Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: The Other Half of Me
SERIES: Straight Friends Fall In Love #1
AUTHOR: Aiden Wilde
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 223 Pages
RELEASE DATE: April 6, 2024
BLURB:
MATTY
We hadn’t spoken for years. Then, out of the blue, Chad messages me.
He’s getting divorced. He needs to get away.
Did I want to go camping with him again, like we did when we were young?
Is he forgetting what happened between us before, why we stopped speaking in the first place?
CHAD
People think I am the straightest of straight guys, the bro-est of the bros.
Kara wanting to divorce me wrecked my heart.
I just need to get away, two old friends, the sun on our skin, hiking, fishing, swimming in the river.
But when he reminded me of what happened between us before, I felt new things.
He was always the other half of me, but can he make me whole?
Sometimes, a love comes along that will make you change how the world sees you, and how you see yourself.
THE OTHER HALF OF ME is a steamy, high-quality MM gay romance with a theme of straight guys secretly falling in love, and old friends becoming lovers, with a straight-to-gay/gay-for-you trope.
If you love sexy but emotionally satisfying journeys of romantic self-discovery (some angst), as well as beautiful writing and all the classic romance beats with a happy-ever-after ending (HEA), then this novel is for you
REVIEW:
As children and young adults, Chad and Matty were inseparable. Then they went camping and all that changed. Upon their return, Matty became distant, and eventually, both men went their separate ways into lives expected. Ten years later, one is a widower with a small child, and the other is getting a divorce. When they reconnect, can the proposed camping trip lead them to better places than their last one?
The Other Half Of Me is another addition to a collection of friends-to-lovers tales. As the genre is well-stocked, it isn’t easy to find something different. And, this tale is another variation of a well-trodden path with classic situations and a lot of sexual scenes.
The story is told in the first person with alternating chapters from the viewpoints of Chad and Matty. The world created contains a range of characters that plenty will recognize – those who are understanding, some who are not, and others who have their own agenda. Then there’s the camping trip, which provides a safe bubble to discuss life and explore sexuality.
Matty is a sculptor and single father with a hippy vibe who has fallen on hard times. He has a good soul and a sensitive mind, and as much as she hurts him, he needs the help of his opinionated, grumpy mother.
Chad is a natural carer and an all-round good egg. He has a career, money, and does what is expected of him until his pending divorce forces him to put his life under a microscope.
Amid the classic search of feelings, memories, worry about gossip, family, almost ex-wives, expectations, confessions, job, cold feet, and future – not many paragraphs pass before the tale returns to the area of the groin. It is for this reason that I say that sexual situations are at the fore, and everything else is backup.
It is said that, like films, there is a book for every situation. Sometimes, I’m in the mood for action. Other times, I want comedy or soppy. And as sex sells, it stands to reason that there’s a time when a bit of ‘how’s your father’ fits the bill.
RATING: 
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