Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Names Can Never Hurt Me
AUTHOR: Wade Kelly
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 333 Pages
BLURB:
What if sexuality wasn’t a definable thing and labels merely got in the way?
Nick Jones can’t remember a time when he wasn’t part of the in crowd. Everywhere he goes, he stands out as the best looking guy in the room, and women practically fall into bed with him. Then, after kissing Corey on a dare led to much more and on many occasions, Nick’s “screw anything” reputation escalated, but he didn’t care.
When Nick meets RC at the restaurant where he works, it throws his whole life out of whack. Overweight, always sweaty, gay, and hairy like a bear, RC lives up to his dubbed nickname “Scruffy Dude.” He seems Nick’s complete opposite, but Nick can’t get him out of his head.
Because of peer-pressure and his fears about defining his sexuality, Nick struggles with stepping out of his comfort zone and caring about someone different than himself. If he’s lucky, somewhere between arrogance and ignorance, Nick might find out what it means to be an adult, but if he’s wrong, he could lose everything.
REVIEW:
This is by far my favorite Wade Kelly book so far. I loved the story, and I loved the way she wrote Nick as the story’s narrator. Many times when Nick’s thoughts were described I let out a bray of laughter. It took great talent for Ms. Kelly to write a character that is that clueless. Really “pretty”, but dumber than a box of rocks. I think we’ve all met a “Nick” a time or two, be they male or female. She wrote the character perfectly!
The story starts at a party several years prior, where someone dares Nick, who is a huge slut of a man whore with women, to kiss a gay guy. Nick had just been standing across the room admiring Corey’s lips and wondering why he was admiring them, so when he was challenged he agreed. Little did he know that he would enjoy kissing Corey so much, or that he would end up out behind the garage for the best blowjob of his entire life…from another guy!
The story then jumps to the present day. Nick has survived the teasing about Corey and the fact that he will have sex with anyone. Corey is still the only guy he has ever slept with, but Nick has been through almost every available woman in their group, some of them multiple times.
Then a scruffy dude, with greasy hair, a scraggly beard and acne comes to the pizza restaurant where Nick works. He comes back a few times and one of the girls thinks he is staring at Nick. When the man overhears that coworker calling him fat, Nick goes over and apologizes. There begins the tale of Nick and RC.
The plot kind of had an “ugly duckling” or “beauty and the beast” theme running through it. When RC is first described we get an image of someone very far from attractive. But as the story proceeds, by changing jobs, his acne and greasy sweaty appearance changes and he starts to get pretty darn hot. At the same time Nick’s perceptions are changing. Nick comes to realize he isn’t attracted to the beautiful people he has always been friends with but to a big hairy bear of guy called RC. Since Nick’s friends continue to look down on RC, I’m thinking the change is more of a perception and maturity on Nick’s part, rather than purely physical.
The book carries you along through their story. Along the way we deal with spiteful girlfriends, drug dealers, RC’s extremely sad and troubled past, and the unwillingness on both their parts to recognize their mutual attraction. I highly recommend you get this book today. You will enjoy every page. One word of caution, it is exactly the right length which means some folks might find it a bit long. It is long because it is a complete story. Yes there is sex, but this book isn’t a loosely veiled work of pornography like a lot of books in this genre. This one is the real thing. A true M/M Romance. Keep up the fantastic work Ms. Kelly!
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
I loved this book. It’s got a little of everything. The plain Mc who actually ends up with the good looking guy. How do deal with bullies, As you said a complete story from beginning to end;