reviews_and_ramblings | Dreaming of You by Ethan Day

This is the second book I read by Ethan Day, and as before, it left me with the idea that probably, a) Ethan Day is a young guy with a positive and friendly attitude b) he likes very much the romantic comedy (both books but above all movies). In this new book he winks the eye to "Only You" a 1994 movie with Marisa Tomei: in the movie Faith was getting married with the perfect boyfriend, but she has only a regret, she has never met her "dream man", a man who frequents her night and day dreams since she was a teenager.

Same here, Aden is a nice young man, he co-owns a restaurant in Missouri and he has a quite happy life, if not for the thing that he has not a boyfriend. But Aden manages well all the same, he is a friendly guy and he has no problem to get laid, if he wants, and when he has no real man with him, he has his dream man, the perfect fantasy he built when he was a lonely teenager. In the last 15 years he married, built an house, adopted a son, went on holiday, all the time with his dream man.

Then to a convention in Atlanta he meets Logan, a restaurant owner from Los Angeles. Logan is not exactly his dream man (Adan has clear in mind how his dream man looks), but he is not far from the perfect boyfriend material: Logan is sexy, funny, friendly. Maybe he is a bit too much on the playboy side, but it's not that Aden is a virgin maid waiting for the knight in shining armor... so what is Aden waiting? probably the trouble is that, even if near perfect, Logan is not 100% perfect as Aden imagined his dream man, to build something with Logan, Aden has to compromise, maybe even move and change his life (Missouri is not exactly near to California). And it would mean take a risk, since even if Logan behaves like a man in love, from what Aden understood, Logan is not exactly a celibate man, and instead Aden, even if sometime he enjoys himself, is more the commitment and exclusive type.

And then there is the big open point: Aden knows, deep inside, that his dream man is out there waiting for him... what will happen if he commits with Logan to then find his dream man?

I like the feeling of the book, since it's very romantic without forgetting that we are speaking of men; an example? first date between Aden and Logan, Aden is in his room waiting for the night and the dinner with Logan; what would a woman do? take care of herself, maybe go to an hairdress, at least spend hour in front of the closet choosing the perfect dress... what does Aden do? he masturbates! and then, after taking care of himself in his own way, he spends some minute in front of the closet choosing the perfect dress... this is the difference between a "female perspective" on romantic comedy and "male perspective". But this is also the reason why I like it, since, even if obviously a pink glass perspective on love and life, I felt like the characters were real, with all their quirks and faults, and perfect shiny life.

The world where Logan and Aden live and love is an upper-class privileged world; Aden's trouble is to decide or not to move to Los Angeles to live in a poshy apartment with his new boyfriend Logan... all right, the poshy apartment is a bit too "anal" and Logan maybe is a playboy, and his dream man is somewhere in the world waiting for him, but Aden has not to worry about rent or bills or money... and THIS is what makes great a romantic comedy, the light and easy feeling that permeate all the story, we read and see a romantic comedy to dream not to think. Dreaming of You, even from the title, is the perfect example of a romantic comedy.

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Amazon: Dreaming of You

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