Reviewed by Stephen K
TITLE: His Secret Obsession
AUTHOR: Milana Spencer
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 174 Pages
RELEASE DATE: November 25, 2023
BLURB:
Childhood friend.
My flatmate, Lucas, is gorgeous, aloof, and barely tolerates me. We used to be childhood friends but everything changed in high school. Now our relationship is…complicated, to say the least.
High school enemy.
Now that I’m in university, I decide to put myself out there romantically. But when I get into my first relationship, there’s just one problem: Lucas hates my new girlfriend with a fiery passion.
University flatmate.
Whenever I mention her name or invite her to our apartment, he gets more pissed off. Whenever he sees us touch or kiss, he looks murderous. And soon I have to wonder…is Lucas jealous?
Future lover?
When secrets start to unravel and betrayals come to light, I learn there’s more to Lucas than I ever realised. And perhaps the romance I’ve been seeking has been right in front of me this entire time.
‘His Secret Obsession’ is a friends-to-enemies-to lovers New Adult MM romance with sexy scenes, a lot of jealousy and a guaranteed HEA.
REVIEW:
I was probably not the best person to review this book. I admit that I’m a bit of a frustrated, wannabe MM author myself. While I’ve never published anything, my experience makes me more acutely aware of another writer’s style and story-telling choices than the casual reader. This story pushed my authorial buttons more than most. It had me continually examining just what was going on. It also had me judging and second-guessing how I’d tell this tale. I was constantly going back and forth on whether this might have worked better with the standard alternating “he said/he said style” or if the single (but flawed) perspective added an extra element to the story.
Finally, I decided that the relationship being portrayed here has the potential to be almost too sweet. Charlie is so clueless about Lucas’s feelings for him and has such self-esteem issues, that it continually had me asking… “Can even straight boys be this blind?” Of course, that had me considering whether the choice of a single narrator perspective was a mistake or a masterstroke by the author. The single POV kept me engaged. I might have been put off by a two-person POV of the relationship. It might have seemed just too cloying.
That said, this story initially felt like the worst form of teasing. It’s only late in the tale we learn that Lucas has literally come right out and declared his love for Charlie (but NEVER directly to him). There’s an added perspective that’s rare to find in these types of books. Since Charlie is the sole narrator for the early parts of the book, I was left trying and evaluate whether this is just bad storytelling or whether the author is showing us a character that’s more damaged than he realizes. Either way, my frustration level was just off the charts.
If one sticks it out, this is actually a great story and covers things not covered in the run-of-the-mill MM romance. Along the way, I had to remind myself to let go of some of my frustrations with how the story unfolded. When we finally DO get more of Lucas’s perspective it’s incredibly poignant to see how he unwittingly created his own torment by trying to conceal his feelings toward Charlie.
Now that I’ve finished this, I’m glad that I read it and it left me plenty of points to ponder. First, there are questions I have about how this relationship would have played out if their communication had been better from the outset. Second, there are questions about just how much drama I was reading into this story and how much the author intended. But then, that’s the hallmark of all great tales… Great tales succeed on the initial storytelling level, and also leave you with several more complex levels to consider thereafter. Many MM romances are a bit like eating just the dessert. This one was as sweet as a dessert, but gave the reader the sense that was some healthy, “good for you” content as well.
On a side note: This story is primarily about the development of the relationship. What sex occurs, occurs late in the tale, and is generally not very graphic. These are two young frustrated guys so by the promised “happy ending” it’s all there, it’s just that the preamble is not terribly prurient. Yet as Hamlet might have put it… “ Tis a consummation / Devoutly to be wished”
RATING: 
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