the beans.
For this reason, I knocked the book down to 1 star.
Maybe other readers wouldn’t care so much. Maybe someone thinks lying is an endearing character trait. But that’s not me.
If you can see your way past Ryan (described endlessly as “the hot young stud”), it’s still a mediocre book with very little to recommend it. Let me give a few examples of the myriad problems I found with this novel.
- Characterization. I know some books go overboard with describing a character’s “emerald orbs” or “silky golden locks” but at the end of this story, I couldn’t tell you what color eyes or hair Wyatt had, his height, his weight, and most importantly, his age. Given that he’s lusting after 22 year old Ryan, it would have been nice to know if he was 30, 40, or something else. It makes a difference to me to know the characters are similar in age or one is old enough to be the other guy’s father. Since Wyatt was an extremely successful Broadway director and former dancer, then choreographer, I suspect he had to be forty-ish, but who knows? Maybe he was just a wunderkind who started young.
- Pointless scenes. I would estimate that at least three-quarters of the book had scenes that did nothing to move the plot forward and were just there to act as padding. This has the advantage of making it easy to read a long book very quickly since it is easy to skim over these scenes once you realize you don’t have to pay attention to the characters or the action since they have nothing to do with the rest of the story. The disadvantage, of course, is that it makes for very boring reading.
- Maine. I live in Maine and the fact that part of this story takes place here is what caught my eye in the blurb. Let me just say, if anyone wants to learn about this great state in a fiction book, I can suggest dozens that portray the state in an honest and interesting way. This book did neither. And for the record, when downeast and swimming in the Atlantic, the water is never described as “warm.” Ever. “Bracing” would be the closest thing to bearable. “Freezing” is the norm.
- Over-the-top ending. ‘Nuff said.
I could go on but I think you get the picture. One small point: for people who don’t like on-page sex, that might be an attraction of this book—everything intimate was fade-to-black. For me, I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not. On one hand, I was a little bit curious about what lying-sack-o’shit-Ryan would say in bed. On the other hand, the style of writing lent itself to velvet manholes and beef bayonets. Not sure I could’ve handled that.
All in all, I can’t recommend this book. Of course, I’m just one reviewer/reader and others may feel differently. As always, comments are welcome.
I’m curious. Was any reason given for all that lying? Or is he simply a pathological liar?
The reason, which comes out late in the story, was that if Wyatt knew who he “really” was (what his real job was rather than his pretend job that he made up), Wyatt wouldn’t have had any interest in Ryan. So Ryan had to lie to get Wyatt to notice him, since Ryan had the hots for Wyatt instantly.
L
I have this book on my TBR since shortly after release and every time I want to start, there is another book much more interesting. Now I think I know why 🙂 . Thanks for your review, I think this will have to remain TBR.
😯 Oh Leslie, I really feel for you! Wow 🙁 I think the little green smilies say it all, really. Like LadyM I am wondering if the lying was a pathological thing – I mean, throwing up after he tells a lie, that seems kind of extreme to me and would suggest some sort of clinical condition, but if the author made no attempt to explain this, then… 😕 Sorry you had to take one for the team!
It says in the blurb that he “weaves a web lies”, which right there implies more than little fibs, especially since the blurb sets it up to be the driving force of the plot.
The other three points you make are fair, but knocking the book down to one star based on a personal squick you should have seen coming doesn’t seem right.
Amber, your point is well taken. As I said in the review, the issue of lying might not bother other people as much as me. In fact, I was fine with it up to two points: 1) Ryan had a perfect opportunity to “come clean” to Wyatt and didn’t (if was after this encounter that he puked); and 2) he started involving other people in his lies (having people pretend they knew him, etc., to keep his ruse going). When this happened Ryan’s character changed, to me, from a sort of “innocuous lying to catch a guy” type liar to someone who was really untrustworthy and devious. That is what made the character very unpleasant to me.
L
This is a harsh review. No way is this book a 1 star read!!! I have read the book and would give it a solid 3 stars. So what if it has a lying character in it?? Just b/c there is something you are morally against, does not mean you have to give the book 1 star. A lot of people use this site for reviews, which is why I am upset. I have seen far worse books getting a higher rating. Anyone who lets their personal “biases” affect the way they review a book should not be reviewing said book. This book was well written, the characters were well developed and had a believable plot. Plus, this was a pretty original storyline. I hope more people will over look your prejudices and give the book a try.
