Always the wingman, never the one.
Nathan, a college student with a thing for funky hats and a definite not-thing for the great outdoors, has been a wingman extraordinaire for his lifelong best friend Lorcan for as long as either can remember. With his innate ability to talk endlessly about how great Lorcan is to anyone who’ll listen, Nathan has always been the best man for the job—even if he’s secretly waiting for the day when Lorcan will realize that Nathan is the only guy for him.
But then, Lorcan sets his sights on Miles, the suave, leather-jacket-wearing musician with a love of mountaineering and a family of six overprotective sisters, and Nathan must once again put his wingman skills to work.
Trouble is, Nathan is getting tired of the old routine, and Miles is the only human being on the planet immune to Lorcan’s charm. Not to mention that Miles’s interest is immediately piqued by the outspoken and completely oblivious wingman.
- crushing on best friend, bisexual awakening, coming out, love triangle
The Wingman by A. Poland surprised me! I enjoyed it… let me tell you about that.
Nathan is the best possible friend and wingman to Lorcan. He is fantastic at going out with Lorcan and hooking him up with women while he pines secretly for his best friend. Things change suddenly when Nathan returns from a year away to find out that Lorcan is interested in a man.
Lorcan enlists Nathan’s help to get to Miles. Miles is a musician who loves hiking and the outdoors. He comes from a family with several over-protective sisters and at first, Lorcan doesn’t even know if Miles is interested in men.
For the first time ever…things don’t go as expected. Miles seems immune to the usual heart-stopping charm of Lorcan. In fact, maybe he’s interested in Nathan. The more time the three of them spend together, the clearer it becomes that it’s time for Nathan to make some changes.
Now, I really disliked Lorcan. Let me explain. This isn’t a bad thing. I always applaud authors when they write a character that rubs me the wrong way. Lorcan takes his friendship with Nathan for granted and he’s quite entitled throughout a lot of the story. He got under my skin, and I found myself rooting for Nathan to get out from under the friendship.
Nathan was easy to love. He’s clumsy, bright, funny and a dedicated friend. I enjoyed the way he progressed throughout the novel. At first, he didn’t seem to think there was anything unhealthy about his friendship with Lorcan, but slowly he came around to realizing that he deserved better.
The relationship between Nathan and his father was a joy to read. It was very authentic, and I loved the fact that they communicated in ASL. As someone who is fluent in ASL, I love to see it in books when it’s just another thing that characters do.
This story felt good. It had a great pace and was fun to read. There were some humorous moments and incidents peppered throughout even though there were some very serious moments. I really enjoyed it!
I received an ARC of The Wingman by A. Poland via Gay Book Pr in exchange for an unbiased review.
Kinzie Things 