Manning Up

Title: Manning Up
Author: JT Steele
Cover Artist: Valerie Tibbs
Publisher: Loose Id
Amazon:
Genre: Contemporary M/M, BDSM
Length: Short novel/146 PDF pages
Rating: 2 stars out of 5

A guest review by Lasha

Summary Review: Closeted baseball player Elijah meets his soulmate, Wesley.

THE BLURB

Elijah Kerrigan is gay with two big strikes against him: his father is a preacher and he himself is a professional baseball player. Divorced from a sexless marriage, he feels that coming out of the closet would destroy his life and, worse, hurt his parents whom he deeply loves. He plans on being alone for the rest of his life, but he doesn’t count on meeting Wesley Grayson.

Wesley Grayson is a tall, handsome young artist and the son of a famous rock star. The moment he lays eyes on Elijah, he knows the two of them are destined to be together. Wesley’s developing psychic powers leave him so drawn to the handsome ballplayer that he is certain he’s found his eternal soulmate. Out of the closet and comfortable in his skin, Wesley introduces Elijah to hot, kinky gay sex and a leather club that melts his boy in his arms. But that doesn’t make the relationship easy; Elijah’s still deeply in the closet.

Two homophobic thugs team up with a female tabloid writer and threaten to expose Elijah’s secret. Will he have to abandon the best thing he’s eve r had to keep his family and his career? Wesley has no intention of letting go of him, but, in the end, unless Elijah mans up, it may not be his choice.

THE REVIEW

The premise of the novella looked interesting, a closeted baseball player and a free spirited artist meet, sparks explode, sexy times commence, cue happily ever after. Add in the fact that Wesley has magical powers and you have a win-win situation. Unfortunately with Manning Up, the whole scenario falls apart right after the two main characters meet. So, I am going to divide this review into two sections: What Worked and What Did Not Work. I will start with the positives first.

What Worked

Elijah had a great back-story that was well-developed. He comes from a conservative, religious family and knows his homosexuality would not be accepted, so he hides it. He fears he would be ostracized from baseball and his family and he was correct that his mother and father would not be able to accept him as a gay man. Elijah seemed to be searching for something in the book and finds it in Wesley. I liked Elijah.

The extremely hot, kinky lovemaking. As soon as Elijah and Wesley meet it is instant chemistry, passion and a willingness to try risqué things. If you like a little role playing, spankings, bondage and other BDSM practices, you will like this novel. I have to admit I gave the book an added .5 points because the sex was so scorching in most of the sex scenes – if you forgot about the over-the-top dialog by Wesley.

Elijah’s brother, Bryson. He comes out as gay to his parents and is disowned. But he was a strong character and his boyfriend, Jonathan was adorable. I would like to read more about them.

What Did Not Work

Wesley’s characterization failed. He was supposed to be this son of a famous rock star, artist and possessive top who draws Elijah in at first glance. While that was the case on the surface, the execution of this did not live up to the blurb. Wesley’s magical powers are never fully explored. I hoped for Harry Potter-like powers, what you got were a few mind-reading scenes. The whole psychic plot line should have been removed as it did nothing to forward the plot along. There was no back-story about his rock star dad – he doesn’t make an appearance, which I felt was a wasted opportunity. Why mention the famous flamboyant father if he never shows up?

Add in the fact that Wesley has some of the worst dialog in the book, cheesy and in some instances creepy; I could not connect with him. (This quote is not work-safe).

Wesley’s heat was back again; he could feel it. “Snapped on a latex glove.” Elijah could hear him spitting on it, making his own lube. “Okay, Elijah. Now I want to see how tight you are. Pretend I’m your doctor giving you an exam.”

The idea tickled Elijah. He laughed.

In a nonspecific foreign accent, Wesley said, “De doctor needs to see eef your asshole ees healthy.”

Prostate exams do not equal romance to me. Plus one scene had a fisting element to it, which when handled properly can be very intense…in Manning Up it was wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am, no lube or prep, just go to it. I had to re-read that scene a couple of times to make sure I didn’t miss the prep. I did not.

Although advertised as an m/m romance, the novel has an m/m/f scene in it. When Wesley and Elijah role play as pirates on their second date, Wesley’s roommate, Arial watches them have sex. There is no touching between the three, but this scene came out of nowhere. It was early into Wesley and Elijah’s relationship and for a novice like Elijah – who had been a virgin to the man-love prior to Wesley – seemed extreme. Why would he would want another person in the room when prior to this he was hesitant about being seen in public anywhere near Wesley?

This brings us to Arial, Wesley’s roommate. In the beginning of the book we are told Wesley lets her and her very ill son live with him so she can save money to pay her son’s hospital bills for his leukemia. She is also Wesley’s mentor to all things magical. Except she doesn’t do anything really special but project her thoughts to Wesley. I was expecting Narcissa Malfoy and got a squib. She doesn’t save Wesley from a gay bashing, nor does she seem to spend a lot of her time with her critically ill son, which made me shake my head. Instead sending him to a babysitter while going to play with Elijah and Wesley on ‘pirate night.’ (They all dress us as pirates to role play.) Her son is used as a prop for her characterization and he is seen but basically not heard, which doesn’t garner any sympathy from me that she takes off to have a technical threesome while her ill son is dumped at a neighbors.

And for a novel that has a pro baseball player – my favorite sport – there was nothing about Elijah being a player except surface knowledge. We never meet any team mates, explain how he got to the major leagues, just that he’s famous for playing for Chicago and that’s the end. A missed opportunity for readers like me who love sports-themed books.

Now a personal peeve – former police officer here. Wesley and Elijah get arrested for fighting off two homophobes and are handcuffed and taken away in a cop car to be booked. Please explain to me how two people can hold hands when they are handcuffed? Even more so take a tissue out of your pocket when your hands are in mental restraints behind your back? Bad cop, no doughnut. That stretched reality and should have been caught in the editing phase.

Lastly, dialog and wording. Cringe-worthy. There are way too many “boy” references. The first couple in a sexual situation could be seen as sexy, but after the twentieth time, it became annoying. Also, saying you are going to put your penis in someone’s “back door” – complete turn off. I’d rather go with Cameron Dane’s chute. Plus, the BDSM play was not safe, sane and consensual. Virgin Elijah is immediately introduced into the lifestyle with no preparation as the two love interests do not talk about flogging, spanking, or the fisting. It was an inappropriate version of the BDSM community and their practices fictionalized to be sexy but it came out as dangerous like: Do Not Try This At Home. I think the book needed less of a Penthouse Forum vibe and more romance.

Overall, I cannot recommend this book. It had a good premise and one interesting character (Elijah). However, the other issues dropped its rating down to two stars. It looks like this is JT Steele’s first novel and so concessions can be made for that. I hope he improves in tightening up his characterizations and plots for his next book because he does show potential. However, not recommended.

Although this book does not contain on-page het sex there is one BDSM scene where a woman is quite graphically getting off while in the room with the protagonists.