Hi Mags,
Thanks for your comment. As I said, I am just one reviewer with my opinion; others might feel differently, as you do. For me, it was not a question of being morally against lying. It was the issue that Ryan, in my eyes, became completely untrustworthy and devious and thus was a completely unappealing main character.
L
Leslie, Personally, I do not think you should have reviewed this book. Like one reader stated, the book’s blurb stated that there would be issues with lying in the book. Obviously, that is something you do not like to see in your characters,which means you may not be objectionable in your review. And that is fine. I don’t read books with cheating or menage b/c I don’t like it!! It would spoil the rest of the book for me and I know that I would not be able to give the book the review it deserved. Also, this is such a popular review site and people actually read the reviews and listen to what they say. To give this book 1 star is not right, in my opinion…This was not an unbiased review!!
Review is by definition one person’s opinion. Besides issues with character’s lying Leslie gave a detailed list why she had problems with the book – characterizations, over the top ending, etc. I do not think that her review is more problematic than any reviews here.
And to LadyM and Anke, this was not such the big deal that Leslie is making it. The lying, I mean. Yes, I thought what he did was wrong, but it was totally something I could see happening. The guy is young, early 20’s and thinks this director is so far out of his league. I don’t agree with what he did, but I did understand it. And believe me, he paid for that crime of lying, big time. I would say that anyone who loves the theater and dance would enjoy this book. It is a good solid read and I was impressed. There’s a lot of emotion in this book. Also, to anyone who loves may/december romances…
Sorry for the multiple posts, but I need help. I can only see 7 of the comments posted and it says there are 10. What in the heck am I doing wrong here? Thanks..
**Never mind, I see the other comments. I should have asked, if there are many comments, how do you get to them? In other posts, I have yet to find the “next” button or whatever you call it to get to the following pages**
On one hand, I was a little bit curious about what lying-sack-o’shit-Ryan would say in bed.
This had me laughing – hard because I would wonder that too. GMTA. *g*
While the lying part would not bother me, since it was on the blurb. The thing that would be a deal breaker for me is when Ryan is caught and given the chance to be honest…he isn’t. That would have been a great chance for Ryan to redeem himself in the eyes of most readers and is an opportunity lost IMO. If Ryan kept lying, then that is a deceitful person and I, as a reader, cannot have sympathy for, nor would I want to read about.
Honest review, Leslie. Thank you for taking the dive to post this. (Love the cover though, Catt Ford does amazing work).
I haven’t read the book yet but I also think that the review is too harsh. In my opinion, whether a reviewer personally approves of the actions of a character shouldn’t influence the rating on a site like this so much. It’s things like the writing, the originality of the plot and the consistency of the characters that should count. After all, the rating you give a book has a lot of influence on whether people are going to buy a book. A lot of them will just see the stars on the main page and not bother with the reasons for a book getting such a disastrous rating. A review here isn’t the same as a review on GR which everybody takes with a grain of salt.
A couple of days ago, Rick Reed posted on this same site about cheating characters and not everybody being fine with it in their books. A lot of people agreed with him that for them it makes for an interesting read. The same could apply to lying (after all, cheating and lying often go hand in hand) and if someone doesn’t like it, it’s good to be warned. I think it’s ok for a reviewer to mention any subjective problems but the rating should be objective.
Now I’m gonna go and buy the book so that I can read it.
But the things like depth of characterization, originality of the plot etc, etc are also subjective. I mean, sure there are technical aspects of writing which could be classified more objective but personally I want reviews go much deeper than that. One reviewer thinks character is shallow and one dimensional, another thinks the character is multilayered. I did not get from Leslie’s review that she personally disapproves of the character, I thought that the character did not work for her. I absolutely want the reviewers to say what did not work *for them* and of course if they feel it warrants lower rating, why not? It is all subjective after all. Having said it, of course it can make for interesting read – just not for Leslie. I think I am picking this one up too.
You’re absolutely right. Some parts of a review and a rating are bound to be personal but the fact whether the reviewer likes the characters shouldn’t have any bearing on the rating. This book does sound like it really is a 2 star read. What I personally find to problematic is the one star rating because Leslie said that the reasons for that are completely subjective.
Ok, first: I already bought the book. I had problems to even start it – mmh. Second: For me a review is ALWAYS personal, it’s the opinion of this specific reviewer. So, I don’t want an objectiv opinion of the in and outs of writing, whether the rules of writing are met, I want to know what worked for the reviewer – or not! Yes, this is one opinion. But now I can crosscheck my opinion. And that is an important reason for reading reviews in general 🙂
In that I am typical female – ha!
Edit: Sorry if I messed up all the adj/adv 🙂
Enny, I ask this not to be combative, but because I really want to know. What would make a book a 1-star read for you? I’ve had the misfortune of giving quite a few books low ratings here and that is always something I agonize over, as I’m sure my colleagues do, too. None of us likes to write negative reviews, nor do we relish giving low ratings. Can you provide some feedback for me, please? Thanks in advance. 🙂
I went and took a look at my 1 star reads on GR which isn’t quite the same thing as I’m not a reviewer and there my ratings there are based completely on my personal enjoyment of the story. But anyways, here are some random examples and the reason why I gave them only 1 star:
1. Actually, I’m Gay by Roxy Harte Reason: Everything that Cole didn’t like in his review.
2. Catalyst by SL Armstrong, K. Piet Reason: The objectionable BDSM practices
3. My Little Kitty by Joyee Flynn Reason: Insta-love/fuck and really bad writing
4. Yummy Indulgences by Andi Anderson Reason: Way too sweet for my taste, cheesy pet-names (Sexy-Shi), very little drama
5. Spanking for Love by John Simpson: Reason: porn without plot, bad writing and editing
6. Swimming Through the Net by Angelia Sparrow Reason: no world building, disjointed plot, characters I couldn’t relate to
If I were a reviewer, I probably would have given for example Catalyst a better rating as the writing was pretty good and Yummy Indulgences would’ve fared better too.
When a book is a romance and one of the two romantically entangled has a totally unsympathetic, major character flaw it must completely throw the balance of the book off. Even more so when the book is meant to be a sweet, amusing thing, which is what the cover at least is selling.
This surely comes under bad judgement and mean the book fails fundamentally.
To those who have objected to this book getting one star: the only reason I stopped to read this review was because it was one star, which is so rare. I think in some ways, the extreme could act in the book’s favour and get far more people reading the review and possibly going on to buying it.
I doubt I will, because the points that Leslie very clearly laid out about characterisation, pointless scenes and setting, are the kind of things that would annoy me. As to the lying? Not sure – in some ways it’s intriguing.
Thanks for the honesty, Leslie. I think that if the main character is rendered that unappealing to you by their actions, then you have every right to rate it this low. It’s pretty critical to an m/m romance’s success that you like both the heros.
First of all let me say this, this book is not one of my favorites, but it was a good read. I think it’s getting a totally bad wrap here. See, in my opinion, the character did not have an unsympathetic, major flaw. He was young and made a poor decision. It happens to many of us. He was scared and didn’t know what to do, so he panicked and lied again. It happens, get over it. He totally redeemed himself in the rest of the book. And what, do you want to read book that have totally perfect characters? I like a little flaw with my characters, makes them seem human. And add to that their age? This guy was in his early 20’s, so much more to learn in life the older you get.Who wasn’t young,impulsive and rash at that age? I think that is what the author was trying to point out in the story. The guy still had a lot of growing up to do.. What bothers me the most about this review is that it seems like this is a trend now. We have people reviewing books who let their personal feelings take over when it comes time to review that book. If you don’t like a character, it ruins the book for you. I don’t want to see that in a review. I would like an unbiased point of view. I don’t need to know how you feel…
HI Mags,
Keep cool! 🙂 Sorry to say that, but if I read a book and the main character is ruining my fun, then -I think – I am allowed to state that. Even if the blurb mentioned the lying, the extend of it might exceed what I feel comfortable with. So, perhaps it is possible to just acknowledge different opinions.
As I said in my review, my initial rating was 2 stars. I did not find the book to be particularly well-written, the characterizations were weak, and there was a lot of extraneous stuff that didn’t add to the plot. Plus the ending made me want to scream.
