Title: Clay’s Challenge
Author: Cassandra Gold
Cover Art: Trace Edward Zaber
Publisher: Amber Quill Press
Buy Link Amazon:
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Length: Extended Novella 36,000 words
Rating: 4 out of 5 rating stars
A Guest Review by Raine
Summary Review: Appearances are reappraised when pretty meets tough in a tent for hot sex and satisfying romance. Beware obligatory sprained ankle.
Blurb: Sometimes you have to get lost to find yourself…
Tired of being judged by his appearance, Clay Pennington decides the time has come for drastic action. Partying and one-night stands have gotten old, but how’s a boy supposed to find someone when nobody looks beyond his surface to the man inside? A wilderness retreat seems like just the ticket for proving he’s more than everyone else believes—until he actually gets there.
Everything is a lot more difficult than he expected, including the man he’s partnered with for the week. Sexy, surly Trent Raines is a puzzle Clay would love to solve, but the man pushes him away at every turn. Totally out of his element and stuck with a survival partner who barely tolerates him, it’s not long before Clay starts to wonder if he’s made a huge mistake.
If Clay can get through the week, he just might find himself…and a whole lot more…
Review:
Primarily I found this book interesting because it involved a fem gay male who was having to deal with prejudice against his kind of gayness. I had felt rather under-educated as I’d no idea this sub section of gay prejudice existed until I read Ethan Day’s As You Are, and yes naively I was shocked that it can be gay on gay prejudice.
Clay is rejected quite unpleasantly by a man he had got to know through an internet dating scheme that was meant to work on more than superficial appearances. The guy rebuffs Clay, saying, “I don’t date fems.” This, the last of a lot of rejections, is the starting point for Clay’s decision to try and show he is more than he appears to be. When we first meet Clay, although he obviously is a needy character with self esteem issues, he is trying to take charge and change things about his life. I had a slight problem with Clay’s obsession with finding a life partner, as we hear about his determined mission, it felt very much like Clay was making the same mistake countless het heroines have in looking for a man to give her life justification and putting all the responsibility on one person to complete them. However it was enjoyable seeing Clay change and become a more balanced personality over the course of the book and not because a man rescues him.
Clay does a good job in spelling out what he sees to be his problems, but primarily he concentrates on the superficial and external:
All of his features screamed “gay”! Worse they screamed ” fem.”… The way his bangs hung over his eyes made him look like a kid. His lips were too full and his eyelashes too long. His eyes resembled something out of a Bambi cartoon.
Actually I have to say, this is such an obvious romantic novel ploy, it used to be that the romantic heroine’s mouth was too full—code for too sexy—to be fashionable! However I am a fool for this stuff, and it was great when we get Trent’s perspective of Clay and it is so appreciative:
Slim, tight body, soft pretty lips,masculine jawline and cheekbones, those sweet doe eyes…
The first few day at the wilderness retreat just reinforce Clay’s problems, there are a few anti-gay comments in spite of Clay’s efforts to change his appearance to be less conspicuous. However he hangs on in there doing the best he can with the training before setting off with the seemingly very straight, very masculine Trent for the main part of the wilderness experience. This involves spending a week, camping out and orienteering their way back to camp. The physical details about the trek and the rigours of the surrounding landscape were well described without it coming across as extracts from a survival handbook.
Trent has the role of action man of mystery with a tortured past, but I thought he was well-developed beyond this with the problems arising out of his last case spent too long undercover humanising him and revealing his more ambiguous sexuality. He supports Clay without diminishing him and Clay relaxes into being the fun, attractive, thoughtful and sensible guy he really is when he is not being forced into his protective flirty anxious persona. I thought the guys getting it together was believable and very hot. I found Clay’s enthusiasm for the success of their hike endearing, and his character’s development very pleasing.
Clay is a glass-half-empty guy for a lot of the book and as he sees clearly any long-term relationship is out of the question as they live three hundred miles apart. It seems as if Clay has managed to find and lose a man who is really worth all the pain. I thought the book’s conclusion which deals with how Clay and Trent cope after the trek particularly agreeable. Both characters have changed for the better. Clay once again changes his look, but for his own satisfaction not for others. He shows he has grown away from his original rather vulnerable and insecure attitude to life, while Trent loosens the stoical, independent control that he felt he had to hold on to.
All the strings were pulled in a fairly predictable way here—see sprained ankle—nevertheless the simple story was satisfying, both characters attractive and Clay was very appealing in his own way.
I’m with you Raine, I love this type of opposites attract storyline when it’s in the hands of a good author, which this story sounds like it is.
I saw it on the website and now plan to buy it after reading your review.
