Parallel Larry

by Jacqueline Rohrbach

Larry’s search for love didn’t include Greg, his regular waiter at his favorite restaurant. Always too busy daydreaming about a handsome doctor, Larry fails to notice Greg’s shy advances. But when Greg finally finds the courage to ask Larry out, he’s suddenly killed in a freak car accident. Only then does Larry realize how perfect they could have been together.

No one gets a second shot at true love. Or do they?

Inexplicably, Larry is drawn into a parallel reality, and in this new timeline, Greg is still very much alive. Here, the shy young waiter Larry knew from before has managed to live out many of his dreams. All except one: he hasn’t found love. Larry gets one more shot after all!

There are a few problems. One, Larry’s time is limited. Two, Greg has already dated the parallel reality’s Larry, and he was a real jerk. Now Larry has to prove he’s nothing at all like his evil doppelganger and that he is willing to risk everything to protect the man he loves.

He’s found Greg again. To keep him, Larry will have to stop daydreaming and fight himself—literally—not just metaphorically.

Genres: Romance, LGBT, Time Travel, M M Romance, Fantasy

ebook

First published January 28, 2019

About the author

Jacqueline Rohrbach is an asexual/aromantic author of queer romance and speculative fiction. Her books focus on offbeat characters caught up in strange, sometimes absurd situations where they have to grow with each other in order to save the day. She loves her cinnamon roll alphas with extra icing, her sarcastic ladies with the spine to back their spunk, and her antiheroes with the softest of soft spots for the love of their life. Currently, she’s the author of four full-length novels and three novellas. When she’s not writing, you can find her walking with her two dogs, Mulder and Nibbler or trying to catch a nap.

Reviews

[☆ Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was certainly... something.

When I read the blurb, I was excited about a second chance romance, after the second MC got hit by a car and died, when the first MC "somehow" traveled to a parallel universe.

However, the premise that the dude's decade-old 2-slice TOASTER was somehow powerful enough to displace space and time to send him to an entirely different UNIVERSE? Oh, boy. Not a good start for the possibility of me fully engaging with this story. : (

"I was just making breakfast and *BAM*, dafuq is this shit?"

I did like both Larry and the somewhat-meek Greg. And I wanted to believe that Parallel Greg's crush on Larry and Larry's sudden revelation that he 'should' have noticed non-parallel Greg (pre-death) would be enough to sell their feelings, but that wasn't the case.

Instead, this read as more insta-love and I felt that, instead of *only* fade-to-black steam, the story might have *greatly* benefited from allowing the reader to experience some genuine, on-page, hearts-and-flowers steam.

In my eyes, that might have helped sell the depth of their feelings, and that's coming from a very steam-optional kind of reader.

As for the villain, Evil Larry, OMG, talk about being right up there with the "It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again" nut-job from Silence of the Lambs.

Tres creepy. And also a bit too over-the-top for my mild-mannered tastes.

They eventually defeated Evil Larry and I liked the logistics of how they tricked the authorities into allowing Parallel Larry to get his second (first?) change to be with Greg long-term, even though the precise details weren't ever 100% explicitly spelled out on-page.

But overall, I wasn't entirely sold on either the far-fetched sci-fi details or the feels, so this book only rated around 2.5 stars for overall enjoyment.

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My ARC copy of the book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair, unbiased review.

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[Heather K (dentist in my spare time) · Rating 1 out of 5]

After really enjoying Just in Time by Jacqueline Rohrbach, I was fully expecting to love Parallel Larry, which seemed like another fun, quirky book by this author.

Spoiler alert: I didn't enjoy it.

Parallel Larry was bizarre, and not in an enjoyable way. In fact, I found it to be disturbing and lacking any form of a believable romance.

I was surprised at the direction in which the author took the story. The alternate world was strange, and the alternate Larry was violent and deranged, and not in a fun way. I didn't even understand the premise for the alternate world. Was it supposed to be funny? I was so weirded out that I almost DNFed, but I decided just to buck up and finish it.

The romance came out of nowhere. I get that Larry wanted to be with Greg, but Greg was asking Larry to set him up with another dude after he left, and then Larry is declaring his love for him and risking his life? The romance made my head hurt.

Parallel Larry didn't work for me at all, which was a big disappointment after I adored Just in Time. You win some, you lose some.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*


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[Jennifer☠Pher☠ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2★'s = it was ok.

