Jersey
By Edward Kendrick
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TEST

Jersey starts out awkwardly, and doesn’t get much better from there. It’s not necessarily terrible, just unpolished, and leaves much to be desired in the romance department.

Jersey (Gervasio) Parma is a photojournalist who has never had a real attachment to another person. He has friends, of course, but his closest friend is now in a committed relationship and has a foster son. Relationships for Jersey have only ever been of the hook-up variety, strangers he meets at gay bars. And he’s mostly okay with that, except when he starts feeling he’s getting too old for the scene (at the advanced age of 29).

Things start to change when two things happen. One, he is nearly raped by a man he took back to his apartment. And two, he meets Darby. Darby finagles his way, rather mysteriously, into Jersey’s life, and it isn’t until later in the story that we learn the real reason he knocked on Jersey’s office door. Despite his initial subterfuge, the two eventually begin working together and become friends.

This is where the story falters for me most. We see Darby and Jersey together for all of about 4 pages at the very end, in an epilogue-like wrap-up of the story. They make some steps toward coming to an agreement during the rest of the story, but nowhere near enough to make it a believable romance, much less an HEA. It’s a short story, less than 100 pages, and the romance suffers from the brevity.

Meanwhile, there are things that get more page-time than they should have in a story this short, like Jersey getting a dog. It makes for an awkward pacing, where some things are rushed and others dragged out.

Jersey’s development is the strongest part of the novel. He grows a lot during the story, largely thanks to the influence of Darby and his friends. Still, I was left largely unsatisfied with the story as a whole.

Reviewed by Jane Granville

Grade: C

Book Type: Queer Romance

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date: 30/03/13

Publication Date: 2013/02

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Recent Comments …

  3. excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.

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