Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Looking For It

3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 · rating details · 299 ratings · 22 reviews

Mike Monaghan is the bartender at the Engine Room, a meeting place for the small but thriving community of gay men in Cold Falls, new York. As Mike pours beer, wipes glasses and hears everything, he's also witness to the men who come here looking for what they need--sex, direction, friendship, spiritual fulfillment, and love. People like: Stephen Darby--As an accountant, h...more

Paperback, 336 pages

Published December 1st 2005 by Kensington (first published 2004)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Top 100 Gay Novels of the XXI century

204th out of 299 books — 288 voters

Best Gay "Virginal" Characters

273rd out of 407 books — 522 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 504)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Dec 29, 2011 Dolphe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: michael-thomas-ford

While this is a superior, darker effort to "Last Summer", it retains the author's biting humor. It suffers; however, from almost too many characters. Ford creates interesting and well-drawn characters, but the sheer number means that many of the more intriguing damaged souls get short changed in the story telling. The best reads often benefit from the best editors and there is not enough evidence of that editing here. I certainly look forward to reading more of the author's work; however, and ho...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 14, 2009 Aaron rated it 5 of 5 stars

With Ford's second novel, he shifts the setting from Provincetown, Massachusetts to a small town in northern New York called Cold Falls. While that might be different, he still centers his story on the shared experiences of a small group of people. Each of them is looking for it, but the "it" is not what you might expect.

Mike is at a turning point in his life. He lost his whole family when their car was hit by a drunk driver when he was in high school. Now, he is a bartender at a local gay bar c...more With Ford's second novel, he shifts the setting from Provincetown, Massachusetts to a small town in northern New York called Cold Falls. While that might be different, he still centers his story on the shared experiences of a small group of people. Each of them is looking for it, but the "it" is not what you might expect.

Mike is at a turning point in his life. He lost his whole family when their car was hit by a drunk driver when he was in high school. Now, he is a bartender at a local gay bar called the Engine Room. His whole perspective on live changes when he is driving home from work late one night and he runs into the Father Thomas Dunn, the local Episcopal priest, ... literally. After helping the father sort out what is wrong with his car, Mike gives him a ride home and the two find that it is the start of a good friendship and, perhaps, something more.

Simon is the group "Auntie." In his mid-60's, he is still coming to terms with the fact that his partner of more than 40 years died just a year previously. He not only misses his partner, but he is also coming to terms with the fact that he is looking at the possibility that he will live the rest of his life all alone. It is not a pleasant thought.

John and Russell, who have been together for seven years, arrive at a crisis point. While there is no shortage of love between them, Russell is not sure he can continue living with a man who is so reserved, analytical, and self-focused. As a result, they start a period of separation that will allow them to decide where their future will take them, and whether it will be together.

John and Russell also start the story by playing matchmaker. Russell has a good friend and coworker named Gary, who they think would be perfect for their accountant Stephen. Unfortunately, Stephen is still sorting out life as a gay man. Not only does he live next door to his parents, but he is also ashamed of what being gay means for him.

As a result of Stephen's feelings, he not only fends of Gary's interest, but it leads him to explore his sexuality online and at seedy adult stores. At the latter, he runs into a self-loathing homophobe named Peter. Ashamed of his own feelings Peter finds a way to fulfill his sexual needs with other men, but usually concludes by beating them in order to hide his shame. Stephen is not the only one who ends up on the brunt end of Peter's attacks.

As with his first novel, the strength of Ford's writing is in the strong, realistic characters. Readers get to experience the pain, joy, and humor that the various characters go through the six weeks prior to the New Year. The story is one of an ensemble cast. Each of them is looking for something, but it is more tied to happiness and various types of love than anything else.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Mar 26, 2012 Jaylon rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book better than I enjoyed the last work I read by this author, mainly because he incorporated more elements and storylines this time around, and so there were wider and more varied perspectives expressed. For me, there still seemed to be a bit of....detachment (is that the word I'm looking for?) in the voice of the author...as if maybe I was getting a second-hand account of the story as opposed to a front row seat. I can't really explain it, but I enjoyed the story nonetheless. E...more

like · see review

Sep 30, 2010 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: queer, fiction, literature

As we follow the stories of six men whose lives weave together in a small New York town, we are shown the good, the difficulties, and the heartbreak of relationships. We are given a gamut of men, with those who are looking for love, those who have given up hope of finding someone, those who are in denial about their sexuality, those in a committed relationship and those who have lost their partner and struggling to return to "the scene" as an old man.