Weeeelllll...that was really weird. And a bit over the top. And totally not my thing.

I didn’t really like the story all that much and I struggled a bit with the writing.

Alternate Reality/Time Travel type stories are mind boggling and often leave my head spinning. Did anyone in Larry’s life realize he was missing? Did he just disappear never to be heard from again? What about his Mom? And Beckett? Always so head spinny and always with the unanswered questions. Although Larry didn’t even seem a bit concerned. Wouldn’t he feel something for his other life?

The blurb stated that the other Larry, he is called EL in the story, is “a real jerk”. Um, guys. No. He is not a real jerk, he is evil and a psychopath probably a serial killer. He draws pictures of murdering people. He tells Greg he is going to chop him into pieces. He tries to kill them both! He isn’t a jerk he is WAY more than that and it isn’t even funny! Really, he wasn’t funny.

I don’t understand how Good Larry doesn’t get arrested or sent back. I read the sentences over and over and over and the why just didn’t make sense to me.

I didn’t feel any romance really.

Mostly this just wasn’t for me. Bummer.

**This book was provided by the author via IndiGo Marketing & Design in exchange for an honest review.**

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well. This was different. I really enjoyed this author's last book, Just In Time, and thought this would be another delightfully quirky book. The synopsis certainly makes it sound like one. But it's a bit darker than I'm comfortable with, and I did not really find this as charming and sweet as I thought I would. I liked the wackyness of it all, and look forward to the author's next book, but this wasn't really my thing.

So. When "good" Larry ends up in a parallel universe where Greg (a guy he crushed on and fantasized about, but never dared to approach) is still alive, he thinks he'll get his second chance. Unfortunately, this reality's Greg has already dated Evil Larry, a man who verbally and physically abused him (which isn't explicitly shown, but certainly alluded to). So far so good. But the fact that "good" Larry just shows up and Greg fell into insta-love with him despite all that happened to him with the evil doppelganger just didn't sit right with me. All of Greg's doubts and issues were just too easily set aside for my liking. I would have loved to see this actual conflict develop, and Greg to gradually learn to trust a stranger who looks like his worst fear. For all the difficult topics, it was just too short in exploring all of them enough for my taste.

Trigger warnings (contains spoilers):
- stalking "Good" Larry might not actually stalk his Greg (in the sense of following him around), but he does draw sometimes pornographic sketches of them, his fantasies of a life together; Evil Larry does the same, but his sketches are violent. I didn't find this as charming as Greg does, though. Both freaked me out big time.
- abuse While we never see Evil Larry physically abusing Greg, verbal and physical abuse is alluded to

*I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

[CrabbyPatty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The blurb for this book really drew me in - an alternate universe where two men get a second chance at love, an evil twin who needs to be stopped, and there's the slight possibility that reality can be changed and a HEA found. I really like the premise of this story and the way the author creates the uncommon plot.

However, while I liked the idea of this story, the execution is a bit more problematic. We meet Larry and Greg for a hot minute or two in their current reality, with Larry totally oblivious to Greg's interest in him. Tragically, Greg dies after being hit by a car while running to catch up with Larry so he can give him his number. One bizarre incident with a defective toaster ("It's just the toaster has three settings, and the manufacturer's instructions didn't say alternate reality was one of them") and Larry finds himself jumping from earth (or Alpha 900-200B as it's called) to an alternate universe permanently stuck in 80's mode.

When Larry discovers by accident that Greg is still alive in this parallel world and that his own alternate personality (Evil Larry) is truly a scary psychopath bent on finding and hurting Greg, this sets into motion a whole convoluted series of events that run from strange to humorous to just plain weird.

While I admire the author tackling a challenging premise, there is little character development, Evil Larry reads like a caricature and at times I found the writing style hard to read and understand. 3 stars for "Parallel Larry" but I would definitely read the next book by this promising author.

I received this book from NineStar Press, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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[Rhea M · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I requested to review this book, I was extremely excited. by the premise. I’m an absolute sucker for alternate reality stories/time-travel stories, where one person tries to stop disaster in the past. The part where there was an evil version of himself was also an extremely unique hook.

