Review: Maxxed Out

Title: Maxxed Out
Series: Inside Out
Author: Treva Harte
Publisher: Loose Id
Publication Date: 21 September 2010
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 21,836 words

Rating: 2 out of 5

Blurb:
Max knows his family and friends aren't sure what to make of his moods and impulses. But he's in college now and ready to show them he's grown up and ready to make mature choices. At least he's ready for a serious relationship and almost ready to tell his family he's gay. He could use a little help, though.

With his loving big brother gone forever, who is left to ask for help? Daniel Rocco, his brother's best friend and his longtime crush, of course. Daniel is solid and reliable--the opposite of Max. But for some reason, Daniel seems terrified of what Max might do next.

Review:

Main Characters:
Max is a 19-year-old college student who is ready to come out to his parents. He's messed around with guys in the past--in a "we're drunk and no women are around" sort of way--and he's ready now to admit to the world that he wants something more meaningful. To help him in his coming out, he enlists the aid of his late older brother's friend Daniel... or so we're told. In actuality, he comes across as manipulative and bratty, using the situation to seduce Daniel. The way he went about his manipulation made me rather dislike him, in truth.

Daniel is older (though it's never clarified just how much), working as an ER tech after leaving the military due to an encounter with a land mine that left him with a critical injury to one leg. He doesn't believe that he's good for anyone now and pushes people away when they threaten to get close. He cuts a fairly pathetic figure, actually. I liked him in general more than Max, though there were moments of behavior that made me want to smack him.

Chemistry:
Max and Daniel are an interesting couple, even if I do find the way they get together (Max's aforementioned manipulation) to be unappealing. Max has had a crush on Daniel for years and runs with it, while Daniel struggles to equate the 12-year-old he remembers with the college student trying to get into his pants. Their sexual dynamic is also interesting, if it sometimes makes me frown; I'll just be getting into the scene and actually buying into the characters, and then Daniel calls Max "boy" and my distaste skyrockets. Not what I look for.

There were also a few actions that I couldn't buy into, including the first blowjob. Seriously. They're sitting in a restaurant, Max drops his knife, and suddenly decides that while he's down there he just has to get his mouth on Daniel's cock? It was so absurd that I had to reread it to make sure that it wasn't just a fantasy.

Secondary Characters:
The secondary characters are few in number--not surprising given the length of the story. The most important one for much of the story is actually Max's late brother, Matt, despite not actually being present and dwelling in the spaces between. It worked for him and for Max and Daniel.

Story:
The bulk of the story is Max's seduction of Daniel and the sex that results, though there is an event later in the story that leads to the resolution that Max was purportedly originally going for. The event, however... While in a bar to celebrate Max's successful fucking of Daniel, they argue, Max starts to leave, then comes back to shove his tongue down Daniel's throat. As a result, when he starts to leave a second time, he's attacked by three locals, out of whom Daniel promptly beats the shit. It just seemed gratuitous, like an awkward contrivance to bring them together with Max's parents for the big revelation.

Writing:
The writing was mostly solid, a few errors here and there but nothing terrible. Something seemed to be missing, though; I was never wowed by a turn of phrase. Competent, but not really anything special for me.

Overall:
Characters I never quite came to like and motivations behind the story that I found distasteful meant that I just couldn't get behind this. Those who mind manipulation less may find more here, but it's unfortunately just not the book for me.