Reviewed by Dan

TITLE:  Knobs

AUTHOR:     Scotty Cade

PUBLISHER:     Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH:     201 Pages

RELEASE DATE:   April 22, 2016

BLURB:

Angus Conrad (Gus) McRae is a privileged Charlestonian following family tradition and attending the Citadel, harboring big dreams of a military career. With the infamous Hell Week behind him, he quickly realizes being a Knob (a freshman cadet) is just as tough—especially for a man like Gus who must keep his sexuality a secret. Then a sudden dorm reassignment lands him with a roommate in the form of one of the football team’s top players—working-class jock Stewart Adam (Sam) Morley—and life gets increasingly complicated.

Gus can’t imagine a man like Sam as gay, yet there’s something between them—exchanged glances, the occasional innuendo. Sexual tensions rise, leaving them more than friends but less than lovers. Gus and Sam know there’s too much to lose and they must keep their attraction hidden. If they fail, they risk destroying their hopes and dreams for a prosperous future in a military world that’s not yet ready to accommodate masculine gay men.

REVIEW:

This was the first thing I’ve ever read from this author, and I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I liked the premise, and hoped it would be an enjoyable read.  What I got, and didn’t expect, was a rocking ride down memory lane.  So much of this story was easily identifiable to me from back in my time in the military.  I, of course, never went to the Citadel, but darn there were spots that it almost sounded like the twenty year old me speaking.

Enough memory lane.  Let’s talk about this book.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  As the blurb mentions, we have the story of two young men; Angus Conrad McRae, representing the third generation of his prestigious Charleston family to attend the Citadel; and Stewart Adam Morley, a poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks in Detroit who grew up in a single parent home with little money to spare.  The interaction between the two is really fun to read.  Will they be able to get past their mutual distrust…which is playing hell on their mutual attraction?

Mr. Cade has brought us a tale that seems completely plausible and which seems like it could be taking place right now.  The writing was excellent, the editing was close to perfect, and I zipped through the book cover to cover so quickly that I was left looking at the last page thinking “already?”

My only complaint about the book, and it is more an observation than a complaint, is that I really want more!  What happens next?  We still have a lot of school time in these guys’ futures and it only seems like it will get more complicated!  I’m rooting for a sequel at a minimum!  Maybe more than one?

I highly recommend this read if you are interested in the interactions of two young men from wildly different backgrounds, set at a very prestigious school where homosexuality is forbidden.  I’ll be curious to see, if indeed there are future parts of these two men’s story, if it will bridge the major shift at The Citadel…which now has moved into the 21st Century and even has a GSA.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Dreamspinner Press  

Amazon

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