reviews_and_ramblings | In and Out in Hollywood by Ben Patrick Johnson

All right, I admit that I bought this novel more for the author than for the story... but have you read Ben Patrick Johnson's personal story? How similar is to the blurb of the book? So you can imagine how curious I was to read how the main character of this novel behaves since in a way it would be like spying on Johnson's life. But all in all, I believe that Johnson's output in life is better than Freddie's, the hero of this novel.

It's an unusual novel for me to read, since more than a love story is a life story, the adventures of gay Freddie in the glittering and fake world of Hollywood. Freddie is an openly gay radio DJ who lives in West Hollywood with his hunk jamaican boyfriend. Perfect, isn't it? Well, not exactly... Freddie's work is not so exciting and his relationship with Xavier is slowly wearing down. And so when he is talent scouted on the street and in two days offered with the chance to be the host in a new television show, he jumps at the possibility. Freddie, now renamed Daniel, is groomed and taught to be the perfect anchorman, all people around him praising him for being fresh, new and green! Posh hotels, limousines, all around him is glittering and friendly. But Freddie makes a big mistake: he doesn't hide his boyfriend, he brings him to official events... no, no, no dear Freddie, you can be gay at Hollywood, but you should be asexual, it's not good for families to have the proof that you actually have sex with men!

Probably if his relationship with Xavier was happier, Freddie would fight for it, and instead he decides to play along what the network requires, and he slowly is pushed behind the scene, from the front line to the Z position, despite his good works and his clearly predisposition to be on video.

Freddie is a strange character, I don't know if I like him so much; in a way he is not a fighter, and he is also a cheater... well, this last I don't know, it depends on his relationship with Xavier, I don't know what are their agreement, and well, he plays around since Xavier is behaving bad, but still... Lucky for Freddie, he meets a good guy, Charlie, who maybe, gives him the right reason to fight back, even if, maybe, he takes his decision at the very last. Probably I'm a bit too harsh with Freddie, I have in mind this "hero" image, and instead Freddie is probably only a man facing something bigger than him; sometime I almost feel tenderness for him, I almost want to comfort and saying that all will be right. Truth is that he didn't meet so many nice figure, and some of them are disguising so well that you almost mistake them for the bad guy... and what you think a good guy is fake like sometime Hollywood is.

Anyway, the book is a good mix of real life with some nice add of romance; I wouldn't mind for the sex scene to be a bit hotter, but still, they are nice, even if all behind closed doors.

Amazon: In and Out in Hollywood

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