REVIEWED BY CINDY
TITLE: All I’ll Ever Need
AUTHOR: JP Bowie
PUBLISHER: Totally Bound
LENGTH: 175 Pages
Blurb:
All Edward Conway needs is someone to love, and in sexy Puerto Rican Alex Martinez, he may have found that someone—until a wild party threatens to take everything from him.
When Edward Conway came out to his family he never imagined their reaction would be to shut him out of their lives. Searching for acceptance he leaves his hometown hoping to find a new life in Los Angeles. Finally daring to enter a gay bar by himself, he meets Alex Martinez, a celebrity publicity agent, and the two men connect on all kinds of levels. Despite the pressure of Alex’s job, which takes him out of town soon after he and Edward connect, Edward feels he may just have met the man who can give him something to live for.
Things look good until Edward’s wild roommate Troy, needs a lift to a party where ‘sex, drugs and rock’n’roll’ are the order of the day. Reluctantly Edward agrees to drive Troy to the party, but before he can leave he becomes the victim of a vicious incident that could shatter the hopes he had for the future.
Alex is there to lend support but he is haunted by a tragic past, and in the present is torn between an old loyalty and the wish to make Edward a lasting part of his life.
Review:
Trying to think how to start this review and I’m a little stumped.
Edward is a man facing what so many young, gay men face when they decide to be true to themselves. His family abandons him, leaving him scared, vulnerable and alone.
When he hits LA he ends up meeting some of the worst examples of gay men and to be honest, I’m not sure what made him stay. His roommates and so-called “friends” are just kind of jerks and then he decides to go to a gay bar and meets more.
Alex is a man who lost everything to homophobia but his past still hasn’t quite let him go. It keeps calling him and interfering with the life he’s trying to get on with.
This story had all the makings of something amazing but it just sort of fell flat for me.
I get attraction and connecting with someone, but for me, there just needed to be a little bit more to allow me to get swept away in the story. Would any of you let some guy you just met stay in your house after you just met him? It seems kind of foolish to me…and dangerous, no matter how much you trust your instincts.
I was expecting more buildup and I was looking forward to the angst to help elevate the story to another level, but to be honest the angst was just kind of blah. I mean, having it happen to you would be terrifying, but the author just doesn’t manage to convey any of that fear and it’s kind of disappointing for me.
I felt sorry for Edward. As far as I’m concerned, parents should love their kids no matter what and disowning your child for who he or she loves is a big failure on the parenting landscape. I wanted to take him in and show him that his parents were the ones in the wrong, not him.
And Alex. I can’t imagine being stuck in his situation and I felt happy for him when he finally made the decision to find a little peace and love for himself.
The concept of this story is good and the characters engaging and interesting, although the writer would have us believe that most gay men are catty, selfish bitches who can only be redeemed through finding true love or having to live through a life-endangering tragedy.
I wanted to feel that heart-pounding fear that would happen if you ended up in Edward’s situation and all I got was “oh well, I guess that happened” and that was it.
If you don’t like a lot of angst in your story, you will probably like this, but I was looking for a little more depth in the characters and the situation.
Rating:
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