Romance novels always end with a happy ever after. Right?
Evan and Adam are best friends, but they don’t know everything about each other. For one thing, Adam doesn’t know Evan writes and publishes gay romance novels until he discovers one while snooping on Evan’s laptop.
This revelation changes their relationship in ways neither could’ve imagined. Adam’s reaction to reading Evan’s stories is not what he expected, nor is the new way he’s looking at his lifelong pal. After all, Adam is straight, or so he’s always thought, and that is what Evan believes about Adam as well.
When Evan admits he might be bisexual, Adam suggests he try dating girls to find out for sure, but when Evan follows his advice, Adam is caught off guard by his feelings of jealousy. And when the date proves Evan isn’t bisexual, but gay, Evan’s request that Adam find him a guy might be the last straw.
How can Adam admit he wants that guy to be him? His epiphany will either end their relationship—or change it into something wonderful in their very own friends-to-lovers romance.
Title: After the Romance Novel
Series: Before… and After
Author: Susan Laine
Release Date: February 22, 2017
Category: Contemporary, New Adult
Pages: 63
Amazon
Dreamspinner Press
Kobo Books
I don’t normally read YA. There just seems to me to be something creepy about being a woman in her (cough, cough) middle 40’s to be reading about 17 year old kids falling in love, possibly having sex. However, the subject on this one intrigued me, so I gave it a shot. And I’m glad I did!
After the Romance Novel is the first thing I’ve read by Susan Laine, and I really enjoy her writing style. I enjoyed the alternating POV’s, and the mindset of these two young men. They’ve known each other for years, been best friends for years, and yet didn’t realize they could fall in love with each other.
There were a few things that seemed implausible to me. First, how introspective they seemed. These are 17 year old boys, with large vocabularies, introspective about what they wanted. Their mindsets in many ways felt as if they should have been 10 years older. In addition, when Adam finds out about Evan looking at his current work in progress, Evan has written his 12th story, and always writes Adam and Evan as the MC’s, then changes before he publishes, yet he didn’t ever once consider being in love, or attracted to Adam?
However, all that being said, I enjoyed their relationship. They didn’t take each other for granted, and even though they were dealing with uncomfortable, and heavy subjects with each other, they never wavered in their friendship. There were uncertainties as to how they would move forward, but they always felt they were best friends, and would always be.
3.5 pieces of eye candy
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