And we’ve gone off the deep end. We’ve jumped the shark. And any other number of references you can think of about a series going too far in the wrong direction. As I said in my response to the first book, Bryan & Jase:
SAY IT WITH ME NOW: “If I write a self-published novel, I promise I will use a professional copy editor, use multiple beta-readers, and ctrl+f any asinine phrase that I may over use.”
I’ve actually come up with a caveat to this: And I promise that if I write a novel from a different perspective than mine I will have someone of that perspective read my novel and tell me if it is okay.
As a gay man reading this novel and this series they are no longer okay. I’m not convinced Ellis has ever met a gay man. Everything she seems to know about them comes from stereotypes and tropes. I had an inkling of it (there are references to hundreds of partners at some point in one of the earlier books), but when I read this line I got pissed enough I put the book down for a few days:
“I wasn’t judging or accusing, but I needed the info on their relationship. No gay man worth his salt would pass up the chance to dish.” (Loc. 8,460)
Ellis has basically reduced gay men to gossips who fuck around and the only saving grace is that they can join the patriarchal institution of monogamous marriage. FUCK. THIS. There were other instances in which her reductive characterization of gay men irked me, but the fucking gossip queen stereotype was just one too many.
I will finish the series, but only to hate read it because I’m a completionist, I already own them, and the sex scenes were decent enough.
There’s no point in talking about the characters or story as they’re beyond basic and even when she tries to through a curve ball it fizzles and leaves you thinking that was a waste of 20 pages. The characters are odd artsy introverts who I would usually love, but their development is stunted and dialogue is hokey. The plot is full of holes and weird situations and reveals that left me thinking WTF. Add in that she once again returns to her 1950s June Cleaver dialogue,
“Nothing makes me happier than thinking my two best guys will find love with each other.” (Loc. 6,896)
“You’re my best girl, Lex…” (Loc. 8,475)
AND I WANTED TO SCREAM. She may as well have started it with gee golly willikers or something else so out of time, but also place. No mid-twenties individual would use that phrase in their right mind. Maybe the other works she wrote are clean romances and that type of best guy/best girl shit counted as flirting, but rip my eyes out please.
Recommendation: Stay away, or better yet go support an author that clearly has their work beta read and copy edited. I mean you could find the sex scenes and read those, they’re okay, but your time is wasted on anything else. I’ll forget everything about these books and characters within days of finishing and that’s been the case with all three of her books in this series so far.
Opening Line: “I was sixteen when he kissed me.”
Closing Line: “He wiped at his tears before laughing and pulling me to my feet, ‘Yes, Van. It’s always been yes.'” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)
Other Books in the Something About Him Series
Additional Quotes from Barrett & Ivan*
“True, I knew sex wasn’t a given on any date, but I’d chatted with enough guys online to know that a lot of gay men went straight to the sex very early in the dating. Having almost zero experience with sex, I wasn’t too keen on throwing myself out into the great unknown.” (Loc. 6,069)
*These books came in a compendium on Kindle so the page/location numbers are different than if you purchase them individually.
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