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The Landlord

by Jeff Erno (Goodreads Author)

3.33 of 5 stars 3.33 · rating details · 203 ratings · 24 reviews

The Landlord is a story about young Mark Matheson, a recent college graduate who lands a job in his college town but is dismayed by the fact that he will soon be moving from the dorms and have no place to live. He finds an apartment that is located and priced perfectly, but the only problem is that if he rents it, his landlord will be the very guy for whom he's secretly ha...more

ebook, 234 pages

Published April 15th 2010 by Extasy Books

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Sep 11, 2010 DarienMoya rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Jeff Erno's fans!!!

Shelves: my-m-m-lovin, 2010-reads

^^I WOULD HAVE MOVED OUT!^^
3.5

So we all know I am a huge fan of Erno, nothing greater than the Puppy Love series. I am not comparing this book to that series, but I am a little surprise that I am not in love with this book. It has all the things I like in my M/M romance. The nerdy unpopular guy and the good looking successful man, who meet and fall in love. Well for reasons I could not like the characters and I just felt a little unfulfilled.

Mark Matheson is a college graduate working as a cle...more ^^I WOULD HAVE MOVED OUT!^^
3.5

So we all know I am a huge fan of Erno, nothing greater than the Puppy Love series. I am not comparing this book to that series, but I am a little surprise that I am not in love with this book. It has all the things I like in my M/M romance. The nerdy unpopular guy and the good looking successful man, who meet and fall in love. Well for reasons I could not like the characters and I just felt a little unfulfilled.

Mark Matheson is a college graduate working as a cleaner until he lands a job after school. He gets a job to clean the house of this guy, first impression of the man’s home, Mark quickly thinks slob until he meets the owner. Aaron is everything marks wants to be successful, confident and good looking, so just say Mark has an instant attraction to Aaron. He is flushed in his company, unable to meet his eyes and form any coherent words lets just say he is a little intimidated.

Well circumstances leads to Mark renting an apartment from Aaron and moving in a floor above Aaron making him his official landlord. An invitation to hang out and get to know each other leads to a blowjob and thus begins the sexual relationship. This is where the books begins to piss me off, Aaron made some comments I was very upset about, like if the sexual favours continue then he might be able to work out a deal on the rent, and leaving a hundred dollar bill thanking Mark for last night. I was like “come on” the man aint no whore he likes you. I wanted Mark super pissed of but I never got that.

To make things complicated Aaron has a girlfriend he has been dating for five years, talk about the drama. Poor Mark has to hear them have sex and Aaron comes out with this “the whole time I was thinking of you” all I am saying if you are thinking of me you better be doing me. I was all why is Mark not angry, I wanted a showdown, and when it happened somehow it was turned around and made Mark look like the bad guy. I get the whole submissive thing but it does not equal doormat or idiot.

Told in first person, we get everything Mark is feeling and it is a lot of feeling. I wanted a little POV from Aaron it would have been nice to get an in-depth view of his thinking. Together Aaron and mark is sweet, nothing overly sexy about them but they have a good time together and I did love how expressive Aaron was in wanting Mark a very nice change.

This book was a far cry from being erotic, not too many sex scenes and not very hardcore. I did like it, but I was disappointed with the lack of anger on Mark’s part. Overall, a nice little book about a tenant and his landlord and a cute if unrealistic ending.
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Jun 15, 2010 Betryal rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 4.5 stars.

The title The Landlord? Self explanatory isn’t it? But is it really. Not a question but more of an observation. There’s more to the story than just this mere title and I do digress there’s more to it than this title that first meets your eyes when glancing upon the cover of this book.

This book is in first person and that person is sweet, tender Mark who falls in love for the first time. His first boyfriend ever. He’s gullible really and almost ready to believe anything told to him. Al...more 4.5 stars.

The title The Landlord? Self explanatory isn’t it? But is it really. Not a question but more of an observation. There’s more to the story than just this mere title and I do digress there’s more to it than this title that first meets your eyes when glancing upon the cover of this book.

