Reviewed by Elizabetta

TITLE: Mark Cooper versus America

AUTHOR: Lisa Henry & JA Rock

PUBLISHER: Loose-ID

LENGTH: 278 pages

BLURB:

Mark Cooper is angry, homesick, and about to take his stepdad’s dubious advice and rush Prescott College’s biggest party fraternity, Alpha Delta Phi. Greek life is as foreign to Aussie transplant Mark as Pennsylvania’s snowstorms and bear sightings. So, when the fraternity extends Mark a bid, Mark vows to get himself kicked out by the end of pledge period. But then he’s drawn into Alpha Delt’s feud with a neighboring fraternity.

 

Studious Deacon Holt is disappointed to learn Mark’s pledging Alpha Delt, his fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa’s sworn enemy. Mark is too beautiful for Deacon to pass up an invitation for sex, but beyond sex, Deacon’s not sure. He wants a relationship, but a difficult family situation prevents him from pursuing anything beyond his studies.

 

Mark and Deacon’s affair heats up as the war between their fraternities escalates. They explore kinks they didn’t know they had while keeping their liaison a secret from their brothers. But what Romeo and Juliet didn’t teach these star-crossed lovers is how to move beyond sex and into a place where they share more than a bed. That’s something they’ll have to figure out on their own—if the friction between their houses, and between Mark and America, doesn’t tear them apart.

 

REVIEW:

 

This is sweet and funny and sexy and kinky, and at times, sweetly innocent.

 

The college romance isn’t the easiest sell for me. Face it, you’re talking about guys who’re at an age when they’re newly away from the fold and just starting to figure out who they are and how to take care of themselves… so, rough around the edges and wet under the collar. Life experience, sophistication, and know-how just don’t regularly figure in. On top of that, this is all about college Greek life. Take two steps back, do not pass go. I intentionally went to a university without a Greek system, so there you go, I’m not a big fan.

 

Somehow, though, these two authors have seamlessly built two characters — Mark who is barely eighteen, and his love interest, Deacon, just out of his teens — and have infused them with a curious blend of insecurity, bravado, and tenderness.

 

At times Mark and Deacon read as more articulate and insightful in some of their emotional exchanges with each other than would seem the norm for their ages, but, guess what, they’re out of the norm and… believable. Or, maybe I just want to believe in them. Somehow the insecurities of dealing with a new culture, college life, homophobia, and crazy parents all get mixed in with significant emotional discovery, and we get that wonderful messy hodgepodge that is coming-of-age. Plus, this is just so sweetly told.

 

 

Mark and Deacon are affiliated with two feuding frat houses, one the bad-boy, rich-kid party house, the other, the nerdy, studious, less exclusive house. And the guys’ blossoming attraction to each other would not be looked upon favorably by their frat brothers, so they keep it under wraps. This star-crossed lover angle is entertaining and dare I say, charming. Mark — the bratty, risk-taking, sometimes cranky, hot Aussie boy — falls for Deacon — the older, cute, serious and studious one. I love their sexual discovery. It is at times unsure and awkward, but always blazing hot and fun.

 

So, what’s up with that title? It’s also about culture shock. Mark’s mother has remarried an American businessman who moves them all to the States to live.

The boy from Oz is thrown into Greek life and Yank culture and puzzles through it as he thumbs his nose at it. When we first meet Mark, he is homesick, and has a chip on his shoulder about it all. So, we have all sorts of set ups for cultural differences and comparisons and some good-natured poking fun at. (strange Americanisms, the fear of snow, the spurning of proms and s’mores… one gets the feeling that the author’s are gleefully exploring their own quibbles.)

 

Choosing a college frat house setting cuts a little closer than good natured ribbing though, and some ugliness around brainless hazing and stereotyping ensues. But, the setting nicely balances the essential awakening between Mark and Deacon who are steeped in some hot and kinky exploration as they grow towards each other.

 

SPOILER ALERT (ok, I didn’t get Mark’s obsession with the whole fisting thing. Really, a fist up your, um, arse, is not natural. A baby coming down a vagina, yes. A fist going up the poop chute, uh… no. I get that it’s symbolic of trust and all that, but it kept me puzzling why Mark needed this so much when Deke showed himself worthy many times over, in many other ways.) END SPOILER

 

Two charismatic characters who can go from sweet and geeky to hot ’n spicy before you can say…“g’day, mate”…this is great fun with good substance.

 

 

RATING:

 

BUY LINKS: Loose ID