Damon Suede - Bad Idea

Reclusive comic book artist Trip Spector spends his life doodling super-square, straitlaced superheroes, hiding from his fans, and crushing on his unattainable boss until he meets the dork of his dreams. Silas Goolsby is a rowdy FX makeup creator with a loveless love life and a secret streak of geek who yearns for unlikely rescues and a truly creative partnership.
Against their better judgment, they fall victim to chemistry, and what starts as infatuation quickly grows tender and terrifying. With Silas’s help, Trip gambles his heart and his art on a rotten plan: sketching out Scratch, a “very graphic novel” that will either make his name or wreck his career. But even a smash can't save their world if Trip retreats into his mild-mannered rut, leaving Silas to grapple with betrayal and emotions he can't escape.
What will it take for this dynamic duo to discover that heroes never play it safe?

Comment: I didn't have many ideas about which m/m stories to pick this month. Then I saw this book being highly praised in some places and I thought why not go with a new story (instead of the huge pile I already had, I know...) to check if my opinion would follow the trend of positive goodness.

This is the story of Trip Spector, he's a nerd, shy artist. Silas is more outgoing and extroverted man, he works with make up and special effects make up. They meet by chance in an event and start looking for the other after but they only manage to be face to face after a while. They both have some baggage and doubts but there's attraction and feelings there and they slowly start a relationship. Then Trip pictures a new comic book, something completely different from the usual...

This is a long book. Usually I have no problems by reading long books, but in this case I was a bit bored at times because I thought I wouldn't get to the end of the story fast enough. It's a smart and interesting story yes, but I also thought it took too long for things to happen. Sometimes we read books we wish could be longer because it's so engrossing and addictive we really don't want to stop. With this book I felt the opposite, it was so long and not always as captivating as that and I had the sensation the same thing could have been told in less 100 pages, at least. I mean, I'm not a writer so I can't say which is the best way to put your story out there, but from a reader's perspective, my ow of course, it felt too much.

The story was interesting enough. I confess I don't care much about comics and I was never a big fan of those. But it interesting to know more about how that "world" works, the artist's inspiration, the problems, the challenges. In a way it was good to find out, and it's always good when you can learn something from a book. At times it felt like it was too much information for a fiction story because it would clash with the character's personal time all the time and it ended up looking like the two things were linked in such a way it almost felt like one thing couldn't work out in the story without the other right there.

The two main characters are well liked by many apparently. I didn't dislike them but now that a couple days have gone by since I finished I thin about them without much applause. They were cute together and each of their personalities had interesting things but I wasn't overwhelmed by them. Trip is a nerd guy and by norm I tend to like these, he has his fears too and I felt empathy towards him. But I also cared for Silas and his wish to help, to respect Trip. Still, it wasn't fireworks for me, in particular their time together, I didn't feel any levels of chemistry that drove me crazy hoe deep and powerful they seemed. In fact, their relationship apart from some angst at a certain point, felt rather plain. At he end I felt bad for not enjoying their romance more, but together with the slow pace all the time it seemed a very unsuspicious story.
The secondary characters were funny, I liked Jillian in particular, and they complemented the story, they were the support players and their part seemed good.

In the end, I wasn't as captivated y this as I'd have liked after seeing so many people loving it. One more proof what works for one might not for someone else. Even the other book by the author I've tried, Hot Head, felt rather slow, although I enjoyed that one more. I wonder if it's just the author's style...in which case will make me think twice about reading another of his books. It's not that he's bad, his work is consistent and obviously well researched. It's just...a bit boring for me...
Grade: 5/10