Frat House Troopers

by Xavier Mayne

A GRAPHIC NOVEL ADAPTATION

State trooper Brandt’s new assignment to infiltrate a sex-cam operation puts him in a very uncomfortable position, especially since he’ll have to perform naked on camera for his audition. Fortunately his partner and best friend, Donnelly, has his back—whether that means helping Brandt shop gay boutiques for sexy underwear or offering Jäger and encouragement while he researches porn.

Despite his mortification, Brandt gives the audition his best “shot”—and becomes an overnight sensation. But to meet the man behind the operation, he'll have to give a repeat performance, this time live on webcam opposite the highest bidder. Donnelly makes sure to win that auction for his partner’s sake, but their plan has a flaw: faking it is not an option.

In the aftermath, Brandt is a humiliated mess trying desperately to come to terms with what he’s had to do for the job and his own mixed feelings. But Donnelly has been on a journey of discovery of his own. Suddenly everything the two men thought they knew about themselves and each other gets turned inside out. Meanwhile, they still have a case to solve… but it may not be the case they thought it was.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Gay, Romance, Manhwa, Contemporary, Yaoi

720 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 17, 2021

About the author

Xavier Mayne is the pen name of a writer who has been both a university professor of English and a marketing professional for software companies. He currently manages a team of writers for a large technology company based in the US Pacific Northwest. Versed in academic theories of sexual identity, he is passionate about writing stories in which men experience a love that pushes them beyond the boundaries they thought defined their sexuality. He believes that romance can be hot, funny, and sweet in equal measure.

The name Xavier Mayne is a tribute to the pioneering gay author Edward Prime-Stevenson, who also used it as a pen name. He wrote the first openly gay novel by an American, 1906’s Imre: A Memorandum, which depicts two masculine men falling in love despite social pressures that attempt to keep them apart.

Reviews

[Valerie ❈M/M Romance Junkie❈]

No rating. The artwork is gorgeous, but the story did nothing for me. My tastes have changed since my first reading.0

[Curious Madra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty rushed but still a ok enough gay police x police manhwa like Brandt is not a bad looking boi I must say! 👍

[Cesco · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is hella mid.
There is barely a story to be told here, the entirety of the plot is obscure in theory.
Read a doujinshi or something if you want spice, but there isn’t enough passion to justify so much pointless plot. If you can even call it that.

[Anna C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Artwork = 5 stars
Character = 2 stars
Plot = 2 stars
Romance = 2 stars
Storytelling = 2 stars
World building = 2 stars

[Elaine White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure if this would work for me or not, but I liked the concept and I gave it a shot. I'm so glad I did, because it was really good.
The story was intriguing, had great potential and made me interested in reading the novel. I think it really benefited from the graphic novel imagery, because everything in the plot was so visual. The illustrations were really well done and there was a great pace to the storytelling.
Overall, I loved it and I'm definitely going to be reading the novel.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first manga comic I've ever read completely. And I'm looking forward to next manga publications by Dreamspinner.
I already have read the book so I've known the story.
It's really beautiful done in comic style.

[Gale · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly this is one of the worst M/M comics I've ever read. The concept sounded nice, but the execution was just bad. None of the characters felt fleshed out or even consistent. The pacing was sloppy. Even the art was only okay, nothing special. (The artist was particularly lacking in a certain bit anatomy, which is kind of important if you're going to draw smut.)

I haven't read the original novel, so I don't know if this is a translation issue, but having grown men call their genitalia "thingies" just really creeped me out. It's so childish. The MC in general acted very childish about sexual content and it gave everything this weird glaze of dubious consent.

I disliked this from start to finish.

[Tornado · Rating 3 out of 5]

J’ai lu la bd sans avoir lu le livre et je suis un peu déçue. J’imagine que le livre est plus sympa mais cette bd n’a pas assez d’émotions à mon goût. Tout se fait trop rapidement, on n’a pas le temps de connaître les personnages que les 2 protagonistes se déclarent leur flamme... D’ailleurs ils s’aiment trop rapidement... au début je croyais que c’était une sorte de blague... mais non, on n’a pas le temps de comprendre qu’ils sont déjà fou amoureux on ne sait pas comment... il n’y a pas du tout de montée de sentiments, c’est bien dommage...
Par contre les dessins sont superbe, l’artiste est doué.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just okay, things have been changed quite a bit. Only Brandt bottoms, the morning after diner scene is cut, there aren't any other guys at the house, there's some sort of surveillance guy (Maloney) that mics up Brandt (microphones as nipple pasties though? lmao), and a LOT less Bryce and no Nestor. Most of the Alta gayborhood scenes and the Will/Lucas visit are flashbacks.

I haven't read much yaoi so I can't really judge it's authenticity on that score, but I see this has mixed reviews from fans of the traditional kind.

[Daesy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the manga version and maybe one day I'll read also the novel.

The story was interesting and had a lot of potential, but probably in the manga the author wasn't able to really express the feelings and the plot lost a bit of spark along the way. In the end wasn't so bad, so I rated it 4 stars.

[Bronwyn Heeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe reading this in a slump probably wasn’t the best idea, but honestly it’s not my fav type of trope

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that was stupid. Not only that, but the one deciding the story boards has no idea what they're doing.

[Bibliophilic Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 2.5 / 5

[Debbie Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brandt is given an assignment to go undercover at a sex-cam operation. He tries to get out of it but is given no choice. To make matters worse for his embarrassment is his partner, Donnelly, is his outside contact. That is not to say that he doesn't trust Donnelly to have his back but he is embarrassed. Donnelly takes him shopping in the gay district to prepare for the assignment. Two things they find as they do the assignment. One is the sex-cam operation is on the level and legal. The other is that they discover they each other and get together. it is the attorney general who is behind the warrant for the case who is trying to keep his nephew out of trouble and win the governor election. Brandt and Donnelly confront him and warn him they were filing a report with the ethics board. It is nice who Brandt becomes more comfortable with himself and the assignment and ready to accept Donnelly's feelings.

[alessia kacbufi warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

sinceramente mi è venuta voglia di leggere i seguiti

[Ryan Loveless · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the original, and this was a really good manga adaptation.

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the novel and was intrigued how it would translate to the manga format but unfortunately I felt it was a bad fit for the style and artist?