The Deal

by Timothy J. Lambert, Becky Cochrane

The delightful new novel from the authors of He's The One and It Had to Be You . New Year's Eve, 1999. Millennium celebrations light up the sky from Sydney to Seattle. But in the Houston living room of Aaron Fisher, the fireworks have fizzled! A gathering with his closest friends has devolved into a depressing deconstruction of the sad state of all of their love lives. Fed up with the moaning, Aaron comes up with The They all have until next New Year's Eve to find true love or stop whining about it. The ensuing 12 months will answer many Will Patrick, Aaron's straight roommate be able to ride the waves as his girlfriend, Vivian, decides whether she is Betty Crocker or Betty Friedan? Having embraced her lesbianism (and turned her back on her trust fund,) will Miranda stop sucking the life out of every romance? Will Alexander stop dabbling with men's hearts the way he dabbles in music and his parents' bank account? And will Aaron keep his end of the deal when the truth is he's happy with a life of bar buddies, gym buddies and bed buddies? It's a year of surprises for all of them, as they take on unfaithful husbands, vindictive rumormongers, well-intentioned stalkers, pixie drummers who write bad poetry and marauding palmetto bugs. But most of all, they will discover much about themselves through the surprising, touching and hilarious revelations produced by a year of exploring the nature of love. Becky Cochrane and Timothy J. Lambert have been writing partners since 1998. Becky is a small-town Alabama girl turned teacher, writer and editor. Timothy fled rural Maine at a tender age for a decade in Manhattan. Both now live in Houston and are a part of a group of writers known collectively as Timothy James Beck, the author of It Had to Be You and He's the One .

Genres: Queer, LGBT, Gay Fiction, Gay

312 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Robert Dunbar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve always been a sucker for Hollywood endings. Gary Cooper, lifting Audrey Hepburn onto that train at the last possible moment of Love in the Afternoon, always makes me bawl. So does that final gallant cocktail that Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins imbibe in Old Acquaintance. And Humphrey Bogart, walking hand-in-hand into the fog with Claude Rains at the end of Casablanca? To quote another Bogart flick: it’s the stuff that dreams are made of.

What could be more satisfying?

In The Deal, authors Becky Cochrane and Timothy J. Lambert totally get this. In fact, they’ve even mastered the art of the Hollywood beginning.

“To clean starts.”
“To new beginnings.”
“To vodka.”

The back story? By endlessly complaining about their love lives, Alexander and Miranda have driven everybody nuts. On New Year’s Eve, their friends throw down the gauntlet. Here’s the deal:

For the next year, the two agree to try to obtain significant others, and the group will supportively listen to all their dating tribulations at regular monthly meetings. However, if they fail to secure relationships within that year, they are to “shut the hell about it,” just accepting that they’re “spinsters” and getting on with their lives.

Sound fair? After all, it’s not as though Alex and Miranda haven’t had plenty of opportunities to forge connections but – under the guise of being “discriminating” – they’ve avoided true intimacy. Maybe the problem is people who want them to “put out, zip up and get out.” Or maybe they’ve been blighted by the concept of the One.

Ah … the One.

Such a lot of pressure.

Over the course of the year, their friends turn into a sort of romantic advisory board, and everyone begins to reevaluate their attitudes about life and love. If this sounds serious, never fear. This group knows how to use humor to deflect everything, and their dialogue – if not always replete with wisdom – is certainly loaded with comic truisms. Consider this remark: “Once someone throws up on you, it’s difficult to imagine them giving you head.” In the end, the warmth between friends proves more riveting than their erotic adventures, but maybe that’s the point. Each of the friends is exasperating and tender, provoking and caring, offering each other (in their own way) foolish fun and a shoulder to cry on. There are worse reasons to hang out with people.

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 5 out of 5]

We've all been there - the significant holiday event, and the realization that no one in the group - except perhaps one or two - were romantically stable and/or happy at all. The party continues, and people share a laugh at failed romantic tales, and then someone dares the group to talk about anything other than failed romances...

...and suddenly there's nothing to talk about.

This is the set-up of "The Deal," where a group of friends decide one New Year's Eve that they've had it with their friends' inabilities to have meaningful relationships, and tired of listening to them bitch about it afterwards. And, as such, whining about relationships will be confined to single monthly meetings, and the most chronic serial monogamists will have one year - until next New Year's Eve - to find 'The One.' Done deal.

Of course, it never goes as planned, does it? The tale is told through the eyes and thoughts of Aaron Fisher, gay schoolteacher and master of contentment. He is single, but he's not looking for love. He's settled with his life, or is he settling for all the trappings of a life? Of course, Aaron's friends are the wonderful tableau of varied characters you've come to know and love from Cochrane and Lambert (and their further amalgamated entity, Timothy James Beck), and set in the backdrop of Houston, where palmetto bugs and stalking lesbians pop up at every lunch sitting.

Cleverly tied together with the series of 'Love Sucks' monthly meetings, the reader is quickly drawn into the life of Aaron (and the lives of his friends) as time for 'The Deal' grows tighter. Aaron's slowly dawning realizations of his own fears are a worthwhile read, and the antics of his friends are the usual Cochrane and Lambert mix of farce and depth. It's worth signing up.

[Bria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as part of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge 2017. The point of the challenge being to read things that you wouldn't normally read. And I DEFINITELY would not normally have picked up this book. First of all, I live in a very traditional, conservative area where the LGBTQ+ population is not exactly accepted. So reading a book in public that says in big, bold letters on the front "A Gay Romantic Comedy" was kind of scary. Which made me realize that real people that are in the LGBTQ+ crowd must feel scared being themselves any day of the week here. Sad. The book also made me look at my own biases. Personally, I've always felt that what goes on in one's bedroom is none of my business. This book brought me into a gay bedroom. At first I was repulsed. Not going to lie. But then as I read along, I began to appreciate the characters for who they are as people and I kind of forgot they were gay. I mean, I still visualized 2 men in those scenes in my head, but I didn't care they were gay. It was just a love story between 2 people. So that was eye opening for me personally. The story wasn't half bad. As I said, I did appreciate the characters. Really, I feel like this belongs on the summer beach read Target special shelf. I had a friend who is very intelligent-- she's a chemist-- and the Target summer beach read is her go to genre. I will never understand why, but it works for her. Maybe it could work for you too?

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember very little about this book except to say I found an old diary entry where I wrote: "Just finished 'The Deal'. Stupid ending." It must have been a quick (and thus) enjoyable read though.