Review: Daybreak

Title: Daybreak
Series: Eight Nights
Author: Keira Andrews
Publisher: Loose Id
Publication Date: 16 December 2008
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 135 pages

Rating: 4 out of 5

Blurb:
Lucas and Nate enjoyed eight steamy nights of forbidden romance last year at Hanukkah. Now after months of long-distance dating, they're living in their own apartment in Greenwich Village and beginning a new life together. Lucas hates lying to Nate's family about the true nature of their relationship, but being with Nate is worth it.

They revel in having a private place to explore their relationship -- and every inch of each other -- but Nate and Lucas soon discover that living together isn't always perfect. When an unexpected betrayal shatters their tentative happiness, they struggle to find their way back together as the holidays approach once more. As their first magical nights together become a distant memory, can Lucas and Nate's relationship survive the break of day?

Review:

Main Characters:
Lucas has grown up a bit since Eight Nights, transferring to NYU and finding a studio apartment to share with Nate. He does, however, still have a lot of growing up left to do, and a series of his bad decisions drive much of the story. It's interesting to see him growing into his possibilities.

Nate, on the other hand, still seems stuck where Eight Nights left him; despite spending the summer in Europe with his parents, he's no closer to telling them of either his orientation or his change in major. He's developed a jealous streak that is actually rather charming (most of the time), but he's also gotten prickly to the point that I sometimes found myself wondering what Lucas saw in him.

Chemistry:
Although the story begins with their living together, the sense that they didn't know each other was pervasive. They had sex--plenty of sex--and got on quite well in that aspect, but found themselves butting heads in other aspects of their lives. As events played out and they were separated, I wondered if it would even be for the best for them to get back together. That being said, they're still an attractive couple, just a very immature one, both with plenty of room left to find themselves.

Secondary Characters:
There is a large supporting cast, though they rotate through fairly quickly so that the numbers are never overwhelming. Some drove me nuts--I wish Casey hadn't played out the way he did--but others were surprisingly enjoyable; I particularly enjoyed the scenes with Nate's father or Sam. The secondary characters were breathed with just enough life to make them interesting without dragging the focus away from where it belonged, with Lucas and Nate.

Story:
As I'd mentioned, a large force in the story is Lucas's bad decisions, though they're not the only key points. Although some of the critical events, whether through Lucas's actions or an outside influence, came as a surprise, none of them struck me as gratuitous. My biggest complaint is the pat ending, when a particular player completely reverses a stance they'd taken regarding Lucas and Nate just in time for family sap; it seemed a little forced, and I'd rather have seen a more natural progression to resolution, rather than a switch being flipped.

Writing:
I enjoyed the writing in this book rather more than that of Eight Nights, though that may be simply because the author had rather more time to hit their stride. The balance of showing and telling was still excellent, and the dialogue was strong.

Overall:
Interesting (if sometimes frustrating) characters and a well-crafted story make this an easy book to like. Although the ending was a bit of a letdown, the rest of the story was charming enough to bear up through the stumble. I'm only sorry that we don't get to find out more about how Lucas and Nate grow into themselves.

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.