Samuel York

Billy is beautiful ... in his appearance and in his idiosyncrasies ... and so is the novel. Sawyer's acceptance of Billy and Billy's love of dressing up, makeup, "looking pretty", is awesome. They have a couple of years of this wonderful relationship as they complete school and pursue their ambitions.

Two years into Sawyer's career in the FBI, Sawyer has changed - his acceptance of Billy has dwindled. His devotion to Billy has been eaten up by the pressures of life in the FBI. Hearts hurt.

The author's note says Samuel York is a trans-male author writing gay romance. They previously published under the name Sara York.

They have published nearly 100 novels, so I'm surprised I haven't crossed their path before this. This book came out in 2014. And republished in 2022 - that's the only thing I can think of that would be the reason why so few Thingers have read it. It was before its time in 2014 perhaps, and the author was better known 10 years later.

I had no idea in 2014 - I was living in one of the most conservative states in the US - that romance as a literary genre was where it was - socially progressive and changing attitudes, one read at a time.

This will be a novel I'll remember, thanks in big part to how narrator Sean Crisden brings it to life. The cover is captivating, a change from a muscled torso!… (mehr)

Friends or Lovers was written for the M/M Romance Groups 2013 Love Has No Boundaries event. This is told in third person through the eyes of both Shane and Nick.



Shane has been jilted at the altar by Mark and Nick is there to pick up the pieces. Nick convinces Shane to take the honeymoon anyway. Nick accompanies Shane and one night after too much partying and drinking they end up in bed.

Nick has been in love with Shane for awhile but Shane was blinded to anyone but Mark. Finally Nick has his chance to show Shane how he feels.

I liked both Nick and Shane and thought they made a nice couple. I enjoyed the tension and angst in the story and how the author set it up and how it played out. Mark is hiding something and I wish we found out what it was, but it seems this story is the prelude to a book so we'll eventually find out.

One thing I didn't like about the story was that it was mostly telling rather than showing with very little dialogue. There was also a part where Nick said something about how he didn't want to take advantage of Shane's vulnerability but he had done just that the night before with both of them drunk and them ending up in bed. So that particular thought doesn't jive with what happened before.

I'm a bit conflicted on what to rate this story. One one hand I loved the idea, the characters and the way the story came together. But on the other hand, I have a big pet peeve about telling rather than showing. However despite too much telling, I'm going to give this 3 Stars because I liked many other aspects of Friends or Lovers?


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