Review: Taylor
Title: Pop Goes the Weasel
Author: Stephen Osborne
Series: Pop Goes the Weasel #1
Pages: 200
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Blurb:
Patrick Weasley, aka Weasel, is a fun-loving college student with a wealthy homophobic jerk stepfather and a best friend, Jake Winston, who’s just as gay as Weasel. When Jake’s aunt dies, many from the publishing world-including Jasper, Weasel’s weasel of a stepfather-gather at Winston Manor for the reading of the will, and Weasel is obligated to tag along.
Turns out all he has to do is three things: 1) swap the wills so Jake’s uncle inherits the house instead of the gardener, who’s also an old enemy of Weasel’s; 2) secure a publishing contract from author Cecily Talbot; and 3) hook Jake up with his deceased aunt’s male nurse. But what he ends up doing is 1) falling for Tony, one of the food servers; 2) accidentally affiancing himself to Cecily; and 3) fighting with Jake, who thinks he was making a play for the nurse.
To make matters worse, every time Weasel and Tony start to get intimate, Jasper is right around the corner. So when burglars come to steal a valuable piece of art, Weasel must 1) use all his ingenuity to keep the painting safe; 2) dis-engage himself from Cecily; 3) unite Jake with the nurse; and most importantly, 4) pursue Tony to an elusive happy ending.
Review:
I really enjoy Stephen Osborne’s voice, his characters always make me laugh, and they have these crazy made-for-TV/film kind of plots. This one didn’t quite work for me as much as his other series, featuring Duncan Andrews. I think where this one fell a little flat for me is that I didn’t really like any of the characters and there didn’t really seem to be any down time, just one situation after the other. With Duncan Andrews and his books, all of the characters you grow attached to and you love them, even when they frustrate you. Weasel, though, and his cast of friends, foes, etc. didn’t draw me in as much, but I still enjoyed this book for being so wacky and fun.
I’m wondering if anyone has seen the play or movie, Noises Off because this book reminded me of that. A lot of characters brought together and they go about with lots of slapstick mishaps. Even the movie, Clue. I won’t rehash the plot because the blurb is exactly the plot, but I do want to mention the plot line where Weasel dresses in drag to avoid running into his stepfather standing outside a gay bar and then he runs in to homophobic cop, Tyler Kendrick. I don’t know why but that whole situation kept making me laugh and that’s not something I’d normally even find funny. I felt in those moments Weasel really shined and the dynamic between them cracked me up, especially when Weasel went in to Tyler’s bedroom at the Winston mansion. I CRACKED up.
Where I felt the dynamic lacking was with Weasel and his ‘love interest’, Tony and the fact that I don’t really feel like I know any of these characters. I wouldn’t call this book a romance, and I certainly don’t pick up Osborne’s books strictly for a romance, but the two of them together just didn’t do anything for me. I mean I guess they were cute, but I’d have liked someone with a little more…presence for Weasel.
It’s a light and fun read.
Rating: 
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