The accounts are sometimes amusing, sometime...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 30, 2010 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

Enjoyable gay read. I like books like these because they're like LOGO specials and series you'll never see. I like the mix of characters and they're mix of problems. I like also that it's not set in a major metropolitan area and that they're a good bit of sex to heat up the proceedings. The author hasn't given us much physical description of the characters which on the one hand allows the reader to drop people from his own life directly onto the character. but the downside is before the get goin...more

like · see review

Dec 30, 2010 Ryan G rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a reread for me and one that I love even more every time I read it. Michael Thomas Ford, in every book I've read of is, does a fantastic job of creating believable characters that even when they are doing horrific things, the reader is still able to relate to what's going on. And that's what this book is about for me, the characters.

The book tells the story of nine gay men as they navigate through life from Halloween night to New Year's Eve. The time span is pretty short but the develop...more This was a reread for me and one that I love even more every time I read it. Michael Thomas Ford, in every book I've read of is, does a fantastic job of creating believable characters that even when they are doing horrific things, the reader is still able to relate to what's going on. And that's what this book is about for me, the characters.

The book tells the story of nine gay men as they navigate through life from Halloween night to New Year's Eve. The time span is pretty short but the development these men go through is amazing, but never feels rushed. The events feel like a natural progression of life and change their lives, most for the good, but their is some bad as well.

The two characters I love the most though are Mike and Father Thomas Dunn, an Episcopal priest. They are wounded men both who have big losses in their past and while they are alive, neither one of them is really living life. The relationship that they develop is one that at first glance doesn't seem to make too much sense. One is a bartender in a gay bar, the other a priest who is on the verge of losing his faith. Their friendship starts to heal them both and it's not long before that friendship turns into something more.

It's close to Christmas before either one of them is willing to admit to their feelings and they way it's expressed in this book is beautiful to witness. There is a tenderness and shyness there that brings me back to the first time I really started to fall in love with someone. The love they share changes them. Mike gets his life on track and decides to teach again and Thomas regains his faith and love for the church.

The only other character that I wanted to go into in any detail, though I love them all, is Pete Thayer. He is a deeply closeted, conflicted young man who can not get a handle on what he feels towards other men. He fights it with such determination that he starts to make horrible decisions. His only outlet is anonymous sex with strangers and when those strangers aren't quite willing, Pete has no issue with roughing them up a little bit. He even comes into contact with two of the other characters in ways that change the lives of two of them and ends up terminating the life of the third. Pete is the example of what self doubt and hatred can do to someone when they don't have anyone around to talk to. Even when he is acting out and hurting others, you are able to feel the pain and anguish he is going through.

I would love to tell you about the other men but I would rather have you meet them yourself. They all have their own stories to tell, all of which are worth hearing. (less)

like · see review

Dec 02, 2009 Elisa Ramblings added it

I was wandering a lot around Michael Thomas Ford's novels, never deciding to buy one since, first there were so many to choose from that I didn't know where to start and second I was worried to become addicted and knowing me if I liked one than I for sure I would have bought all of them. So I waited and waited and then in a gay bookstore they were all there, looking at me from the shelves and they are so pretty with those covers that I picked one. The saleswoman told me pick one random, they are...more I was wandering a lot around Michael Thomas Ford's novels, never deciding to buy one since, first there were so many to choose from that I didn't know where to start and second I was worried to become addicted and knowing me if I liked one than I for sure I would have bought all of them. So I waited and waited and then in a gay bookstore they were all there, looking at me from the shelves and they are so pretty with those covers that I picked one. The saleswoman told me pick one random, they are all good and my choice was Looking for it.

