Two months ago
Me: OMG there is a book on Audible called How I Met Your Father! I’ve lost the ability to even.
Jess: You’re being judgmental. You never know, it might be good
Me: Maybe
*stares at 2.95 sale price*
*clicks buy*
Former member of the now defunct boyband Rhythm Method (yeah) Justin Hayes is on his way to the West Indies to the wedding of his best friend / fellow band member when a chance encounter during a layover leads to anonymous quickie in the airport bathroom. A little ashamed of the encounter, Justin heads to the wedding pre-party only to find out that anonymous man is Jack Bassinger…. the father of the bride.
There are some parts of this book I didn’t love, but overall I thought this book was really sweet romance. I loved the relationship between the guys who were in the band together. I didn’t realize this was a celebrity book when I picked it and I think making the guys 10 years removed from their stardom was an interesting perspective. In such a short book, I feel like I got a clear picture of who they each were and how much they meant to each other. I want them each to have a romance novel. Except for the White guy with braids TJ...he was super annoying and can go DIAF.
The relationship between Jack and Justin didn’t really spark for me and I think it’s because this book is only from Justin’s perspective. Jack was like a blank slate and all of his conflict we get second hand. Also, Jack has an 18 year old son and I kind of hated how when everyone finds out they are together Jack is more concerned about Justin than his own son. The novella length leaves me with a lot of questions; one of the main one’s being why the hell does Jack’s son have a thug life tattoo on his chest ? I mean, it’s played as a joke, but nothing explains why he would do that
This is my second m/m romance and I’ve yet to really form an opinion on m/m just yet because I know some find it problematic. I heard Joyfully Jay talk about ‘out for you’ on the DBSA podcast and I was scared this was going to be that, but it wasn’t.Justin was always gay but hid it from the public because of the band and Jack had to get married because he got his now ex-wife pregnant at a young age.
I did this on audio and Nick J Russo did a great job. He was strongest when he was reading dialogue and I think his narration made this book for me. There were times when I forgot he was reading a book. Sidenote; with 43 m/m audiobooks on Audible, Russo seems to have a good share of this particular audiobook market cornered so I’m happy to have a narrator I enjoy.
With a great narrator and wacky premise this book brought the lols and was great to listen to on my commute home!
SIDENOTE
I have to argue with how L.B. Gregg portrays Rhythm Method as a synchronized-dancing-matching outfit boy band. I think by the time the 2000’s came around that was fading out.