This book is in first person and that person is sweet, tender Mark who falls in love for the first time. His first boyfriend ever. He’s gullible really and almost ready to believe anything told to him. Almost. He falls for none other than Aaron. His Landlord of course. Aaron on the other hand, the tall handsome, blond jock and Mark’s wet fantasy dream confused me from the beginning to practically the end. He professes to being gay, doesn’t have marriage in mind and is not the family guy type to settling down with a wifey and kids. I wasn’t buying into it and I didn’t believe it. If such is the case why was Aaron having unprotected sex? With a chick of all things! His pretty little long time girlfriend of 5 years which by her descript held boyish attributes. Hmm interesting... Gets oh so much better... she visits on weekends and what do you think Aaron is doing with Her while Mark is living upstairs pining away for him? Getting his jig on and jizz out. To me Aaron is the sinner of our gay brethren. I do ask if you claim to be a fag how can you get it on with a chick? Although Aaron does get a few points for giving Mark a rose, showing Mark he’s his one and only, taking in quality time together and having a great weekend getaway till his phone rings. Ah, ah, ah not telling what happens then. The boy has some redeeming to do, but does he? :snickers: Not gonna tell. No fun it giving it all away.

Now back to my sweet, soft-hearted, short and don't leave out 'cute' Mark as Aaron always refers to him as. I felt like a peeping Tom reading about his thoughts, his feelings, what turns his crank and what doesn’t. His personal rants to himself are precious, delightful and make this read more enjoying than many of the first person books I’ve read. I do digress I was quite disgusted in a scene where Mark gets his rocks off listening to Aaron getting his dick wet and visualizing the sex scene between Aaron and said girlfriend. I was rather traumatized by it. Took visualizing of my own creative thoughts to erase the words I skimmed out of my brain and washed clean.

This is the first book of Jeff’s that I’ve read it without much further a do I regret to saying that with all due respect I have to admit that although I’m not a huge fan of first person stories that in this story the writing is superb, it’s explicitly detailed and professionally well written to the point that you’ll feel the voyeur into Mark's mind, what he's thinking and how he’s feeling till his angst and anxieties, his happiness and depression becomes yours by seeping into your pores.

The story in the crux of it is Amazing! Jeff is a talented writer and I look forward to reading more books written by him. :two thumbs up: He’s renewed my interest in first person books by this book alone. For those of you who haven’t yet read it and sans that hetero sex scene of a few paras that are skip-able and skip-worthy, I highly recommend this book to you.

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May 06, 2013 Tʀɪsʜᴀ Hᴀʀʀɪɴɢᴛᴏɴ rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: jeff-erno-books, cheating, it-was-meh

It was going so well and then we got cheating in it. Loved the ending, take away the other relationship and I might have loved it.

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Jul 13, 2010 Leah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m-bdsm

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 27, 2010 Elisa Ramblings added it

Jeff Erno has his style and even if he changes publisher, he doesn’t change it; on the contrary, publishing a story with eXtasy Books, that is a notorious erotica epub, I was expecting for this novel to be even more daring than the previous, and instead it’s probably the more tamed. More, it’s probably even the more “romantic” in a conventional meaning, probably for the first time reading a book by this author, I didn’t feel like one of the two characters was treated like a toy by his partner, r...more Jeff Erno has his style and even if he changes publisher, he doesn’t change it; on the contrary, publishing a story with eXtasy Books, that is a notorious erotica epub, I was expecting for this novel to be even more daring than the previous, and instead it’s probably the more tamed. More, it’s probably even the more “romantic” in a conventional meaning, probably for the first time reading a book by this author, I didn’t feel like one of the two characters was treated like a toy by his partner, right, a precious toy, but still, not someone at the same level.

Mark is a soon to be graduate college student in Journalism who tries to make the ends meet with pocket money jobs, like cleaning other guys’ apartments. When he is asked to clean Aaron’s apartment, he is also struck by a revelation: he is gay and he likes to submit to other guys; Aaron is the epitome of All-American boy, blond hair, blue eyes, toned body… doesn’t matter if he didn’t go to college, if he is doing money with real estate, where his mind is less important than his smile, to Mark’s eyes he is a god and Mark wants to worship him. Scrubbing his toilet is the less to prove his devotion.

