Again I had the feeling that G.A. Hauser “matured” with this novel, or maybe she decided that she doesn’t care of what people think romance should be and she wrote what she likes. Jean is a modern Alice in the Wonderland who falls into a hole, figuratively speaking but also for real; when he enters D&D’s tattoo shop, what he thinks he wants is a small tattoo in a place no one will see, especially now that Jean is single and without prospect partners around; what he finds are two hot men plus one to spare who are more than ready to show Jean a completely different world.

Harry, the shop owner, is 29 years old, very handsome and a little brooding; he had a very bad experience in the past and now he is very careful to give his heart. Clyde, Harry’s adoptive brother, his 39 years old, wanna-be porn star, and as open as Harry is closed; Clyde is very possessive of Harry and not in a brotherly way, and where I know I shouldn’t like his character, he is yes possessive but also obsessive, I think he is the more fragile of the two. Clyde helped Harry when he was down, but at the time Harry was only a teenager, now instead he is a grown man, and he grew stronger and steadier than Clyde. The spare guy is Sam, who joins Clyde and Harry when they want to play, and the new play thing is Jean.

There is a lot of sex, down and dirty sex, a little on the BDSM side, but mostly for the fun not as life choice. Jean at first has this idea of romance, made of courtship and bed of roses, and instead he finds immediate sex and satisfaction and a dungeon to play… the guy is fast to change is idea and to understand that this is his chance and he hasn’t to let it go. Champagne and roses can wait, in the meantime he will enjoy the immediate gratification.

The story is more complex than the sex, the one between Harry and Jean is the easier relationship, what gives complexity to the plot is the bond between Harry and Clyde, made of love and hate, tenderness and irritation. It’s strange since it’s Clyde that pushes Harry to let it go with Jean, but then he is the first to try to stop him when things get serious, like he wasn’t expecting for Harry to follow his push.

G.A. Hauser are not romance for all, but if you manage to enter her world made of real gay men, every novel is a discovery.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/146351073X/?tag=elimyrevandra-20