However, the execution was lacking. The premise was so ambitious that the story had a lot to live up to. In the beginning, we get introduced to our main character, Larry. He’s a pretty normal guy who just likes drawing… erotic pictures of real life guys. Okay, because that’s not creepy at all. The weird part is, everyone just treats it like it’s okay. It sounds romantic or whatever, but imagine some random person just sketching you sucking his popsicle. Not so sweet anymore, huh?

That was my first red flag in this book, but it just gets worse. The blurb describes the AU Larry as “a real jerk”, which probably isn’t the best way to describe the AU Larry. I won’t spoil anything but let’s just say, “a real jerk” is an understatement. The romance between Larry and Greg was extremely forced and rushed. I felt little to no chemistry between them, and it was because they knew each other for such a short time in the new universe. I could feel a budding romance between them, but it progressed far too quickly and unnaturally.

Additionally, I’ got whiplash from how the mood changed from extremely serious to a complete joke. At some parts, there are some intense, psychological moments. But immediately after, there are fart jokes and forced comedy.

Now, onto some nitpicks. Normally, if a book had one or two tiny parts I disliked, I wouldn’t really care. But along with the poor story, the nitpicks seem to stand out more. First, the fart jokes. There are around 2 (at least until where I read) and I wasn’t sure what the point was. For… comedy? Call me old, but I honestly don’t think there’s anything funny about farting. It’s just a normal human phenomenon.

The writing style was choppy and jarring, There were too many times when the scene just flat out said what a character is feeling or thinking, which made it bland. Also, there were lot of awkward sentences that were grammatically correct, but sounded out of place.

Now, don’t think that I’m saying this book is without any redeemable qualities. There were definitely some hidden gems in there. My absolutely favorite was Chapter Nine, I could really feel the emotion in that chapter. There were also a couple other scenes that were extremely well-written. The book had great potential, and it would’ve probably turned out amazing as a series. But as a stand-alone book, it was a lacking read. I give it 2/5 stars because there was a solid idea and decent characters.

ARC provided in exchange for fair and unbiased opinion.

[Jor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It is the first book that I read of Jacqueline Rohrbach and I have to say that I liked it. Of course, you can say: "you just gave it 3 stars" but it is only because I think there is a lot of room for improvement. It is very easy to read, the overall story is fine (not the part of the toaster) and the characters are likeable (although not very remarkable). When you read the premise of the book you think "This is going to be great, it has everything it needs to become a best seller" but you keep waiting for something big to come and it never comes. The characters are plain, they do not change over the story and the reader cannot feel identified with them.

The story is about Larry, who has a crush on Greg but both are too shy to even say it to the other. When Greg is about to tell Larry he dies and Larry enters into an alternative reality where Greg is still alive. The problem is that there is another Larry, who is evil. Both Larry and Greg will have to fight against Evil Larry in order to be safe.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arc copy provided by IndiGo.
All reviews are voluntarily given and honest.



Parallel Larry is a total trip. It started out a bit slow, and I was having a little trouble getting into it, but once Larry met his customized jump point, things picked up a lot.


Set in an alternate reality that is very 80's, Larry gets a second chance at love. There is a tiny amount of heat, but it's more of an eclectic, gay, Hot Tub Time Machine, where Larry is his own worst enemy. 

Once you get past that initial bit of slow pacing, the book is easy to get through. I feel like this novella is going to be hit miss for most people, but if you enjoy time travel, and those 'home of the future' Disney cartoons from the 50's and 60's, this might be perfect for you.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not usually a fan of non-realistic storylines, but this was a fun read, without too much angst.

The idea of a parallel universe was well laid out, and the idea of love winning in it, rather than the real world, was sweet. Larry and Greg are believable lovers. and it all ties up neatly in the end, what more could you want?

I was given a copy of this story by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Anna Kaling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so cute and I snorted in an unattractive way, a lot, while reading it. I really wanted Larry and Greg to get it on, and I loved the interactions with the two Larrys.

It was such a quick read because it was so fun and light-hearted. I really enjoyed it.

[Natalie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received from Netgalley. Short but sweet. Wacky in the right places, with threats of violence, friendship and a second chance at romance.

[Skirmish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book Reaction: https://neverhollowed.com/2019/02/20/...
Rating: 2.5 Stars – far from hate but not quite a like

I received a copy of Parallel Larry from Nine Star Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A toaster mishap sends Larry to a parallel universe where he gets the chance to see if love crosses as many boundaries as he hopes. Blind to a love that was right in front of him, Larry discovers that his obliviousness and reticence cost him his ideal partner. I was intrigued by the premise and the crazy universe-bending potential for this story. There were quite a few things that were likable and some that were less so. I found myself quite apathetic when attempts were made at explaining things and yet the DMV scene was both humorous and as confusing as it was enlightening. The drama was a lot bigger than I expected and felt the short story could have benefited from something a bit more simple. Instead of spending enough time building a solid foundation between Larry and Greg, we had to go through a lot of crazy to make Larry's ultimate destination work. It was just a bit too much. The sweetness that was there, though, was worth the crazy. I liked that the good Larry was awkwardly persistent and his simple yearnings were the most touching things I've read in a while. Overall, this was a fun story that could have used a bit of streamlining to make it really sing.

[Sheena ☆ Book Sheenanigans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5 Stars)
Title: Parallel Larry
Author(s): Jacqueline Rohrbach
Character(s):
― Larry Stewart: Brunette
― Greg: Brown Eyed
Setting: N/A
Tag(s): Romance, Contemporary, Sci-Fi
Content Rating: PG-13
POV: Third Person
Smexy Level: Subtle
Favorite Quote(s):
― "Whatever I want doesn’t include food; it’s you."
Overall Opinion:
After reading "Parallel Larry" blurb, I was immediately drawn in by the second chance romance that feature the main character being sent to an alternate reality, which later mentioned, by his fire hazardous toaster. It was an interesting concept in general yet there were too many factors that made this a disappointing read. it was lacking in any unbelievable form of romance and the characters did not mesh well together, in my opinion. Larry was overall somewhat likable and Greg was just too bland for my taste, making it an unlikely pair. Moreso this book was a bit bizarre and was the complete opposite of what I envisioned this novel will be so it ended up failing to meet any of my expectations.

[Susan Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of Parallel Larry by Jacqueline Rohrbach via IndiGo Marketing & Design in exchange for an honest review. I enjoy AU fantasies and Parallel Larry delivers an alternate universe that is amusing, especially for those of us alive in the eighties. The main characters, Larry and Greg, are both nice guys who deserve a HEA, but the universe seems determined to keep it from them. Their challenges and those who aid them on their journey to happiness make for a fun read. I would read more by this author.

[Shelley Chastagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seriously fun book. A second chance romance with some interdimensional travel. Larry has a blind spot when it comes to Greg. Too late he realizes what had been right in front of him. Finding himself in a different dimension is a bit disconcerting but he makes a beeline for Greg. Greg is smart enough to get away from EL and strong enough to stand up to him. Larry gets to find out what he was missing the first time, he just has to get his evil twin out of the picture.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you ever got hooked on the series Sliders back in the day, if you have a soft spot for star crossed lovers who get a second chance, this is an off the wall, but oddly warm, love story.

It would be awesome to travel to another chance at making it right - and their righteous revenge is quite amusing as well - almost as amusing as the June and Edgar characters!

I enjoyed reading an advanced copy of this book, and happily gave my honest review.

[Brenda Moser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a second chance romance with a twist. Larry and Greg are both very shy and wait too long to move on dating until it's too late when Greg is killed in an accident. The author then creates a parallel universe where Greg's still alive and Larry has a chance to make things right. There's a bit of drama and tons of humor along the way to finding their HEA. I enjoyed reading their story.


I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.

[L H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Larry does not see Greg. Larry is looking for his mister right to come in one way and he is missing what is right in front of him. He has an encounter with a toaster that allows him to travel to another dimension to have a chance to make it right with Greg. If only he can overcome his evil other in that dimension to get him. This was a funny and cute second chance at romance story with a little drama.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a funny second chance story involving character Larry and Greg who are both very shy. In this second chance romance an accident happens that put Larry in an alternate universe. Where he has to fight to get Greg back from his alternate self. It's really funny and good story.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is too busy daydreaming about a hunky doctor he does not notices the waiter until it is too late. They tell him before being killed. He is gutted until he finds a parallel world where he is still alive. Can he have a second chance? Can it work? See if it can

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[M Hew · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you loved the movie Sliding Doors, then this book is for you. Two sweet heroes and one diabolically evil doppelgänger = a great twist on a second chance romance. Loved this book and will definitely seek out other books by them.