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This book surprised me because, well, I was expecting a sexy, and yes, ordinary story, and instead what I got was the more satisfying sweet romance. 38 years old Vince, an Italo-American, trice divorced, is finally ready to admit that something is wrong in his life; like an epiphany, witnessing the love between a same-sex couple, he realizes that maybe those feelings he tried to suppress, are the reason why he is not able to build a permanent relationship with a woman. And when he is ready to see the dating pool with different eyes, he also sees family friend Trey, 25 years old and so cute. Trey is also perfect for Vince to experiment his feelings, because Trey is openly gay but also a virgin, he doesn’t want to “waste” his body with insignificant relationships; Vince is not ready for the physical side of a gay relationship, and Trey wants to date a man without his date expecting him to put out just for a dinner or a movie night.The authors do play a lot with the stereotypes of the Italo-American community, but they do it with a playful streak. Trey is a “good boy”, with strong family values, and he is a virgin, the most valuable asset for a prospective wife in the old fashioned Italian rules for a perfect marriage. Vince is from a big Italian family, and that means he is never alone, family comes first, especially when considering a future partner: there is no way Vince can renounce to his family to pursue his love; what Vince hasn’t considered is that, family strings are stronger than prejudices.
There is a simile I think the authors are using as input for this story that I kind of agree with: that between the Italian family and the gay community. In both you help each other, without questioning, just for the reason you are part of a whole. You help in good and bad health, when you have money and when you haven’t.
As a side note, I also liked the Chicago’s setting: it’s a city I visited only once in my life, but I remember it quite well, and with few expert touches, the authors managed to make it alive in their novel.
http://store.samhainpublishing.com/famil
Amazon Kindle: Family Man
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (March 12, 2013)
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
A very nice reverse cinderfella theme, meaning that, the Prince Charming here is the one needing to be rescue by the “peasant”. Gavin Montgomery is the middle son of a very wealthy family; his older brother is already presenting the good boy façade for the society, and his younger sisters are one the rebel and the second the social/political climber… no stereotype remains for Gavin who is basically living in the shadow. Sure he is gay, but in today modern “good” society, that is no more a scandal, above all when his father decided that could be a good promo and became a supporter of Marriage Equality.
Just the other day I was reading a story about college boys and thinking how they were really too naïve in their behavior for being guys living out of the protective umbrella of their family. Here the feeling was exactly the opposite, when first we met Chase, I didn’t feel the vibes of a college boy but of a more mature man. Then in the course of the story, and especially when we met Alex, the college boys theme is more accentuated, but still, I have the feeling this story could have been also between two older friends suddenly realizing their mutual feeling had turned into something else.
Scrap Metal is a very particular book, quite long in length if you consider recent standards, more than 300 pages, that doesn’t mean that is filled with action, on the contrary, the major feeling of the plot is of peace and learning to joy the basic element of life.
I know that I should highlight how good the mystery plot of Catch Me If You Can was, I know I should tell you that Caesar Romano and Dan Green are a perfect detective couple and that they will become the next magnificent duo, but closing this novel what most remains with me is the fun I had reading it.
This story reminded me a little The Boxer by Jan Irving, but only since the incipit is similar, after that the development is very different, and above all Muscling Through has a full English flavour. Al Fletcher is this big guy with a kind heart but with a different perception of reality; he is not stupid, but Al is not able to fake emotions, not even the small things you do to not hurt people. To Al, what you say is what you think, what you do is what you want. Larry on the other side is small and lithe, an history art college professor.
