Skipping Stones by D.J. Manly

[reviews_and_ramblings]

This is an example of gay “modern” romance; it’s for sure a romance, it’s about love and expectation, but it’s also modern since there is no the concept of sex indissolubly linked to love. Sex is something physical, for sure it’s also about love, but sex can be also comfort, sex can be lust and obsession.

Leo is a young American artist living in Paris; until he was in love with Pierre, an handsome French businessman, Paris was a wonderful city, full of possibilities, odours and colours. Now that Leo has discovered that Pierre is married and a cheater, Paris is grey and rainy and Leo wants to be back home. Mark, his childhood best friend and Leo’s first crush, offers him a job as handyman in the fancy gay resort he is managing in Florida; Mark has a similar experience as Leo, he was in love with Reed, the owner of the resort, but Reed didn’t love him back, and now Mark is pining waiting for the few times in the year Reed comes back in Florida.

Of course, as soon as Leo arrives to the resort, also Reed chooses to pay one of his exceptional visits; Leo is ready to hate him, on Mark’s account, but indeed Reed is handsome, kind and somewhat sad; Reed draws Leo like a moth to the light, and even if Leo knows that there will be the drama, he is unable to resist.

There is a complex game of snap: Mark loves Reed and uses Leo to make Reed’s jealous; Reed is not at all jealous and wants Leo; Leo has sex with Mark to comfort him on loosing Reed, but loves Reed; Adrian, another guest at the resort, loves Mark but pushes him in Reed’s arms since he knows he can’t really have him… In the middle of all of this, Leo is supposedly in love with Pierre, he was in love with Mark when they were young and maybe is wishing to rekindle the flame, and lusts after Reed; plus, he is not blind and is able to see how handsome and clever Adrian is, so even him is another possible player in the game of above.

I like Leo’s attitude, even when he is heartbroken, he is honest enough with himself to admit that, even if he is swearing off men, in a love relationship perspective, he is not a liar, and he admits that he still wants sex; sex, as I said, is a comfort for the body, and a good healer for the heart. Indeed, Reed is a rebound love, but on the contrary of most of these types of lovers, he makes an even deeper impression on Leo’s heart of the lover he is trying to forget. Leo indeed is really young, and as all the young people, he is able to heal for a broken heart faster and sooner than older men.

I also like that, even if Leo knows that having a relationship with Reed he will face drama and trouble with Mark, he is so madly in lust/love with him that he doesn’t care; he is like a willing participant on a crash test who doesn’t care knowing there will be a crash, what it counts is the excitement and satisfaction he will find in the race.

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