Things are not exactly good for Mark if he was the one to decide; Mark has so much self-esteem issues that he would do only bad for himself. Lucky him Aaron is indeed a good guy, and when also him realizes that he is feeling something special for little and cute Mark, he is the first to decide that it’s time to change both their life, to accommodate this new development. Aaron also tries to teach Mark to have a better self-esteem of himself, but that is really an impossible task: Mark is really someone who is happy only taking care of his beloved one, he is the perfect househusband, and he has not inferiority feelings; if Aaron wanted to ask him to renounce to his career as journalist to servicing him full time, Mark would jump to the chance. For this reason I said that Aaron is good for him, since Aaron understands that Mark has to have a life other than worshipping him, and Aaron also knows that Mark is a special guy, very clever and generous.

Mark has probably some issues deriving from his bad relationship with his parents, in particular his father; even if they are not bad people, they seem to not considering much their own son. As a consequence, Mark reflects this “refusal” in other people, he is not able to “hear” or believe when other people are making him compliments.

As I said, there is less sex than expected, and truth be told, what sex you find, is pretty tamed in comparison to other production from the same publisher, and even author. I probably prefer think like that, as I for sure prefer Aaron’s character to other dominants in Jeff Erno’s story: Aaron is maybe less perfect and wonderful than other golden boys, but he is for sure more gentle and caring.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JBJ79W/?...(less)

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May 11, 2010 JenMcJ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books, mm-mmm-a-few-mmf-too

As Mark finds revelation in the desire to submit, so does Aaron find it in the desire to dominate. It is a very compelling story while we watch the relationship unfold.

There is cheating in this book. Aaron and Mark start their affair while Aaron is still going out with his girlfriend of 5 years. We really don't get emotionally invested in the girlfriend before the affair starts so it didn't really bother me. The book tries to connect the reader to her afterward but I never did feel it.

Several...more

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Sep 19, 2010 Kassa rated it 2 of 5 stars

I like Jeff Erno’s writing, though his D/s stories feel very similar. Here is a decent story about a young man with submissive yearnings that falls for his landlord. Said landlord always had homosexual thoughts and feelings, as well as dominant desires, but it’s only his connection with Mark that prompts Aaron to change his life.

The story is easy to read, though feels very familiar to the Puppy Love series. Mark is extremely submissive and expresses that in service ways. The difference here is...more

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Apr 17, 2010 Michele Montgomery rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

5 Kisses

Blurb:

The Landlord is a story about young Mark Matheson, a recent college graduate who lands a job in his college town but is dismayed by the fact that he will soon be moving from the dorms and have no place to live. He finds an apartment that is located and priced perfectly, but the only problem is that if he rents it, his landlord will be the very guy for whom he's secretly harbored a crush for months. Aaron seems to be all that Mark is not. He's tall and handsome, very confident and w...more

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May 05, 2010 Jenre rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, bdsm, m-m, romance

Mark is a college student in his final year. He’s also on the books of a cleaning business to make some extra money. He’s a shy bloke who doesn’t have many friends and is rather lacking in self-esteem, but is still cheerful and friendly. When he’s sent on a cleaning job for Aaron who run a successful business, despite only being a few years older than Mark, Mark is overawed at the confident Aaron and forms a crush on him. When circumstances bring the two together, this time with Aaron as Mark’s...more Mark is a college student in his final year. He’s also on the books of a cleaning business to make some extra money. He’s a shy bloke who doesn’t have many friends and is rather lacking in self-esteem, but is still cheerful and friendly. When he’s sent on a cleaning job for Aaron who run a successful business, despite only being a few years older than Mark, Mark is overawed at the confident Aaron and forms a crush on him. When circumstances bring the two together, this time with Aaron as Mark’s landlord, the two begin a relationship which surprises them both and leads to Aaron having to decide whether he’s going to take a chance on Mark, or stick with his girlfriend of several years.

