Brainy and the Beast
By J.M. Cartwright
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I really wanted to like this book because it touches on a lot of themes that warm my heart. It’s about family, and communication, and two very different people who should fill each other’s fundamental needs. But the main characters were so horribly written that I had to wonder why the writer was straining so much.

Nick Shelton is a thirty-something gay man who thinks of himself as a stupid mechanic even though he’s running the auto shop handed down from his grandfather to his father and now him. He’s kept up with modern computer technology to make the place a profitable business.

Nick owns his own home on a number of acres in upstate Michigan near Chicago where he lives with his father whom he took in when the widowed older man’s health got bad. He’s also taking care of his nephew after Nick’s negligent sister dropped him off when the boy was twelve. Plus Nick houses two abandoned dogs and employs a garage full of mechanics.

When Nick’s main competition folds his shop, Nick meets robotics researcher Henry Travis, the “brainy” of the title. In his early forties, Henry has had a number of liaisons, but no permanent boyfriend. When he takes his classic car in for service, however, he immediately falls for Nick.

This is a bit of a puzzle that’s never really explained in the book, especially since most of the time Nick speaks and acts like a teenage drama queen. Like. Oh. My. God.

So Cartwright tries to put Mr. Oh. My. God. together with Mr. Serious and Uncommunicative. While this might work with a more skilled writer, it fails here. In fact, if the themes and the secondary characters weren’t so well done, this would be a quintessential failure.

But Nick’s father and nephew as well as the Jew-hating homophobic bully who is plaguing the nephew’s Jewish girlfriend make the book readable and interesting. Nick may be portrayed in his speech and rants as juvenile, but when push comes to shove, Nick mans up and works to straighten out the messes in which his loved ones find themselves.

Henry, on the other hand, while supposedly supportive, turns out to be as needy of attention and straightening out as the peripheral characters. Why Nick stays with him — other than the fact that he’s brainy and Nick likes to hang out with smart people — is a mystery the author never tackles.

All of this makes a book of highs and lows. As I said in the beginning, I really wanted to like this book, but sadly when all was said and done, it turned out to be a wonderful concept written by someone who bit off more than he or she could chew.

Reviewed by Pat Henshaw

Grade: C-

Book Type: Queer Romance

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date: 15/06/13

Publication Date: 2013/04

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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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