Review: Relationships 201

Title: Relationships 201
Author: Alix Bekins
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publication Date: 13 December 2010
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 254 pages

Rating: 4 out of 5

Review: Stephan's got it all: he's starting grad school, he's got great friends, and he's dating the perfect boyfriend. So why does it feel like something's missing? The epic crush he's developing on the professor for whom he's a TA isn't helping matters. It takes some drastic changes for Stephan to reassess his life and decide just what it is that he wants.

Stephan is a compelling character, and I certainly enjoyed the time I spent with him. He's a bit of a party animal but not (usually) to excess, grounded when it comes to his classes and friends, and able to evaluate himself and his life without too much flinching. He's adept at building strong relationships with his friends; it's fun to read the different ways they interact (though most are built on the same sarcastic irreverence). I liked him quite enough to root for him throughout the story.

Jeff was a bit less developed, though this is pretty much a given as the entire story was told from Stephan's point-of-view. He's intelligent, considerate, outdoorsy, and fun without being over the top. I liked him well enough, though not as much as I did Stephan; something about him was a little less viable to me.

Stephan and Jeff started out as friends, which I actually found a little unbelievable, given that Jeff is a 38-year-old associate faculty member and Stephan is a 24-year-old grad student. Although Jeff socialized with Stephan and his friends often enough, there was never any indication that Jeff had any friends in his own circles, which made him a little, I don't know, pathetic? Even with the unresolved sexual tension between him and Stephan, you'd think he'd do some other socializing on his own, but there was never so much as a hint of it. The nearest thing to it was the 'grading parties' he had with Stephan and the other two TAs.

Speaking of unresolved sexual tension, there is a lot of it in this story. A lot. This made me happy, but someone looking for immediate gratification will probably be gnashing their teeth by the time Stephan and Jeff finally give it a try. Not that there's not sex prior to said consummation--after all, Stephan does have a boyfriend for the first portion of the story, and isn't quite celibate during the build-up of his relationship with Jeff--but it's not the main attraction. When Stephan and Jeff finally do give in, it's heavy and fun, despite the brief drama (which is thankfully quickly resolved).

The supporting cast is varied, but limited pretty much exclusively to Stephan's range of acquaintances--if Jeff has any of his own, I never came across them. They're in general quite entertaining, with just enough individual personality quirks to be interesting without being entirely interchangeable.

There's not much to the story itself, really; it's focused on Stephan and his relationships, so not much actually happens. There's just enough setting to provide a backdrop to Stephan's personal drama, providing flavoring without much more than is strictly necessary.

I adore stories that are really glorified character pieces, so this pushed a lot of my happy buttons. Those looking for a more event-driven story or, well, porn may find that their mileage varies. I certainly enjoyed it, though, and look forward to reading more by this author.