This book is surprising in a way, because although it’s written from Mark’s first person point of view, most of the story is about Aaron and the choices he has to make. Mark, is more of an onlooker to all that is happening in Aaron’s life, the catalyst for the decisions Aaron has to make, therefore it was unusual to see the book from that point of view. Having said that, we still get a great deal of insight into what s happening in Mark’s life. He’s a bit of a shy loner, who is only just coming to terms with the fact that he is gay. His sudden crush on Aaron surprises him, as does the feeling of inferiority he gets around Aaron. Those of you who have read Puppy Love by the author will see strong similarities between Petey, the hero of Puppy Love, and Mark. Both are young, inexperienced, with strong submissive feelings of low self-worth. Mark is a sympathetic narrator who falls quickly in love with Aaron and then has to be patient whilst Aaron sorts out his life. On occasion Mark is rather naive in the way he views their relationship and towards the end behaves in a slightly irrational manner with annoyed me a little. I don’t particularly like the plot line of a character who behaves in a way they consider self-sacrificing and acts on impulse rather than talking things over with the other hero, so I found myself groaning a little over Mark’s behaviour at the end of the book.

The theme which is a deal breaker in this book is that of infidelity. I know that many readers cannot bear to read any books with an unfaithful hero and if you are one such reader then this book is not for you. If it’s done well, as it was in this book, I don’t mind an unfaithful hero. In the case of Aaron, he has been seeing his girlfriend since high school, and although he loves her, he doesn’t feel that spark of passion with her. Aaron had a male friend he used to occasionally mess about with, but it isn’t until he and Mark get together, that Aaron realises that his love for his girlfriend is really just akin to friendship, and the love he is starting to feel for Mark is more powerful. Aaron spends the majority of the book coming to the realisation that Mark is the one he wants and that he has to break things off with his girlfriend. As the infidelity is at the heart of the story, I was able to sympathise a little with Aaron, understand his confusion, especially as deep down he is a good and sensible man, who doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings but knows his actions will cause hurt whatever he chooses. Despite his flaws, I liked and admired Aaron for not taking the easy route. One word of warning: Before Aaron has decided to split up with his girlfriend, but whilst he has started a relationship with Mark, Aaron has sex with her. During this scene, Mark is listening from his upstairs flat. I have to admit, I found this scene uncomfortable to read, not because of the suggestion of m/f sex – which may put some readers off – but because of the blatant infidelity.

Another theme which is dabbled with in the story is that of dominance and submission. Mark is a natural submissive who would happily serve Aaron in any way he wants. Although Aaron is a dominant man, I liked that he saw the value to treating Mark with love and respect, leading to some very tender sex scenes between the pair. I also liked that the two men were just feeling out their roles with each other, having a go as it were, and trying out what worked and what didn’t work for them as a couple. It made a change from those stories where the Dom is experienced and knows exactly how he wants his sub to behave. Instead this gave the relationship a realistic feel, and was perhaps more romantic because of that.

Overall, despite a few niggles, I liked this book of two men who find each other and come out of the closet together. There was a nice balance of drama, humour and sex, alongside a subject matter that was sometimes difficult to swallow, but showed bravery on the part of the author. I liked that the characters didn’t always take the easy route, that they had their flaws, and yet underneath they were decent men trying to make the best out of unexpected, difficult and yet also wonderful change in their lives. I would recommend The Landlord to those who don’t mind an infidelity plot and who are looking for a well written, romantic story.(less)

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Jan 08, 2013 Vfields needs to be happy! rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: wish-i-never-bought-it

I can't believe how much I didn't enjoy this book. It was poorly written and the story read like a high school ... I can't say anything. I just did not like it.

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May 09, 2013 Todd rated it 3 of 5 stars

For the first 20 or so pages, I HATED THIS BOOK. Enough so that I seriously almost put it down for good. All of the worshipping stuff just left me cold, plus Mark always saying he was 'inferior' to Aaron every 2 pages. "I'm cleaning his toilet and it's where I belong, because he's so superior to me." Ummm, hell no. Get the F out. Now. Like right the F now.

Then I searched the book for "I love you" and found that Aaron ended up saying it even more often than Mark, which gave me some hope for where...more

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Jan 29, 2012 Lexi Ander rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mm-contemp

Mark is a hard working, self supporting college student who doesn't have any self-esteem. He has never thought about his sexuality or lack of until he meets Aaron who a couple of months later becomes Mark's landlord. Aaron is straight, good looking, confident and a slob. Mark has a huge secret crush on Aaron which is confusing for Mark because he has never thought about another man sexually but Aaron he cannot get out of his mind or his fantasies.

