Title: Knobs
Series: N/A
Author: Scotty Cade
Genre: New Adult/ Contemporary/ Military
Length: 200 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (22 April 2016)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥5Hearts
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.
ISBN: 978-1-63477-124-5
Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7645
Reviewer: Prime
Review: Knobs (get the dick jokes out of your head now, it’s not that) is the type story that is for people that enjoy a bit of young adult/college and want to mix it with military-style/military school action.
That’s pretty much the book in a nutshell.
The story follows Gus (Angus) and Sam (Stewart), who are new cadets to the prestigious Charleston military academy, the Citadel. For those of us not in the know (mostly those of us who aren’t American), the Citadel is a very real military college.
Sam is going to the Citadel on a full football scholarship as he comes from a very poor single-parent family. He has spent much of his childhood helping his mother raise his younger siblings. Gus is the complete opposite, he is from a rich family – his father and grandfather both attended the Citadel. He is less than enthusiastic about going to the Citadel but is determined to make it work.
The guys make it through their first week alone before a change in room assignment has them as roommates. The guys are like chalk and cheese. It does help that Sam is intent on judging Gus as a rich prick before getting to know him. But things change and epiphanies happen. Being gay, they have to make sure that their secret doesn’t come out to the rest of the school. Sam also needs to get over feelings of being a “charity case”.
This is a really enjoyable story about two guys that need to find themselves as well as work out their relationship in a confining environment where they cannot be themselves. It is full of heart and the characters develop really well throughout the story. Although I would say that there is a lot more room for development. These guys are complex.
I’m not sure if Scotty Cade has more in mind for these guys, but I would read a sequel for Sam and Gus in a heartbeat.
* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *