Review: Townie and the Twink

Reviewed by Jen
 

This third installment in the Men of Holsum College series was kind of a mixed bag for me.  There were some things I really liked, while others didn't quite work. Let me give you a little set-up on the story.

Gabe is an openly gay college student who knows Nick only as an acquaintance through class.  But Gabe is a very perceptive guy and he recognizes the fact that Nick is likely gay.  In fact, after running into him at a pub one night, Gabe realizes that that Nick is in love with his very hot and very straight best friend.  Of course, Nick is in denial. He's never considered himself gay in his life.

As a local, Nick doesn't live on campus, but as he strikes up a friendship with Gabe, he starts hanging out at Gabe's house... and eventually sleeping on his sofa.  It's during a sleepover that their friendship turns physical.

I'm going to stop here and tell you what really works about this book: the sexy times.  From making out, to mutual masturbation... to eventually the big enchilada, Daisy Harris delivers.  The sex scenes are hot and believable, and every single one of them was great.  The other thing I really like about these books is how they are all so different from each other. I would imagine it would be easy for these stories to feel the same, but they don't.  The characters have clearly defined voices and the issues are unique to each couple.

Now for what I didn't like.  The first is a small thing. I felt like too fine a point was put on Gabe's "mind reading" skills, especially early on. It was off-putting, redundant, and just didn't feel organic.  The second problem was more significant and that was the fact that I had a hard time keeping up with elapsed time in the story. Sometimes I wasn't sure if a chunk of time had passed or just a day.  By the end of the story, the guys referenced their relationship had been going on for "a few weeks," but that was closest we got to any time reference that felt clear to me. And this ties into my third (and biggest) problem, which is the fact that these dudes are throwing the L-word around in a nanosecond.  A week, maybe?  Talking about living together and "forever" in less than a month.  Love too soon is my biggest peeve in romance of any kind.  It rips all the realism away from the emotions between the characters and leaves me feeling annoyed.

So like I said, mixed feelings. A sexy diversion, yes.  A romance that touched my heart, no.

Rating: C

*ARC provided by author for review

Townie and the Twink

by Daisy Harris

Release Date: June 11, 2012

Publisher: Siren