It's strange, usually I don't like stories with too much characters, I never know for whom to care for and always feel like no one of them has enough space. And above all, at least one of them has not an happy ending. And instead Looking for it made me rethink on my assumptions. It's true, it's the choral story of a groups of friends, all of them gay and all of them represents a way to face gay life. There is Mike, the bartender of the Engine Room, the pub where all of them gather. He seems the more steady of them, always ready to listen to other problems. But also Mike has his bad experience in the past and maybe he is alone since he fears to be burnt again. But Mike is a too good guy to stay alone forever and so enter Father Thomas Dunn, the new episcopal pastor of the S. Peter's Church, the same church where some of the above friends go. So, in a way, Mike and Thomas do the same work, they listen to people problem trying to forget that also them have their own relationship issue. Thomas was in love with a fellow seminarist, a boy he didn't have the courage to love and who died. Since then, Thomas's guilty grew so much that now he is convinced that his punishment is to be alone forever. What I liked of Mike and Thomas' story is that it was without angst; both of them new that it was not an easy relationship but they faced it with an easiness that made it sweet and tender.

The other known couple in the novel is John and Russell, who are facing the classic 7 years love relationship crisis. They love each other, but they arrived in a moment in life and in their relationship, where the other is granted, and you believe that you haven't to prove your love. John and Russell were since the beginning a strange couple, Russell full of joy and life, and John so quiet and shy. Probably this is the reason why they love each other, but living together is a play of balancing, and probably they forgot that. It will be not easy for them to find a way to stay together, but what I liked of their story is that they never stopped to love each other.

Then there is Simon, one of the best character of all. He is 65 years old and recently "widower". His more than 40 life partner died of cancer the year before, and Simon is wondering why he didn't die with him. He has friends, a place to stay but he is alone, and at his age he doesn't believe possible to have a second chance in love. And even if it was, how will he recognize it? He was out of the dating game for so much that the rules are all changed, and he doesn't know if he likes how they are playing now.

The last two men, but not the least important, are Stephen and Greg. In a way they are similar, they both are in the closet but in the opposite way: Greg came out simply living his family and all he knew to live in another city, among strangers who accept him for who he is and not for who they want him to be. Stephen instead is out with his friends but completely in the closet with his family, and living one door next the other it's quite impossible to have a normal relationship. So both of them are limiting their relationship to one night standings, believing in this way to quench the thirst of love they have, and instead gathering so much need inside that sooner or later they will explode.

On a side note there is also the story of Pete, probably the sadder of all. A man who was raised believing that being gay is the worst evil of all, and that has no way to understand his needs and feelings. The only way to claim them is with violence. Even if he is not a "good" guy, I think the author considered him another of his boys, another way to live being gay, I wish this one being the less chosen, but I know that in reality, for many people is the only one. I can't hate Pete, neither after knowing what he did, I can only feel a great pain for him.

On a closing note, Looking for It is a wonderful romance, and it's also pretty sexy, something I seldom have the chance to find in a more mainstream novel. The sex scenes are all good, even the one that serves to the author to prove something, they are enough but not too much, and above all, they are more romantic than free.

And now my only problem is how to choose the next one among the Michael Thomas Ford's novels...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0758204086/?...(less)

1 like · like · see review

Mar 10, 2011 Merith rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is one of my favorite Michael Thomas Ford stories, even with the hard to read parts. It's almost a collection of loosely connected stories where the same characters interact with one another. At least up until near the end when all the thread woven throughout come together in a tapestry.

The brutality is real and abhorrent; the love found between friends to lovers a soothing salve.

like · see review

Jun 15, 2008 Writerlibrarian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: gay_fiction, june-pile, read2008

Set in a little town in upstate New York, we follow the lives of 7 men, all at turning points. There are some really nice parts in this novel. I especially liked Simon's story. How to you live after losing your partner of 40 years ? How do you let go ? Simon visits Walter's grave, talks to him. There's an universal truth here. Doesn't matter that Simon is gay, that his partner was a man. Ford succeeds in letting the reader see through Simon's eyes. The budding love story of Mike and Thomas mirro...more

like · see review

Nov 15, 2011 Drew rated it 4 of 5 stars

I had heard great things about this book, and I went into it not knowing what it was about. Although I am a hetero female, I enjoyed reading from a gay male's point of view of life. A little sexually graphic but a very enjoyable and well-written read.

like · see review

Jul 14, 2010 Don Bradshaw rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: gay-romance

Not Ford's best but worth reading. The book revolves aroung the lives, loves and breakups of seven men in a small upstate New York town. Ford manages to capture the intricasies of life in these men.

