Two Sides of the Game by Luis Malave

     Luis A. Malave made this book real.  Two Sides of the Game brings together the worlds of heterosexual and homosexual into one explosive story.  Devon is street-wise and pretty much a dog playing 'The Game'.  You know, no attachments, hit it and quit it- that's the life, along with other activities that lower neighborhood value and community health.  It's how he came up in the world and figured he'd leave it the same fashion.  

     Ricky is openly gay, beautiful and loves men... with money and secrets to keep, i.e. another version of 'The Game'.  It's his way of life and he does it for extra money, happiness while he  searches for a normal life.  But when Ricky and Devon's lives cross, something huge is made.  Something unexpectedly special and that's all I'm going to say.

     When I received this book, I walked in with an open mind; I had no clue what to expect   What I got was amazing!  What I got was a great story.  Now I'm not in to lots of profanity, gratuitous sex scenes and violence, but Mr. Malave made it work.  Each and every scene carried purpose and added to the story, instead attempting to raise shock value.    And each character had... well, character!  Devon, as dislikable as he was, had a mission and a bit of redeeming quality, but it was Ricky, with his "On Fire" life, but definitely not flaming, that got me!  I loved Ricky, but even he did things I thought were horrible.  The thing is, they were refined in a way, I actually appreciated all of what took place for this story.  Not many can pull that off.      As always, I went though the book, wary of obvious errors and such.  I found next to none!  The story was carefully written and executed.  I don't know how long it took him to write this story, but I can tell it's one of his passions.  I found the book easy to read and even though I fought tooth and nail with the darned pdf, (I dislike pdfs), it was a pretty easy read.  

     At first, I gave this book 3-specs, but only due to the book cover; you know me and covers.  Well, I sent the author an email, sharing my thoughts and appreciation, as well as why the cover needed a change.  Especially since it was my only issue. The original did absolutely nothing as far as catching potential readers and could possibly affect his sales negatively- regardless of the jacket's summary.  Thankfully, Mr. Malave took my advice to heart.  He changed it and I truly believe people are going to notice this book.  And they'll like what they see inside too- just as I did!

    Anyway, I believe this book was categorized as urban, LGBT fiction.  No matter what they call it, I dub it a good read. I liked it.  Check out Two Sides of the Game.  I'm off to a holiday read- which is so totally not me!  Have a great Monday!