Title: Love Cubed
Author: Eddy LeFey
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novel (245 pages)
Publisher: Wayward Ink Publishing (May 7th, 2015)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥ 2.5 Hearts
Blurb: Three very different young men meet at St-Frederick’s University.
Francis, haunted by his past and seeking a new life.
Andrew, the introverted football jock.
And Sebastian, the charismatic and confident hockey star.
Francis, wary and troubled, didn’t count on meeting anyone he could care for.
Andrew, closeted and lonely, didn’t think anything would matter more than his football career.
And Sebastian, content to float from conquest to conquest, never believed he’d meet someone who could hold his interest.
An encounter with a journalist causes consequences for all three.
Will they be able to take what they need from one another in order to cope?
Product Link: http://www.waywardinkpublishing.com/product/love-cubed-by-eddy-lefey/
Reviewer: Zane
Review: “Love Cubed” – the title and blurb caught my attention and drew me in. I was so excited to read this! Eddy LeFey is not a name I recognize, but I’m always willing to give first-time or new-to-me writers a chance.
I liked the concept/story, it held my interest, and my curiosity was most certainly piqued as to what exactly this “trauma” was that Francis had suffered. Francis and the rest of the characters were diverse and interesting; I wanted to know more about each of them as I continued reading. I loved the concept of a ‘throuple’ (new word to me) in a collegiate setting.
Those positives, the fact that I received the book as an ARC for review, and really, just wanting to know the outcome of these three young men are the reasons I did not DNF this book. Even with a good story and good characters there were glaring issues that I just could not overlook, and I did try.
The writing was problematic for me. There was some serious head hopping going on; I frequently had to stop to figure out who was talking/thinking. Then, the characters’ names were all over the place. If the character was speaking or being addressed, his name was in the sentence. It was extremely wordy and repetitive.
People were saying the same thing they had said a couple of chapters back and then some – so much of this could have been edited out.
In erotic fiction, phrases like “special place”, and “private place” are very uncomfortable to read, and tend to feel, well, creepy. If you’re writing about sex that is sexy to the characters, it should be sexy to the reader. The one major sex scene was equally uncomfortable as was the concept that the abused Francis would want to lose his ‘consensual’ virginity to an attempt of double penetration. With reference to the erotic dialogue, realistically, even college kids say cock, balls and ass.
Ah, college kids. Throughout the read, I kept pausing and telling myself -“College kids don’t talk like this!!!!!” The endearments were cloying and not realistic – “water-bug”, “song-bird”, “lover-boy”. People have boyfriends and lovers, not “intimates”. As simple as the writing was, the dialogue was much older and stodgier than the characters themselves. If that isn’t enough, characters were ‘emoting’. Okay… just tell me what they’re feeling. Use adjectives.
Please!!!!
I struggled with a rating for this; ultimately because I did like the concept, characters and plot I gave this a 2.5. Unfortunately I cannot recommend this book. However, I did (after putting this down) read other reviews and there are those that loved this book and everything about it. As a reader first and foremost, I urge you to do your research and come to your own conclusion.
Though this one most certainly wasn’t for me, who knows? It might work for you.
* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *