Title: The Easy Way Out
Series: N/A
Author: R.P. Andrews
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novella
Publisher: Silver Publishing (May 25th, 2013)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: A Florida hustler goes through a rite of passage as his view of sex as a commodity is forever changed by the love of a bi-racial cripple, until their lives and everyone around them are turned upside down by 9/11.
At the turn of the millennium, Josh, a young, street-smart Florida drifter is snatched from his dead-end existence as a male hustler in a cheap Key Largo motel by Bishop, a Wall Street power broker. Set up as a trophy boy in Manhattan society, Josh leads a promiscuous lifestyle among New York City’s gay sub-culture until he meets Hylan, a young, bi-racial, down-on-his-luck, wheelchair bound musician. Hylan shows Josh what love can be between two men. But their chance at happiness and the lives of those around them are forever changed by the fateful day in September, 2001.
Product Link: https://spsilverpublishing.com/the-easy-way-out-ebook-p-1471.html
Review: Oh damn, where to start and how to begin.
Well, if I had only one word to describe this book then that would be (excuse the language) a mind-fuck. Yes, that’s what this book is for me. I mean here the author took this character, young, hot, “white-trash”, from a completely fucked-up family, who ran away and became a hustler and was in a dead-end life, and created a brilliant story that you can’t help but inhale whole non-stop till you reach the end.
The blurb says a lot and honestly I don’t want to say more about the plot. I’d rather stick in the feelings I got out of this book. and boy were they plenty. First of all I want to stretch the fact that while there is mention of love in the blurb between Hylan and Josh, that love was brilliantly worked in this book.
There are no declarations here, no big sappy dialogues. Hell, I don’t think there were many dialogues between the pair. It was all so very pragmatic, so freaking realistic and the only way you know Josh loves Hylan more than anything is from actual deeds. and that made it all the more beautiful to read. Even their sex scenes were Oh My God real. Not in erotic and sexy and gets-you-horny kind of way, but in a more profound and bah… There are no words. Bloody brilliant that’s what it was and excuse my repeating myself.
The entire story was told by Josh and the way it started you know something awful has happened. But, it isn’t until the end that you realize, you really get what it was that Josh was saying when he began this story. And it was at that point that the author – God I wanted to smash him, yes the author, at that moment- literally performed this huge mind fuck. Up until that point – somewhere about 85% of the book – the story was engaging, it was an I-can’t-put-it-down kind, while not overly intense. it simply did not let on what was about to happen. You simply read on and waited for that awful thing you know from the beginning it is about to happen.
So, it’s like listening to this guy (Josh) telling you of his past, laughing at times and shaking your head at others. You get to meet all this guys he shagged and some incidents were hilarious, others plain sad. Some characters made an impression and others simply gave me a heart-squeeze. You get to see Josh slowly driving himself into another dead-end. You get to see things are not looking so good for him and his days as a trophy boy are coming to an end with a dark future looming all over the place, and then, just then a little bright sunshine-like hope peek around the corner and the big events of take place and everything, everything changes. You know it will happen, you’ve been expecting it, yet it still hits you –I’ll use a line from the book – like a Mack truck. And no, it’s not only that one twist there, it’s not only one bloody hit you get. The author decides to simply keep on going, and no matter how satisfying the end result was, I still think it was very sadistic on his part (the author’s) to play us like that.
Bottom end, this is not your everyday romance, this is not your everyday fiction either. This story is like taking a peek out there in the lives of real people in the real world and I simply loved it. Give it a shot, well worth it.