Hi rdafan7
yes, this is a cute and light read; nice for a lazy afternoon- reading about other people hiking! Hope you enjoy it.
Thanks for the review, Raine. This sounds like something I would enjoy. I have to ask, though, is this just a vacation fling with character growth? Or is there at least a possibility of a HEA for the two of them?
One of the things I liked about this was even though it could easily have been left open, the end is resolved in a way that is particularly nice for Clay……hope that helps without spoiling it! It really is a light romance read. 🙂
Raine
After reading your review this is going on my TBR. I did a post with Jaye Valentine just a few weeks ago about fem men and I have a lot of sympathy for them in a culture that dismisses them, and men who don’t look beyond their superficial looks.
I like the way this book seems to resolve both Clay’s and Trent’s problems and I’m definitely looking forward to reading their story.
Thank you for an excellent review. 🙂
What I liked about Clay’s reactions on the wilderness experience was that it wasn’t over hyped, he achieved low key success but it had a stone in pond affect. So this book is very much part of a Romance genre but balances the romantic conventions with some realism.
Other than Ethan Day’s incorrigible Julian the only other fem character I’ve come across is the unforgettable Cole from Strawberries for Dessert. I loved both these characters.
Thanks Wave
Great review, I wouldn’t have found this on on my own. It sounds interesting, another challenge in self acceptance in our “go with the masses” world. It’s a paradox how our media has allowed us to be more global, diverse, yet has also put pressure on us to be more uniform!?
I found it on amazon BTW.
Thanks again!
Hello Reggie,
the Amazon buy button – like WordPress – tends to mess with my mind, usually until Aunt Lynn rescues me from the corner I’m hiding in! Thanks for letting me know and for your comment.
For Clay it is so much about self acceptance, the things he has to change are the results of his reactions to society. I liked him a lot.
I added the link for you Raine. 🙂
BTW Strawberries for Dessert is probably my favourite book in Marie Sexton’s Coda series and I LOVE Cole.
Thanks Wave,
I tried again you know -it just teases me -like a cat with a mouse it’s going to kill, but in it’s own time………
Ditto Cole.
Enjoyed this book! I liked the MCs a lot. I remember when these retreats were being pushed by leadership in corporate America. They were pushed for team building and life coaching.(Whatever that is.) So, yea, I could see someone doing this for a self- confidence building event. It was a fun setting for a story.
I loved Cole best in the Coda books too!
Another character I really liked was Vincent in TC’s “One That Broke Free”. He is a strong “fem” type character. I found the strength of his self-acceptance very sexy! :flirt:
Great Job! :computer:
Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed this one, it really helps to know that a review was there or thereabouts!
I think I’ll check out Vincent…..I love that phrase of yours, ” I found the strength of his self-acceptance very sexy. ” 😀
Raine
I reviewed The One That Broke Free over a year ago and I LOVED Vincent. If you’re interested, here’s a link to the review:
http://tinyurl.com/48awvn8
I had just read your review and downloaded book- ( Torquere 15% sale helped too! )
Vincent sounds gorgeous. Thanks Reggie and Wave.
The blurb and your review hit all my heart-strings…so I had to read this yesterday…and I’m glad I did!
I thought this story was very believable and well handled. Clay’s experiences are all too common in this you-must-be-hyper-masculine-to-be-accepted world…and I admit, it was sigh of relief to finally have a story that didn’t have two larger than life men in the lead.
Maybe it’s because I could relate all too well with Clay, but I found this story to be more of a catharsis than an escape (which is what I usually look for in a book). This will go on my “keeper” list, and I look forward to more from this author now. Thank you for reviewing this book, I wouldn’t have found it otherwise. 🙂
Hi Brian
I’m really pleased you found this one a ” keeper “. I had a lot of empathy for Clay and like you felt the book had it’s feet on the ground in terms of realism.
Have you read “The One That Broke Free”, Reggie and Wave recommended it to me and Vincent is just a great character. I enjoyed it and it would meet the escapism fix. 🙂
Thanks for the recommendation, Raine. I purchased “The One That Broke Free” the other day, hoping for another “Clay’s Challenge” but I just can’t get into it at all…which bummed me out. 🙁 Sorry. Maybe I’ll give it another chance in a few months, in case it’s my mood? LOL Thanks again, though! I always enjoy finding out about books from reviews/reviewers.
Sorry Brian not to have replied earlier, my hotmail account keeps refusing to open and I’d been leaving it to sulk!
I’m sorry The One That Broke Free wasn’t for you, it was Vincent’s character that I enjoyed most about it. Hope you’ve found something better for you by now. 😀