The best book I read in 2016
FOR REAL by Alexis Hall
I stopped reading contemporary romance several years ago, and I’ve never had the slightest interest in reading about BDSM, but I was looking for romances written by men because I wanted to see whether a sex scene written by a man differed from one written by a woman. Call it curiosity if you will; I call it research!
Someone on an author loop mentioned For Real in glowing terms, but it was contemporary and BDSM, which didn't interest me, but on the plus side it was a male-male romance, so that meant sex scenes only in male points of view . . . so I had a look at the excerpt and it was so well written that I bought the ebook.
I should mention at this point that I don’t have a tablet or e-reader and that I hate reading on my computer. As in, hate it. I spend all day working on my computer—in my leisure time I want to be away from it—but this was research, so I gritted my teeth and started reading . . .
. . . and couldn’t stop!
I’m giving this book five stars even though it’s not a genre I like.
I’m giving it five stars even though Toby says Dude all the time (which makes me cringe) and Laurie says Darling all the time (which makes me cringe).
I’m giving it five stars even though there’s a sequence at the end of Chapter 9 and beginning of Chapter 10 that I really hate. (Not because of BDSM, but because it’s what I classify as public humiliation. But other people may not classify it as such; maybe I’m oversensitive? Or . . . maybe public humiliation is part of BDSM? See how little I know about the genre!)
I’m not quite sure how to describe this book. Compelling? Intense? It’s really, really well written. I kept going back to reread sentences. The way Hall uses words is incredible. He chooses adjectives perfectly and strings a bunch of them together—often with contrasting meanings, like needy and aggressive—to create powerful descriptions.
(Oh, and I love how Hall turns ‘lawn mower’ into a verb in one scene!)
I found the characters very appealing: jaded, lonely Laurie, and irrepressible Toby. The much younger, much smaller, and much less experienced Toby is the dom in this relationship. Not being a BDSM reader I don’t know whether Hall turned a trope on its head here or not—but it totally works!
Despite my profound dislike of reading on my computer, once I’d finished For Real, I immediately went back and reread it (apart from the bit I hate). And then I ordered a print copy, even though it was bloody expensive—because this is now one of my read-every-year books, like The Grand Sophy and A Civil Campaign.
Great characters, great writing, great sex, great story. Quite simply, a phenomenal book.
You can find it here: For Real
(Did I learn whether men write sex scenes differently from women? No. I enjoyed the book so much that my analytical brain switched off. I would be interested in knowing the answer though, if anyone’s studied it!)
I stopped reading contemporary romance several years ago, and I’ve never had the slightest interest in reading about BDSM, but I was looking for romances written by men because I wanted to see whether a sex scene written by a man differed from one written by a woman. Call it curiosity if you will; I call it research!
Someone on an author loop mentioned For Real in glowing terms, but it was contemporary and BDSM, which didn't interest me, but on the plus side it was a male-male romance, so that meant sex scenes only in male points of view . . . so I had a look at the excerpt and it was so well written that I bought the ebook.
I should mention at this point that I don’t have a tablet or e-reader and that I hate reading on my computer. As in, hate it. I spend all day working on my computer—in my leisure time I want to be away from it—but this was research, so I gritted my teeth and started reading . . .
. . . and couldn’t stop!
I’m giving this book five stars even though it’s not a genre I like.
I’m giving it five stars even though Toby says Dude all the time (which makes me cringe) and Laurie says Darling all the time (which makes me cringe).
I’m giving it five stars even though there’s a sequence at the end of Chapter 9 and beginning of Chapter 10 that I really hate. (Not because of BDSM, but because it’s what I classify as public humiliation. But other people may not classify it as such; maybe I’m oversensitive? Or . . . maybe public humiliation is part of BDSM? See how little I know about the genre!)
I’m not quite sure how to describe this book. Compelling? Intense? It’s really, really well written. I kept going back to reread sentences. The way Hall uses words is incredible. He chooses adjectives perfectly and strings a bunch of them together—often with contrasting meanings, like needy and aggressive—to create powerful descriptions.
(Oh, and I love how Hall turns ‘lawn mower’ into a verb in one scene!)
I found the characters very appealing: jaded, lonely Laurie, and irrepressible Toby. The much younger, much smaller, and much less experienced Toby is the dom in this relationship. Not being a BDSM reader I don’t know whether Hall turned a trope on its head here or not—but it totally works!
Despite my profound dislike of reading on my computer, once I’d finished For Real, I immediately went back and reread it (apart from the bit I hate). And then I ordered a print copy, even though it was bloody expensive—because this is now one of my read-every-year books, like The Grand Sophy and A Civil Campaign.
Great characters, great writing, great sex, great story. Quite simply, a phenomenal book.
You can find it here: For Real
(Did I learn whether men write sex scenes differently from women? No. I enjoyed the book so much that my analytical brain switched off. I would be interested in knowing the answer though, if anyone’s studied it!)
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