Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Meet-cute
AUTHOR: C.C. Dado
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 71 pages
BLURB:
Elliot Beck may not have been blessed with mad art skills, a crooner’s voice, or a godlike physique, but he makes up for it with an abundance of quick-witted sarcasm, massive insecurities, and a love of bad boys.
After his best friend Trevor finds him naked and tied to his bed—abandoned by his latest troublemaker—Trevor convinces him to take a chance on a nice guy. When he has an awkward encounter in the men’s restroom with a fitness instructor named Chase, he never suspects the Adonis might be his perfect bad boy.
REVIEW:
To be honest, this one reminded me quite a bit of Tell Me It’s Real…except with more guns and fewer homophobic parrots.
Ok, the plot isn’t the same, but Elliot Beck sure does bring Paul Auster to mind. He is not a skinny twink or a musclebound gymrat. He is an accountant who enjoys a good meal, and honestly doesn’t feel all that bad about it. Except when on dates with incredibly hot and fit gym trainers. Elliot doesn’t have all the self-confidence in the world, but he has a best friend to look out for him and to push him into incredibly awkward situations for his own good. Like when Elliot totally and accidently may have given the impression that the guy next to him in the bathroom had a laugh-worthy dick (when really it was just the fact that he was giving faux-Jesus a golden shower in the urinal next to Elliot)…only to find out that Chase–whose dick is sooooo not laugh worthy–is actually at the bar to be set up with Elliot by Elliot’s best friend. Awkward.
Anyways, Elliot doesn’t really believe that Chase could want him…so he is more than a little confused as to how he got talked into hot-yoga with the dude. Not that staring at Chase, all hot and bendy is much of hardship. But the more he sees of Chase the more he doesn’t understand why the guy could ever choose him. And it doesn’t help that the dude won’t do anything more than kiss him.
This was actually a lot of fun. Elliot was great, and he is my favorite type of character. Not some perfect little gay boy, but a real guy who likes men–bad-boys, to be exact. Which gets him into more trouble than it is worth, really. But normal Chase isn’t a bad-boy (or is he?) and Elliot finds that stepping out of his comfort zone, while sometimes painful (like a exercise machine to the face) can be rewarding.
The twist at the end of the story…was interesting. Didn’t really see it coming, but I guess it makes sense in hindsight. And really, I do love twists like that. I might have to avoid bacon for a bit though…and that is a travesty of the highest order (if, you know, I could actually afford bacon at the moment).
I did find Elliot’s little hissy fit near the end to be a bit annoying. Seriously who takes the word of some sleazeball over the word of the guy they are dating…and maybe love? Elliot didn’t even give Chance a chance to explain, he just stormed off in high dudgeon and acted like a bit of an ass, to be honest.
That aside, this was a fun short story, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Though now I have the craving to go read Tell Me It’s Real all over again, even if I listened to the audiobook like three weeks ago. Oh, well, it is not like that is a hardship, really.
RATING:
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