Cloyingly Sweet Young Thing/Thang

The thang, uh, thing about Anne Tennino's Theta Alpha Gamma gay romance series is that it has such promise.  However, I was dubious about Sweet Young Thang from the get-go, even before I read it for these reasons:

The cover art: Was it the purple underwear, the guy's meh look, or the Polaroid-looking print in what seems to be a girl's hand?  Since the blurb about the book talks about gays and bisexuals in the TAG house, bombs, exploding water heaters, paramedics, and househusbands, I was having trouble reconciling a cover with purple undies and photography.  All very strange.

The title: The twangy title didn't help any in making me feel like this sequel was going to live up to its predecessor.  In fact, written across the guy's back like it is, the words have sort of a predator feel about them.  It's like the guy's been caught peeing in the woods and the wolf has crept up behind him trying to alleviate his terror by calling him a sweet young bite to eat.

So going into this book, I had misgivings.  You can read my review this weekend or anytime at AAR.

Grime, Punishment and Love Hypothetically

I'm not sure why Z. A. Maxfield felt compelled to begin a new series since her St. Nacho series, especially the first one St. Nacho's and the last one The Book of Daniel, is so good.  But she has with Grime and Punishment which has an interesting premise in a former firefighter sidelined by a serious injury starting a crime clean-up business.

I can see where the adventure of fleshing out a new environment is enticing for a writer, but still, I'll miss the ambiance of the St. Nacho crowd, particularly the older guy who owns the motel and the odd collection of people at the gym.

Still, Maxfield is the kind of quirky, readable author who will pull me in no matter what she writes, so I guess in the end, all is good.  Maxfield will keep writing and I'll keep reading her writing.

On another note, my review of Love Hypothetically ran at AAR, and I didn't make note of it.  Love's a really quirky book, speaking of quirkiness.  It's a sequel to Frat Boy and Toppy, my nominee for good book with the worst title.  Frat Boy bled into my interest as a former college instructor because the frat boy of the title plagiarizes a paper in order to get the teaching assistant's notice.  As a person who's dealt with her share of plagiarized essays, I loved to see this novel and nearly sympathetic excuse for cheating.

Like Maxfield, Tenino, the author of Frat Boy and Love, is a writer I'm watching.  And also like Maxfield, I expect Tenino will do really well when she finds her niche.

Horrible Title, Good Book

Who in her right mind thinks Frat Boy and Toppy is a good title for a book?  Evidently Anne Tenino.  Frankly, I resisted reading this book, but finally gave it a shot because I had the galley and nothing else to read at the time.

Unlike some books that I put off for a while, this one proved to be a pleasant surprise.  In fact, I enjoyed reading it and even went on to read the sequel, Love Hypothetically, which I'm also reviewing for All About Romance (AAR).

I've got my eye on Tenino's third in the Theta Alpha Gamma series, Sweet Young Thang, coming out in July, a book with another unfortunate title I'm willing to bet.  But we'll see.  Perhaps, "thang" is actually what one of the protagonists turns out to be.