I could have left it there but the more I thought about Ryan and his behavior, the less I felt he was “in role” as the main character of a light, fun, semi-comedic romance novel. “Scheming” to catch a man can be funny and in Ryan’s case, yes, it did start out funny. But to me, the lies went on too long and became too elaborate to be humorous. That’s when he crossed the line into being deceitful which didn’t mesh well with the overall tone of the story, IMO.
The other thing that bothered me was it wasn’t Ryan who admitted his dishonesty (as I said in my review). How long would he have kept this up? That wasn’t made clear which further reinforced, to me, the inappropriateness of his character in the overall style of the book.
L
Ryan wasn’t given the chance to come clean about his lies. That choice was taken away from him. And if you remember the book, Ryan did want to tell the truth(and was going to soon), he was conflicted the whole time he was lying. As he should have been. Personally, I hate lying. It drives me nuts!! Why can’t you just tell the truth? But in this book, it made sense and did not bother me to the point where it ruined the story for me. Which is one of the points I was trying to make. If a reviewer is so bothered by a character’s actions(which may not bother other readers at all), are they able to give an unbiased review? I know for me, if a character annoys me, I tend to nit pick the rest of the book. Not really giving it a chance. Do you think that happens in reviews? I am just worried about this issue. I know that we are all human and can let feelings over ride objectivity. Do we want books full of “fluff”? Should writers not write about flawed characters b/c the readers want perfect people?? I certainly hope not..
And Anke, If you want to say something, don’t feel the need to apologize for it. I’m ok with people disagreeing with me. The world would be a boring place if we all had the same opinions. I think there is a much bigger issue going on, which is what I’ve been saying in my posts. Personal feelings taking over in reviews.
Well, but that’s just my point: reviews are personal and therefore prone to being taken over by personal feelings. If you don’t want to get a personal opinion, you have to stay clear of reviews 🙂
Good night and happy easter!
Mags
As you said above, the world would be a boring place indeed if we all thought the same. The point is that all reviews are personal opinions of the reviewers. No two people see a book exactly the same. Every reviewer tries to bring some objectivity to his/her reviews however, this is coloured by personal baggage — lifestyle, education, and a whole host of other elements that make up that person.
On this site everyone has an opportunbity to discuss a book review without being angry at the reviewer because she didn’t agree with his/her personal opinion about a book.
As I said above, we all bring our personal baggage to whatever we do, including reviewing. Reviewers are human beings not machines, therefore they think for themselves and even though they try to give as unbiased and professional a review as possible, personal opinions do come into play.
I hope that we can all agree to disagree politely. Leslie has indicated why she feels that this book is a 1 star and you obviously disagree. However that’s her opinion and this is her review. I’m sure there are other reviewers who will agree or disagree with Leslie. C’est la vie.
Thank you for commenting.
I liked this book, and would’ve rated it probably 3 and a half stars. I winced when I saw the 1 star in this review. 😯
So interesting how differently you see the book, Leslie.
To me, it’s a fun showbiz romance centering around bringing a musical from Broadway to big screen. There is humor and heartache and lots of backstage color. But then, I enjoy that kind of story and can accept characters that are imperfect and learn from their mistakes. Dress Up struck me as being like one of those classic showbiz movies from the 30’s or 40’s (like a Buzbee Berkley extravaganza), where it’s more about the razzle dazzle and the showmanship than about in-depth exploration of character or even too close an examination of how realistic the plot is. Just an entertaining ride to the HEA. And those movies aren’t everyone’s cup of tea either. 😀
Thanks for your comment, Cary. I really appreciate it. It points up how different people see things so differently!
To me, I felt the focus was on Wyatt’s recuperation while he was in Maine, not on the “bringing the big musical” to the screen. Sure, Wyatt and Murphy talked about that but I don’t think that was what was driving the story…to me, it was the Wyatt and Ryan relationship (at least from my reading POV). Clearly this story works for different folks on different levels which is great. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me.
L
Great Discussions Here.
Leslie, I think you did author a favor. The 1 star rating and extra comments have garnered this review far more views than a wimpy non-committal 3 star review!
Now people who read it have to come back and let us skeerdy-cats know what they experienced!
Thanks for the honest review and clarifying the whys so well.
