Title: My Roomate’s a Jock? Well, Crap!
Author: Wade Kelly
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: Novel (262 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (December 31, 2012)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3.5Hearts
Blurb: It’s easy to become cynical when life never goes your way.
Cole Reid has been a social recluse since he was fifteen, when he was outed by his high school baseball team. Since then, his obsessive-compulsive behavior and sarcastic nature have driven away most of the population, and everyone else hates him because he’s gay. As he sees it, he’s bound to repulse any prospective friends, let alone boyfriends, so why bother?
By the time Cole enters college, he’s become an anal-retentive loner—but it’s not a problem until his roommate graduates and the housing department assigns Ellis Montgomery to move in with Cole. Ellis is messy, gorgeous, straight, and worst of all, a jock!
During a school year filled with frat buddies, camping expeditions, and meddling parents, Cole and Ellis develop a friendship that turns Cole’s glass-half-empty outlook on its head. There must be more to Ellis than a fun-loving jock—and maybe Cole’s reawakening libido has rekindled his hope for more than camaraderie
Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3482
Reviewer: Showme
Review: I really wanted to love this book. Humor, and a jock/geek love story sounds exactly like my kind of book. Sadly, I didn’t love it.
Cole is a geeky college student who doesn’t make friends easily. The one that he does have has graduated and moved away, leaving him without a best friend and roommate. Cole is a little eccentric and OCD, so sharing his living space with just anyone isn’t going to work. He doesn’t really have the option of waiting for a good match because he has one of the coveted apartments on campus. His only request to Sam, the man in charge of housing, is no jocks. But that’s exactly what he gets. Cole, understandably has a bad history with jocks after being outed and beaten up by one in high school. It only makes it worse that he’s ridiculously attracted to his new roomie Ellis, when he should hate him on the spot.
Ellis makes the choice to live on campus after commuting from his parent’s home the last two years. He could live in the dorms, but he needs the quiet to stay focused on his studies to keep his soccer scholarship. He’s a likable guy, but his new roommate seems a little crazy. Cole’s always freaking out at him for spilling milk, or not using a coaster, even though he cleans up after himself. A phone call from Cole’s old roommate helps Ellis understand Cole is a little better, and the two become friends. It’s a total surprise when Ellis kisses Cole one day. It’s confusing to both guys, but after that it’s almost impossible to ignore the chemistry between the two. The guys carry on being touchy-feely friends, and nothing much happens, but that amps up the sexual tension between Cole and Ellis.
Cole’s character was kind of all over the place. He’s socially awkward, but blurts out things he really shouldn’t. He’s negative, nerdy, but sassy at the same time. I just can’t get a good grasp on his character, as there are contradicting characteristics throughout the book. I do enjoy his potty mouth and made up words like “debaucherous”. He is alternately funny, then dramatic and silly.
I like Ellis, for the most part. He is confused with his feelings, but chose to ignore his issues more often than not, and ignoring things doesn’t help. This plays a huge part in silly misunderstandings throughout the book. He is also very mushy. Some people may enjoy it, but from complete denial to mush is just too large of a leap for me make in this situation.
Overall the characters, main and sub, are fairly immature and over the top. Doing things like sticking out their tongues and giggling, or calling their mother “mommy”, and letting her take away their cell phone for days… The guys are twenty plus years old! It is kind of ridiculous. Maybe I just prefer to think people of that age are a little more grown up?
Another big gripe is the random POVs. I actually enjoy a story written from the perspectives of both of the two main characters, and don’t mind another one thrown in, if it serves some purpose. I was so confused when a new, random, person would take over the storytelling, I had to go back and reread to know what was happening.
Overall, I had high hopes for this book that for me didn’t deliver.