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galleytrot's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
READ: Jul 2023
FORMAT: Digital
BRIEF SUMMARY:
In this contemporary romance, Donovan gets stranded by car troubles at night in a neighbourhood that probably won’t play nice with an older, obviously-rich white man with expensive taste in sports cars. Luckily, Silver is the first person to cross his path, and can get him going again (with a few choice words of warning) before he could lose his wallet, watch, or teeth. Donovan’s interest in Silver is rebuffed by the stunning younger Latino man, but a little bit of persistence might win the out-of-touch CEO what he wants – even if he isn’t fully clued-in on what the young Papi wants from him in return.
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 3.75 / 5⭐
This book is a take on the younger-daddy/older-boy relationship dynamic, while also speaking on the advantages/privileges of class and wealth (and to a much lesser extent, race). Does it do an especially good job of patching up the nuances of these social divides? I personally don’t think so, but it at least tried; I’ll give it that.
Donovan is a fast-living man born into money who has inherited an architectural design firm he’s barely allowed to operate; his passions lie in the designing/creative side of things, but he is stonewalled by petty family and circumstance. He spends all his extra time in pursuit of fast cars, liquor, and a good lay in order to escape the suffocating expectations he faces in his day-to-day. The one constant in his personal pursuits is his control of it, and Silver offers him a tantalizing taste of what it might mean to hand the reigns over to someone else for a moment.
Silver has big aspirations of his own, and the drive to see things through – he wants to save up enough capital to start up a garage of his own, take control of the operation and the accounts, and gain the financial independence and workload compatible with supporting and taking care of a boy of his very own. He is completely unimpressed by Donovan’s display of wealth and his casual one-and-done approach to hookups, and he pushes the man to have more respect for himself. The timing of it is off; Silver had wanted financial independence to come before finding his Mijo – but plans don’t always work out quite the way they’re expected to.
TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 2 / 5⭐
I’ve got a LOT to say in this section, but I’ll start off by noting that Knight has a lot of grammar issues and odd choices in phrasing within this book. I took issue with some of the unrealistic dialogue as well. That said, let’s get into it:
So this book forgets to tell us something about Donovan for more than half of the story, causing me a decent bit of confusion over one major plot point: at no point does it let on that Donovan is a closet-case. His lifestyle of vice (including a steady habit of prowling for hookups) speaks to someone who lives out and proud, and conversations make it clear that his father and brother are both perfectly aware of his orientation, even as they disapprove of it. I spent most of the book wondering why his father’s ultimatum would ever hold any weight, since anyone in Donovan’s social circle should have known about him. It completely blindsided me to learn it wasn’t actually meant to be common knowledge.
So this book forgets to tell us something about Donovan for more than half of the story, causing me a decent bit of confusion over one major plot point: at no point does it let on that Donovan is a closet-case. His lifestyle of vice (including a steady habit of prowling for hookups) speaks to someone who lives out and proud, and conversations make it clear that his father and brother are both perfectly aware of his orientation, even as they disapprove of it. I spent most of the book wondering why his father’s ultimatum would ever hold any weight, since anyone in Donovan’s social circle should have known about him. It completely blindsided me to learn it wasn’t actually meant to be common knowledge.
Knight also isn’t very consistent over Donovan’s expected duties as his company’s CEO. In one breath, he is little more than a figurehead who barely has anything to handle and can leave early without being missed. In the next breath, he’s the reason the company’s even still standing, as it would have collapsed if left in his brother’s incapable hands.
The threat Donovan faces doesn’t ever hold the weight he assumes it does, since our out-of-touch rich white man is put at risk of being a slightly-less-out-of-touch, slightly-less-rich white man with the freedom to pursue his passions. A lower-middle-class reader such as myself would be hard pressed to feel any sympathy or conflict over such a dilemma.
One final thought for this section: When explaining things to Donovan, Silver says,
“But I prefer not to use the term ‘kink.’ It’s not only about the sex for me.”
I’m here to say that kinks do not inherently have a sexual component 100% of the time! The term ‘kink’ absolutely encompasses the extent of this relationship, and it is by no means a shameful or unfitting word to use outside the context of sex! This blatant stigmatization is a little bit shocking, coming from an author who appears to heavily feature kink within their works.
FINAL THOUGHTS - OVERALL: 2.75 / 5⭐
If I were capable of compassion towards Donovan’s plight, I might have been kinder to this book. It’s not a terrible read, although it is on the short side (and thus falls victim to the typical pacing problems that shorter stories suffer). It kept my interest well enough during my downtime at work, and that was my goal, so it had that much going for it.
This book has representation for gays and lesbians. One of the main characters is Latino, along with a handful of side characters.
The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Car accident, Cursing, Blood, Alcohol, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent and Lesbophobia
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