Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Shawn’s Law

AUTHOR: Renae Kaye

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 200 Pages

BLURB:

Shawn is single, twenty-nine, the full-time carer of his Alzheimer’s-stricken mother, and a frequent victim of Murphy’s Law—although his family calls it Shawn’s Law. Other than caring for mum, his day consists of painting nude men and spying on the guy who walks his dogs along the street every day at four o’clock. When Shawn takes a spectacular fall on his front steps, who is there to witness it other than the man of his dreams?

Harley doesn’t believe in Shawn’s Law—but he soon changes his mind.

The two men make it through a memorable first date and Shawn’s sexual insecurities to begin a relationship stumbling toward love. But when Shawn’s Law causes Harley to be injured, Shawn is determined to save Harley’s life the only way he knows how—by breaking up with him. Not once, but twice. Throw in a serial killer ex-boyfriend, several deadly Australian animals, two dogs called Bennie, a mother who forgets to wear clothes, an unforgiving Town Council, and a strawberry-flavored condom dolly, and Shawn’s Law is one for the books.

REVIEW:

I’ll confess, I was hesitant to read this one. I’m a diehard Renae Kaye fan but humor is such a subjective thing. I’ve loved all of her previous books but what if I read this one only to discover that Renae Kaye only thinks she’s funny? Or maybe everybody thinks she’s funny except me. Honest to God, I was actually contemplating not reading one of my favourite author’s books on the off chance I wouldn’t like her sense of humor. Then I realized how ridiculous I was being. If I don’t like it what’s the worst that could happen. She doesn’t know where I live! So with some trepidation I started reading…and started grinning like an absolute nutter.

He came prepared, thank goodness, and brought his own condom. The only one in my house had blue hair glued to it and had burst in a not-so-good way over my lounge.

Oh, forgot to mention. I decided it was only fair to randomly scatter some of my favourite quotes throughout the review.

Harley and Shawn were hopelessly attracted from the first moment they saw each other, it just took them a whole lot of time to actually speak. Harley wanted to talk to Shawn but unfortunately popped a mad boner each time he saw him. Shawn just wanted the chance to ogle the blond hippy that walked past his house every day at 4pm. But because Shawn’s great plan was to find a task that had him on his hands and knees with his ass shaking in the air like a preening peacock, Harley had an even harder time controlling his erection. And continued to stay away. So they had to moon over each other from afar, until the day Shawn stepped on a Target catalogue and made a magnificent production of falling down the stairs. Little did Harley know that would be the first of many times that he watched Shawn injure himself. At least there was no need for an ambulance with that one.

I breathed hard through my nose, hoping Harley would go slow, but you never knew the first time you were with a guy. He could be slapping my side any second and telling me to bark like the bitch I was.

By the way, the main characters’ names are definitely Shawn and Harley. For some reason I keep writing Harvey. I keep reading back and trying to fix it, but if I miss one then I apologize. I’m sure no one wants a hero named Harvey. And Harley is a bit of a hero. Even though he starts off as a non-believer he eventually sees that Shawn’s Law really is a thing and doesn’t let it scare him off.

As with all Renae Kaye books this one is set in Western Australia which I won’t pretend isn’t a plus for me. As far as I can recall she’s the only author who sets her stories around the places that I actually frequent. When Shawn and Harley are making out in King’s Park, I got all excited because I’ve stumbled across sexing people in King’s Park after dark. Probably everyone who lives here has. It definitely comes through that Renae Kaye actually lives where her characters reside because she describes everything with confidence and accuracy. Well obviously, she lives here too. But she also manages to make me see familiar places with new eyes as she highlights details that perhaps a lot of local people would overlook.

We’d jerked off and sucked off each other with gay abandon in Harley’s backyard. I even had to remind him to put a little extra chlorine in the pool because there was a heck of a lot of sperm in the water.

One thing Aussie locals would never overlook though is our dangerous wildlife. Wildlife that seemed to really have it in for poor old Shawn throughout the story. I laughed more than once as, in just 200 pages, Shawn was attacked by spiders, snakes, insects, birds and the children’s favourite shark in the aquarium’s touch pool. And then there was the amorous quokka, which may or may not have been gay but got in a good grope of Shawn’s ass as he got frisky with Harley in a public place.

Would my anus work in the same way it use to, more than – I had to stop and count – oh, God, six years ago? Maybe your anus and prostate shriveled up and died if you didn’t use them. How would I know? Who could I ask?

The story is written in first person with alternating point of views. Which I know in some stories can get confusing but that didn’t happen with this book. Shawn is telling us the story as it happens and Harley is looking back and reflecting on all the things that happened to them when they first started dating. But the POV changes only occur at the beginning of chapters and even though Harley is recounting from “the future” both men do actually stick to the same timeline of events, it doesn’t jump backwards and forwards.

Show me a man who can keep an erection while picking up dog shit, and I’ll point out that he needs serious counseling.

Like I said, humor is subjective so I hope you all love this book as much as I do. Shawn is one of the most loveable characters, even though his life resembles one of those fascinating train wrecks that you just have to keep watching. You just know that if a dangerous animal doesn’t end up doing him in, if the city of Subiaco doesn’t hire a hitman and if his serial killer ex-boyfriend doesn’t escape from prison, Shawn and Harley are going to live out the most interesting happily-ever-after ever.

I was still recovering from ejaculating so hard that I nearly managed to hit a quokka with my jizz…

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

ARe