Reviewed by Roberta
TITLE: Not Safe For Work
AUTHOR: Ingela Bohm
PUBLISHER: Ingela Bohm
LENGTH: 75, 400 Words
BLURB:
It’s Jakob’s birthday, and boy is he getting a surprise. His friend Leo has written a sexy blog about the two of them — all untrue, of course. Or is it? Identity hijacked, fake love life laid out for the world to see, Jakob is devastated. He should deny it all, but he can’t stop reading. Soon, he’ll have to confront Leo, but he’s afraid — can there be a tiny grain of truth in those stories?
REVIEW:
So, I’m not really sure how I feel about this book. I think that mostly…I’m confused.
Jakob is turning 34 and his life is about to change. On the morning of his 34th birthday…he awakens to texts from his best friend, Leo and from there…this nightmare-ish suspense/mystery begins. On tumbler and well as facebook…his life is being played out in a way that doesn’t even seem real. It would seem that Leo has taken over his accounts and made up these stories based on some truth and yet…it’s slash or fanfic. Jakob is trying to figure out how and why this is happening to him and why his best friend won’t pick up when he calls only answers text messages. Jakob is trying to complete his PhD and this is causing him tons of problems on the work front as well as his own feelings.
Leo is caught up in this mess as well, however, his part is a bit more…underhanded. Leo is this computer whiz who has created this program Luvotar that is actually pretty damn amazing and yet…when it gets going…there’s nothing that can stop it from taking over and just…doing what it does. Leo is actually the one who has held long-standing feelings for Jakob that he’s never thought to act on and when all of this kind of blows up and out…he’s now pushed front and center in this weird situation. Leo isn’t described as the perfect specimen of male. He’s pale and a bit thick and yet…I really liked that about him. That he wasn’t perfect and yet…he’s perfect for Jakob.
I will say that I truly liked how they came about with the what is the truth and what some of the philosophical thoughts behind it. Now, I will say that I was lost for a bit when I first read this section but as I thought about it and the story unfolded…it started to make way more sense. It really was quite a thought provoking idea as well as a the results of this kind of stuff.
The premise of this story is really well thought out…however, the execution…just really made me confused. I was more lost than anything reading this story. I get where the author is trying to go to in this story, however, this story just seem so damn convoluted to me. I couldn’t find my way to like either of the characters. The jumping around made my head hurt. I really tried to get into the story but mostly I just wanted to see how this all ended. I was still confused as all get out as I wasn’t sure what the hell is real and what wasn’t.
I find that the more I’m removed from my reading of the story…how I still have questions that I’m sure were answered, yet probably not in a way that made sense for me. Who the hell was testing Jakob and what’s up with the pictures? There was just so much happening and not enough answers for me to really digest the story in its entirety.
RATING: 
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