Elaine White's Life in Books

THIS REVIEW IS ONLY FOR "SHIRT" BY AMY LANE. I will review the rest of the book at a later date.

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Book – Shirt (Ryan and Scott #1)
Author – Amy Lane
Star rating - ★☆☆☆☆
No. of Pages - 25

Movie Potential – ☆☆☆☆☆ (No plot to speak of)
Ease of reading – easy to read, confusing POVs
Would I read it again – No.


Page 370 - 395: Curious? A Woman's Introduction to Gay Romance.

WARNING: light, improvised bondage; spanking, first time bottoming.

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Ryan is kind of girly and immature. He reads like a teenager, though he claims Scott is younger than him. Scott is more forward. Flirty and honest, with only a hint of vulnerability in the end. Despite Ryan claiming that Scott is the sexually charged one and Ryan the together in life one of the pair, we see Ryan take equal charge and Scott seems the more sensible of the two.

It felt like there was this really big something missing. Chapter 1 should have been a Prologue, setting us up for the main story, which in Chapter 2 suddenly bounced through 2 paragraphs of the processes of a relationship, until these people who only met a chapter ago are now a serious couple, with no hint of why they like each other, other than a quick snog in a bathroom, at a party.

Colour me confused.

Then we find out halfway through Chapter 2 that they've only been together four months. Things just bounced way past “fast” and into “insta-” territory. It's all very sudden, like the ultimate Gay For You, Insta-Love kind of moment. Four months? Four months together and they're moved in, meeting each other parents and practically living a totally fully integrated life together? Huh. Then to use a phrase like “in the early days”? I'm sorry, but when you're only into a relationship four months, you're still IN the early days.

Ryan is someone who can't date women, (in 2 months of a relationship he never went further than letting Tania's hand down his pants) but he's never thought of men either, and suddenly one sniff of Scott has him in a long term relationship, that we get to see nothing of. After just five minutes of being in the one room, acting like naughty schoolkids trying to hide during an adult party.

There's no explanation of why he hasn't been good with women or why he's never thought about men. No explanation of being asexual or uninterested in sex and just faking being straight. Nothing. Then, suddenly, after that fateful sniff of Scott, he's fully gay. Not bi or bicurious or anything. Just gay. With no explanation or even an attempt at one. It's just “oh hey, I never knew I was gay”.

Oh, and I'm not a fan of one partner pushing physical intimacy onto another. And there's no other way to explain Scott rimming Ryan, when he's never (as far as we've been told) done it before and when Ryan's already told him to shove off. No. Nopety nope. I don't care how long they've been together or if it gets him aroused; Ryan says no, that is a sign for Scott to stop. At least ask permission before pouncing on your accidentally restrained boyfriend and shoving your tongue up his arse!
Also, how is it that Ryan can't see, but he can tell the difference in sound between one drawer rummage and the next? Illogical!

There are quite a few flashbacks, that have missing full stops. It's in these flashbacks that suddenly everything is supposed to make sense and we're introduced to the “relationship” these two guys have with each other. FYI, two paragraphs of how quickly they've moved in together and a few sexual scenes do NOT make a relationship. It's also a little annoying to have one sex scene interrupted to switch to another sex scene in a flashback. It made no sense and felt more like an attempt to drag the story out even longer.

And, frankly, I don't like being told there's a safe word after something has been done without consent. See that whole bondage, rimming part above. That whole scene would have made so much more sense if we knew about Turkey (safe word) first. Reading it before just made me angry with Scott for ploughing on ahead regardless, while Ryan protested.

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OVERALL

I didn't get this story. At all. Maybe if it had been a full length novel or even twice the length, there would have been room for the characters to grow and actually be something other than a pair of jumped up hormonal kids playing around with BDSM. But that's all it was, in the end.

Not enough character development (and it's not the length that's the issue, because I've seen it done). Not enough plot development. And I often had to re-read passages to tell if if it was Ryan's POV or Scott's, because that got confusing for a while. I like some plot with my hot, but this is just a bit of kink in 25 pages.