One chance encounter confirms to Mark that he is...more

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May 11, 2010 Lily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, m-m, what-i-read-in-2010

"I really enjoyed reading The Landlord. Aaron and Mark are likable young men although each has his own flaws which made them all the more interesting and I found myself drawn into the development of their relationship. There are moments of humor as well as angst in this story, the sex scenes are hot and Mark's vulnerability is well balanced by Aaron's strength. I recommend this book to those who may not be bothered reading a book with the themes of infidelity and mild D/s included in a romantic...more

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May 04, 2013 Maggie Sims rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: angst, bdsm, cheating, erotica, gay

3.5 stars

This book had a lot of Jeff's writing magic but for some reason this book didn't do it for me. I didn't like Aaron. Couldn't really buy into their love. All of Jeff's MCs tend to ramble recaping what just happened in the previous chapter but that has just been part of the characters. It was a tad more overused in this book.

Overall it is still a great read. I liked it, I just didn't love it.

On to reading more of Jeff's books. He is a fantastic writer

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Jun 13, 2011 pbj added it

Shelves: z_2011, tstl, m-m, insta-love, dnf

Totally not my cup of tea.

Everything from the first person narration to the wimpy, colorless hero was not for me. I've never encountered a more impotent character - and by 'impotent' I mean completely powerless, lacking a sense of self worth, and incapable of anything other than passive response.

I was cringing as I turned the pages. I'm obviously not the intended audience for this one.

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Mar 28, 2013 Princess Brina rated it 3 of 5 stars

I loved the characters but the story needed more conflict. I kept waiting for the sex to move out of vanilla. If you are looking for a gay romance only then this is for you. I was expecting more bdsm or d/s action and there was none.

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Jan 08, 2013 24601 rated it 1 of 5 stars

The story premise was promising, but I couldn't get past the writing style and the unlikeable characters.

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Oct 12, 2012 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

So sweet! Loved this one. Downloading another Jeff Erno soon.

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Apr 28, 2012 Ashley♥Alexis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned-e-books, softcore-kinks, m-m

4.5 stars. Loved Mark. I wish the last bit was longer. There's still so much I wanted to know.

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May 18, 2012 Gwendolyn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: bsdm, coming-of-age

why do my older reviewed book disappear sometimes?

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Nov 20, 2011 Gwengwel marked it as never-never-never

Not my kind of submission

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Feb 12, 2013 Connie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m, romance, bdsm

I like it, enjoy reading it, but I didn't get involved with it as much as I usually do with Mr. Erno's writing.
It was the lack of emotion, maybe.
Even though I relate to the discovery of the submissive side by one of the MCs, it still felt empty.
I don't know how to explain it.
I guess my expectations were too high, as I normally love his books.
This one just wasn't that great for me.

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Jun 26, 2010 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance, gay, ebook, owned, 2010, done

Ok kinky m/m romance that was a really mixed read for me. It's about a brand-new college grad who gets his first job, rents his first apartment, and, via his landlord, discovers his submissive side. While I enjoyed the story, I didn't enjoy the writing; who thinks in the passive voice?!

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Jun 06, 2010 Gianthogweed rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m, contemporary, bdsm-kinky, contemporary-m-m, novel-novella

This book would have been more enjoyable if I had one of those devices used in Men in Black that erase the memory.
Dealing with the same characters of Mr. Erno's other works -only with different names and ages- is so annoying that ruins the pleasure of reading.

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Jan 12, 2013 Claudia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mm, erotica, funny

Not bad! Mark was a little too whinny for my taste but overall a good read.

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May 17, 2013 Jay rated it 3 of 5 stars

May 16, 2013 Taniajels rated it 3 of 5 stars

May 16, 2013 Kiki Lynnwood rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kinky

May 14, 2013 Landon J. rated it 4 of 5 stars

May 12, 2013 Gisele added it

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About Jeff Erno

Jeff Erno currently lives in southern Michigan. He holds a bachelor's degree in business management and human resources. Jeff began writing stories in the late 1990's and initially posted them to a free online amateur website. The positive feedback he received from readers encouraged him to continue, and this eventually led to the publication of his first novel, Dumb Jock. Erno has subsequently pu...more

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