When I read the description for this book, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. Let me start with the basics.
Frank is recovering… sort of… from his divorce from husband, Ethan. He and Ethan were married for years and then Ethan cheated on him. As if that wasn’t enough, Frank came home and found Ethan and his new husband in bed.
Frank has kept the house he and Ethan shared and manages to pay the bills with the help of his yoga teacher/massage therapist roommate, Julio.
When Frank’s oldest friend calls him up, things begin to get a wee bit more complicated. Jonathan is more than a friend really, at least in Frank’s mind. On a fateful night in the past, he was at a dance club with Jonathan and left for a moment to gather himself. He wanted to admit his feelings and take things further than friendship. When he returns… he finds Jonathan dancing with a man. That man is Marcus and that brings us back to the present and Jonathan announcing that he’s marrying Marcus.
Surprised by Marcus’ arrival at his coffee date with his friend, Frank blurts out that he’s dating someone. After all, who wants to be the pathetic old friend who hasn’t recovered from his losing the love of his life? When pressed, Frank says his boyfriend is…. Julio. It’s the only name he can think of.
Still with me? It gets deliciously more tangled. Julio and Frank strike a bargain. Julio’s new massage therapy business requires space and Frank has an extra room. Frank needs a date for dinner with Jonathan and Marcus. Frank, the poor dear lost soul, thinks that maybe he can make it through the dinner and then withdraw from Jonathan’s life once more.
Julio and Frank arrive at dinner with a well-rehearsed plan for how they’ll pull off being boyfriends. What Frank doesn’t count on, however, is Jonathan asking him to be best man at his wedding.
And wait, did I mention that Marcus attends Julio’s yoga classes?
From this point on – things become a tangled mess of emotion, cheating, mixed signals, and betrayal. All the characters in this novel have their issues, some more than others. What they’re looking for may not be what they need and what they want may not be what they’ll get.
When I first picked up this book, I thought it would end up being much more playful. On the contrary, this story addresses some serious things. Beware readers who may have issues with infidelity; there’s a fair amount of that in this novel. I will say, I couldn’t put it down. Right up until the end, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, and I always enjoy that!
OH! I almost forgot! One of my favorite things about this story is that these men are all in their late 30s or early 40s. It was a pleasant change to read about more mature gay men!
I received an ARC of this book from the author via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
Kinzie Things 