Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: First Kiss
SERIES: The Looking Glass #2
AUTHOR: Penny Brandon
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: 143 pages
BLURB:
The second Brenn saw Joey’s image in the magic mirror, he was hooked. The moment he saw him in real life, Brenn knew Joey was going to be his forever. Joey was flirty, and fun, and he had the most gorgeous smile, but then Joey told him he was dying. Though devastated, Brenn didn’t want to give up on Joey, so he offered to look after him and make his last few days as comfortable as possible, but was that going to be enough when all Brenn really wanted was for Joey to live?
Brenn was everything Joey could have wished for; strong, built, and with amazing eyes, and Brenn was in love with him. That would have given Joey something to live for, if it hadn’t been too late. He had about three weeks left, but that didn’t seem to matter to Brenn. Brenn wanted to take him home, and Joey was willing to go with him, but on two conditions. He wanted Brenn to make love to him before he died, but no kissing.
REVIEW:
From the moment Brenn saw the man’s reflection in the looking glass, he knew that it was the man he was destined to love forever. From the moment Brenn heard Joey’s laugh, from across the pub, he knew Joey was the man he wanted to love forever. All he has to do now is convince Joey of the same thing. It isn’t going to be too hard, though. They are meant for each other.
Except Joey isn’t the man Brenn thinks he is. Well…not for much longer. He is dying and he probably won’t even last another month. So no matter how ‘destined’ them might be, it is a destiny bound to end in heartache. Still…Joey can’t help but be selfish in this one last thing. Three weeks with Brenn’s smile, and body, and love–Joey thinks three weeks could feel like forever in Brenn’s hands. And after that…well, he tries not to think about ‘after’ any more.
Sometime is hurts learning just how short ‘ever-after’ really is.
Ok, I am, right now, declaring a moratorium on all sad books. I have spent the last three days crying my eyes out, and I am running out of Kleenex, dammit! I don’t know where everyone is hiding all the fluffy stories, but I demand one be delivered to me, on the hour, or someone is going to pay. Look, I know a story about a guy who only has three weeks to live is going to be sad…but this just wasn’t fair. I am emotionally damaged already. My angst levels have hit critical, and I have been sniffling at the most ridiculous things in the last 24hrs. I just need something to make the pain go away…
…what’s that, you say? You are going to let them go at it like bunnies for almost the entire story? Well…you might (might) be forgiven.
In all seriousness, I have been waiting for this sequel for a really long time. I honestly didn’t think it was ever going to be written. And I am thrilled that it was. It is not the deepest story ever written, and yeah, healing thru the power of cock isn’t my favorite trope, but I enjoyed this story. It did not slack off on the seriousness of Joey’s problems, but it did a good job of not making it all that Joey was.
Joey was strong, and stubborn, and so freaking brave. But he was also scared. Not that he was going to die, really, but that he was going to die and hurt this man that loved him. So he tried not to love him–thinking stupidly, that if it was only one-sided, then somehow Brenn wouldn’t hurt quite so badly. This made me want to shake him…but also try and wrap him up in all the blankets.
And while the whole sex thing was a bit too much here (for a dying guy, Joey sure does have the stamina of a teenager), I did enjoy reading it. It was hot, while still taking into account that Joey couldn’t really do sex the ‘normal’ way. The amount of time spent in naked-fun-time was a bit excessive, but it was also real enough that it helped the story (most of the time) instead of taking away from it.
By the end, when they are at the hospital and Brenn is holding Joey, I was a soggy ball of tears. The resolution wasn’t exactly how I would have pictured it–and perversely I kinda wanted it to go the other way (even it would have scarred me for life)–but it did make all that pain worth it.
This was a good story, and I liked it as much as I did the first book, Choices. Though if you haven’t read the first book, don’t worry, this one can be read as a standalone with no problem. I do want Simon to finally get his man, though. Poor dude needs to get laid, fall in love, and go somewhere when the furniture doesn’t predict the future (or if it does, get one that can give him the winning lotto numbers, or something (does Australia even have a lotto?)).
RATING: 
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I know authors are not supposed to leave comments, but thank you 🙂 This was a lovely review.
You are welcome. 😀
What a lovely review Carissa! I try to stay away from reading reviews of books on my “to-do” list because I don’t want to form any pre-reading impressions; but after??? I stalk reviews on books I’ve enjoyed! Did they like it too? If they didn’t; why not? (idiots) This one gives me a hint of reviewer envy; you know that moment… “I wish I’d thought to say that!” I loved First Kiss, although I thought Choices was a bit better. I’m glad to see it getting positive vibes!!!
I kinda go half-an-half when it come to the before or after aspect of reviews. Sometimes if it is a book by an author i have never read, I like to see what some of my friends have said about it, cause if I am dishing out money, I like to get a decent return. However if it is an author I know, I don’t tend to do that.
I also don’t read reviews for any books that I have to review, till I have written my own. I need to be able to say what I am thinking about the book, not what someone else has said…so I have to keep those things separate till after the review is sent off. Though, after it is written, I love going and seeing what other people have said. I find it a lot of fun to see all the different aspects, and opinions that everyone has. Especially on books that I have a vastly different rating from the majority.
And, yeah…I have total reviewer’s envy. There are some reviews you can look at and think…’that one sentence is what i was trying to say with a page and a half of words…and it is still a hundred times better than what I came up with.”