Thank you to those who liked it for commenting and saying why they liked it. Makes for a well-rounded view of a book and an interesting read. 😀
Reggie you are so right, at the very least *only* because of Leslie’s review this author acquired one more sale _ mine. And I would guess some other readers got as curious as me. I passed the book several times when reading the blurbs, but I just had to read it now despite my humoungous TBR pile. Hm, I totally with Leslie about characterization or lack of such. Ryan’s lies per se did not bother me at all, but how author dealt with lies and consequences affecting Ryan’s character development sure did bother me a great deal. I am able to forgive the character with *much* more serious character flaws. Felicia Watson for example made me care and root for the character who stooped to hitting his wife, and without demonizing his wife too mind you,so. but I digress. Ryan simply stroke as an idiot, because his initial lie just made no sense to me and yes I know he gave an explanation later but his explanation still did not sit well with me. But most importantly I saw no character growth from Ryan. To Mags, before Ryan’s choice to come clean “was taken away from him” I counted at least three times when Ryan told himself to confess and instead told another lie, cruel lie, knowing how much he would control wyatt with it. And I do not think Ryan paid for it in spades at all, I mean yes wyatt temporarily kicks his ass, but that is what he expected to happen did he not? Murphy being kind and understanding annoyed me so so much. Nope I do not know if I would have graded this book one star, had I reviewed it, but one and a half or two tops would have been for me the most generous rating for this one. Imo of course.
Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 1-star review on this site. I haven’t read the book, and probably wouldn’t have just based on the summary (unless it’s one that’s sent to me for the Rainbow Awards).
Having said that, there have been more than a few times I’ve seen reviews given where the reviewer LOVES!! the story and I personally was gagging over it. Or, a story I really enjoyed gets a bad review. After all, a review is a person’s opinion and no matter what, we all have varied tastes and tolerance levels. This can change for the same person from day to day, based on mood and stress levels.
It was a great review, and while I might not have given it a 1-star (cause I’m chicken-shit like that), I probably wouldn’t have finished it unless I had to.
Anyone who thinks a true liar changes stripes when given the opportunity needs a dose of reality. As a lawyer I encounter people lying about the most ridiculous things. Things that are easy to prove false and that provide no advantage to the liar which makes everyone wonder why the lie.? In that sense, this book is consistent with reality. Leslie, you admit to “skimming” the book. That makes your review a lie. You state the book lacks depth yet you did not read it in its entirety. How is it possible for you to provide an honest review without reading the book? A review is an opinion and you are entitled to your opinion, however, it is unacceptable to post a review for a book you failed to read. This book is a good read. Fun story that shines a light on known human disfunction. OAN. I swam in the waters off Maine. There are days when the water is actually fairly warm. The uniqueness of those days is what makes it important to note.
Kris–I did read the book–twice. I said that I skimmed certain scenes once I realized they were padding–and that was on the second re-read. I have posted one review here at Wave’s site where I only read the sample, not the whole book, and I was upfront about saying that in my review. That was a one-time exception. All the other books here that I’ve reviewed, I’ve read in their entirety, at least once, usually twice.
I am glad you enjoyed the book and thought it was a good read. Variety is what makes the world go round, right? If we all liked the same thing, the world would be a very boring place indeed.
Thanks for your comment.
L
Leslie, your claim that you read the book twice was not mentioned in your earlier review. It seems convenient to me that, after being called on your skimming claim, you now state you read the book twice. Regardless, if the 2nd read was necessary for you to digest the book why would you resort to skimming sections?
I have no issue with different opinions and accept you do not like this book. As others stated above it is your venomous attack on the way the characters acted (i.e. liar) because you disaprove of such conduct in real life. An objective review would not tear apart the whole book simply because of a moral dilema.
Best wishes to you in finding your next book to trash.
Kris
Thank you for commenting on this review.
As you know, we welcome diverse opinions on this site and everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. However, I do draw the line at you calling Leslie a liar and saying that her review was “a venomous attack on the way that the characters acted”. That was uncalled for and unjustified. I frequently disagree with the opinions expressed on this site but I would not call a guest reviewer a liar because I didn’t accept her explanation about how many times she read a book.
Leslie has written almost 100 reviews for the site on her own time and I have never found her to be unprofessional or a liar.
I think enough has been said about this one book and it would be in all our best interest to move on. Obviously you and Leslie will never agree on this topic and name calling is definitely not the way to resolve differences.
Thank you for visiting the site.