1 like · like · see review

Nov 09, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 2 of 5 stars

Although I read the entire book, I found it more depressing than enjoyable. I enjoy gay and lesbian fiction, but there was so much unnecessary sex in this book that it took away from the actual story line.

The scenes with Pete Thayer, a blatant homophobe who harbors homosexual tendencies, were especially explicit and, in some cases, disgusting, and I felt they did nothing to explain his beliefs and his character.

There are lots of good fiction books out there dealing with gay men, but LOOKING FOR...more

like · see review

Jan 22, 2011 Arne rated it 4 of 5 stars

I laughed; I cried; I thougtht is was great. Then I took my medication and everything was alright. ;-)

like · see review

Jan 23, 2010 Deidre rated it 4 of 5 stars

Such wonderful character portrayal. Reminds me so much of Armistead Maupin.

like · see review

Sep 05, 2012 Dilo Keith added it

Shelves: own-print

I ordered several of his books after reading this.

like · see review

Dec 19, 2007 Peter hagen rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: gay audiences

i love this book. it had twists turns romance, comic wit. and people with real life situations. not that bogus crap you seein the movies. read this book.

like · see review

Mar 22, 2013 Jon added it

Shelves: favorite-gay-fiction

Another good read from Michael Thomas Ford; a tender and endearing, romantic love story between bartender and an unlikely partner. I loved it!

like · see review

Feb 14, 2007 Kealii Ballao rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Gay Men Scared of Getting Old and Lonely

Five different points of views of the aging gay man, and his own ways of coping with the question, "Will I ever find love?"

like · see review

Jan 26, 2008 Kate McCartney rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction

This is a look inside of 7 friends lives and how in a small town everything can connect for good and bad results.

like · see review

Aug 08, 2008 Gary rated it 5 of 5 stars

My favorite Michael Thomas Ford novel to date!

like · see review

Jun 22, 2007 Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Darker than LAST SUMMER, but still very good.

like · see review

Jun 19, 2013 Tiaan Jonker marked it as to-read

Jun 18, 2013 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jun 18, 2013 Alain millett marked it as to-read

Jun 16, 2013 Yomi S rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jun 11, 2013 Albert Cho rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jun 10, 2013 Gene Rios marked it as to-read

Jun 09, 2013 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jun 07, 2013 Tom Meek rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jun 04, 2013 Sam rated it 5 of 5 stars

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 16 17 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (2)

Genres

Glbt

6 users

Romance > M M Romance

4 users

Glbt > Gay

4 users

Romance

3 users

Glbt > Queer

3 users

Adult Fiction

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Michael Thomas Ford

Michael Thomas Ford is the author of more than fifty books, for both young readers and adults, in genres ranging from humor to horror, literary fiction to nonfiction. As a writer for young adults he is the author of the popular "Circle of Three" series (writing as Isobel Bird); nonfiction books about spirituality (Paths of Faith), the AIDS crisis (Voices of AIDS), and the gay community (The World...more

More about Michael Thomas Ford...

Books by Michael Thomas Ford

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Looking For It

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Looking For It

“I believe that God—if he exists at all—is what we want him to be. The true God is unknowable, and so we dress him up in costumes that make him visible to us. Then we come up with a lot of very silly rules that we attribute to him and tell everyone if they don't follow those rules, they can't be part of the gang.” — 6 people liked it

“Faith, he had learned that night in front of the flickering television, was most glorious when it was most untouched by reason.” — 1 person liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Looking For It
avg rating	preview: Looking For It Goodreads rating: 3.90 (299 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/98082.Looking_For_It?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348107485l/98082.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/98082.Looking_For_It?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Looking For It by Michael Thomas Ford[/url]

Looking For It

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website