Frat Boy and Toppy

June 24, 2012 by Pip

Title : Frat Boy and Toppy

Author : Anne Tenino

Series : Theta Alpha Gamma Universe, Book #1

Publisher : Riptide Publishing (BUY HERE)

Genre : M/M, Contemporary, Romance

Length : 170 pages (e-book)

Published : March 26, 2012

B L U R B :

Brad is great at meeting other people’s expectations. But his own? Not so much. Take the gay thing. Okay, so yeah. It took a morning meeting with a frat brother’s hairy, naked ass for him to admit it, but he knows the truth about himself now. Let the gay life commence.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. He hasn’t quite determined how to come out to anyone, even Sebastian, the geeky-hot TA in his history class. Sebastian is everything Brad is not. Intellectual, suave, hairy. Out. And he doesn’t seem interested in Brad, even when Brad makes a fool of himself trying to catch his notice.

Score one for foolery: Sebastian does more than notice Brad; he takes him to bed. Brad’s been with plenty of girls, but with Sebastian, the sex is something else entirely—hot, mind-blowing, affirming, and a little domineering in a way that drives him wild. But when great sex turns into something more—dare he admit the “L” word?—Brad must face the crushing realization that Sebastian doesn’t feel the same. Unless, of course, he does. After all, even grad students can be idiots about matters of the heart…..

R E V I E W :

So, this is the third review on this site – and maybe after the first two (which were highly praised) we were due a stinker; this is not it. This book was great! RomCom can be so difficult to pull off – such a fine balance of getting some laughs, but not being forced – Anne Tenino has done this perfectly. I just loved the pacing of the book; I loved her “voice” throughout the whole story.

Brad is a Frat Boy , living the dream…. Or the dream that he feels he should be living. As a smoking hot ball player he gets to play the field, and then some. The girls flock to him. But he is picky, and only goes for the girls that are that little bit unattainable. He doesn’t really think too hard on why, that’s just the way it is. Then one day in the shower things come to head; or a bottom – as the case may be. And he faces up to some home truths. He is gay.

His journey of discovery is hilarious. The 2:38am rendezvous in the bathroom with him and his hairbrush is just so, so funny. And later, he has this whole argument with his “inner voice” about, amongst other things, who was being a drama queen! I read that whole part with a huge grin plastered across my face! He also conducts a Gay Sex 101 lesson for his best friend Kyle which had me laughing. Out loud. In the very early hours of the morning. These are just a few of some standout scenes, a look through the quotes on Goodreads highlights just how many great lines there are in this book.

But it’s not all giggles. There is some angst too. We all need a bit of angst, right? And again Anne gets the balance just right. Sebastian is a few years older than Brad and has never been in love. So when the young eromenos falls for the erastes it seems like the obvious thing to have happened. The natural order of things. The inexperienced lover in total awe of his older, more experienced partner – but are those feelings real? Could it be love? And how insulting to write it off as mere infatuation. Luckily Sebastian has beer on hand and a loving sister to tell him the facts. Status quo be damned. (You’ll get the status quo bit WHEN you read the book.)

There is even some cheating which isn’t really cheating – because exclusivity hadn’t been discussed yet. And I was fine with that. Kinda. Although I did shout at my kindle when it, umm, went down. But again Brad impressed me with his ability to deal with the issue. That is one of the things I loved most about Brad – that mixture of vulnerability and strength. Once he decided who he really was, and what he wanted, he went for it. And what I loved about Sebastian was his ability to really see through to the real Brad. He sees the vulnerable side, and he recognizes what Brad really wants to do; how much cooking really means to him.

The secondary characters were all great too. I so wanted to dislike Collin, but just couldn’t. Paul on the other hand was a total dick. So, obviously, I’m hoping he gets his own book and suffers on his way to a HEA. Brad’s family were amazing – I loved how they embraced him wholeheartedly; to the point of pissing Brad off with their total acceptance. Ashley was also great I loved her take charge attitude – it is always nice when the female character doesn’t turn out to be a small minded vengeful cow!

If there was one thing that irked me it would be the D/s theme. Don’t get me wrong. I love books with a bit of kink – but it just felt contrived to me. A token tip of the hat to a theme which is red hot at the minute; and I really don’t think the story needed it. In saying that – any readers that may be put off by that theme; you needn’t worry, it is very minimal. And everytime Sebastian called Brad by the full name Bradley – even though it isn’t his name! I swooned a bit. Good boy, indeed 🙂

I have had this on my kindle for a while now; I was reluctant to read it for whatever reason – maybe the cover, maybe the title, they both conjured up the idea that the book would be very juvenile and too “dude like”. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was a really great read. I highly recommend this book. Go. Buy the Book!

Rated 5 stars by Barb

HI 5!