More Than Friends: M/M Romance

I didn't like this book for several reasons. Firstly, I found the writing style to be substandard. A huge number of paragraphs in the book starts with the name of the character directly followed by a verb. It quickly became very repetitious to read. Also, there is far more telling than showing going on in the story. Actual lines of dialogue are few and far between. The POV is also switched between one paragraph to the next, giving me whiplash trying to follow in which character's head I'm currently in.Secondly I also found its way of dealing with homophobia offensive in several places in the story. "He bounced between feelings of disgust for having f**ked a dude, to feelings of guilt for feeling disgust when it felt so good, [...]"Feeling disgust, actual disgust, for touching another human being regardless of gender is to me a dated notion which should not be further cemented. The culturally imposed moral conflict a GFY character might experience is much better handled in most other books I've read of the same theme. All of the above makes me a bit sad for this story, because during the first couple of chapters it held potential to be so much better.

On the good side, it's sweet, it's fairly hot, I liked both the main characters, and I enjoyed Aria Grace's writing style.On the not so good side...it's not that these things I'm about to complain about are bad so much as they are unrealistic.The first time they have sex, there's no lubrication used. And yet, somehow they still managed to enjoy themselves. It doesn't work like that. For a woman who's never been a gay man, she actually did pretty well. Just...this one was a big deal. I don't think her goal was to make her readers shake their heads and think, "ooph, that's not going to end well."As a GFY story, I would have said this failed. GFY has to be expertly crafted to pass the sniff test, because stuff like that just doesn't happen in real life. For a straight guy to get so close to a gay friend that he actually falls in love, I need a believable explanation. I wouldn't have called this story believable enough to qualify as a good example of GFY. (As you might imagine, I haven't found too many that DO qualify.) All the same, I don't actually think it turned out GFY. It was more of a sexual awakening sort of story, and...Grace didn't do too badly. In case I'm not being clear, the "straight" character didn't strike me as having a one-time, one-dude-only experience. Instead, I just wanted to shake my head and mutter something about how "they're always the last to know."For all my talk about realism, I don't actually expect romances to be utterly realistic. I mean, if I wanted embarrassing noises and farting in bed and "Get off...no, I mean get off ME! That hurts!" I'd just go to the bar, you know? But if an author wants me to buy into the fiction she's selling, I need her to give me a reason to think the story could actually happen. I can suspend disbelief to some extent, but once you cross that line...This one was close, though. And it really did have its good points. I'm not at all sorry I read it.

If you are one of those people that think gay guys are out to seduce all straight guys, then you will love this book.Ryan is shortly out of a long term relationship, some of which has been long-distance, with a high maintenance woman. Now he's lonely, horny, in a funk and apparently only has one friend. That friend takes him to a bar where he leaves with another woman and leaves Ryan alone with the woman's friend. Ryan takes the girl home, but has to stay the night on the couch under the watchful eye of her cousin. Then later he is invited to a party at the girl's house for no other reason than to get him back into that house to be watched by her cousin. Again he spends the night on the couch, wakes up with a woodie, being stared at by said cousin. He and cousin start being friendly, then cousin announces he's gay. So he doesn't act like an idiot for reacting badly, Ryan asks Zach(cousin) to tutor him in a college course. Cousin flirts with him, telling Ryan "you just don't realize you're gay" "How do you know you're not gay if you never tried it", then kisses him and rubs him and his body responds. Yep, lonely horny 21 year old with too much wine...of course his body responds, and Zach jumps on it...literally.Then Ryan realizes he wants Zach.This couldn't be more of a fantasy story if all the characters were riding unicorns. Written by a straight woman for straight women..a demographic that has no idea how the mind of a straight guy or a gay guy actually works.

This is a sweet and sexy romance between friends who become so much more. The story starts off with Ryan Edwards, a 21 year old who is dealing with a breakup from his girlfriend. They had grown apart after their long distance relationship began to be more trouble than it was worth. Ryan tries his best to deal with his emotional slump, but it's more difficult than he imagines.His friend, Paul, takes him to a bar to try and help him move on. There, Ryan meets a girl named Drea and they end up going back to her place. She introduces Ryan to her cousin, Zach, and then heads off to sleep (apparently she notices the lack of chemistry just as much as Ryan). Zach and Ryan briefly chat while Zach remains preoccupied with playing video games.However, they soon meet up again and have a great time. They end up spending more time together afterwards and Ryan begins feeling confused about his true feelings for Zach.I enjoyed the story and was rooting for them to get together towards the end. Ryan seems so unsure of himself, but Zach makes the perfect companion for him. The natural progression of the story made it an enjoyable read.Overall, it has a great balance of story, personal acceptance, and intimacy.

Looking back I discovered that I actually downloaded this book back in 2013 but I've just read it now as part of the 'To See About A Guy' collection.Ryan's four year relationship with Brooke is finally over, he was never fully committed to it but now four weeks later he's struggling, he's forgotten how to be single after all they'd been together since they were both seniors at Jefferson High.Ryan's boss Paul drags him out for the night and they hook up with two women but Ryan's not really feeling the spark so maybe Drea's just not the woman for him. Anyway Ryan gives Drea a lift home and he meets her cousin Zach.I enjoyed this book and while there's nothing new or particularly deep here I liked both the characters and the way their relationship developed, I might even read the next book 'More Than Friends 2'

A first time M/M romance, but don't start rolling your eyes expecting nothing but smut. This is a tender, caring story about a guy who is finding that girls don't actually do much for him any more, and is drawn in by a new friend. Yes it's not the longest book in the world, but it doesn't feel rushed and the confusion the young man feels is believable, as is the way the older more experienced man is not forceful and understands his confusion.

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't the sort of thing I would normally read, but, I was curious, so I thought I'd give it a try.I thought the book was well written, with well rounded characters and an interesting plot. It's not a short story as such, but not so long that it takes forever to read. Ideal if you have an hour or two to kill.All in all, a sensitive portrayal of a gay romance written by a highly competent writer.

This is a good intro to the set of books. Ryan is straight as far as he’s concerned, that is until he meets Zach and all the things he was so sure of go out the window. Going now to read the rest in this series

Not my usual type of read but thought I would give it a good, nice little story about a boy coming to terms with himself in a way he didnt even expect. Like the way this was written and you could imagine these two guys individual characters so well it makes you smile. Quick easy not too heavy well written