Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: The Secret of Obedience
AUTHOR: Liv Rancourt
PUBLISHER: Evernight Publishing
LENGTH: 44 Pages
BLURB:
Opposites attract, but secrets divide…
Ronnie Durand is a country boy who transfers to the University of Washington after two years at Central. He’ll have to give up playing football, though finishing his education at a major university in Seattle–and being out and proud without having to look over his shoulder–makes the sacrifice worthwhile.
But finding friends at a huge school is tough, especially when the hottest guy Ronnie meets makes him doubt his own sanity.
Sang’s been on his own a long time. He’s only a couple steps away from living on the street, and he’s got dreams so big they don’t leave space for a steady boyfriend. Then he meets Ronnie, who just might be strong enough to break through his barriers…. as long as Sang lets him in on one big secret.
REVIEW:
Twenty-one year old Ronnie Durand is a little overwhelmed. He’s just moved to the University of Washington, he had to give up playing football and for the first time he can simply relax and “be gay”. Problem is, his only friend is straight, and hardly wants to go hang out in gay bars with Ronnie. Luckily for Ronnie, the perfect guy for him practically runs straight into his arms on the street one night. Sang is so small and pretty and feminine that at first Ronnie isn’t completely sure that he’s a man, but he decides that he likes Sang so much he doesn’t even care. The two men hook up a couple of times, but whenever Ronnie sees Sang at school, Sang pretends that he doesn’t know him.
This short story is told from Ronnie’s first person point of view, and I really liked the way the author executed it. To begin with it felt kind of awkward or stilted, like Ronnie was relating a story that he wasn’t confident in telling. But either I got use to it and stopped noticing, or the story became smoother. And actually, I decided that I rather enjoyed “Ronnie’s voice”. This is the first book that I’ve read from this author, so I can’t say if all of her stories are written this way or if it’s unique to this one, but it matched the character of Ronnie really well – a little bit awkward but moving forward without hesitation.
We never learn a huge deal about Sang, he pretty much remains shrouded in mystery until the very end. Halfway through the story you kind of get an idea of what might be going on with his behavior, but it isn’t really a let down, rather it’s a validation that he isn’t a dick.
This was a cute, quick read and I’ll definitely check out more from Liv Rancourt in the future. This author also uses the best description I’ve ever come across to create a picture of her clubbing twinks – they looked like artfully decorated cupcakes. I love that!
RATING: 
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