Review: Every Frat Boy Wants It

Title: Every Frat Boy Wants It
Author: Todd Gregory
Genre: Gay Erotica
Series: None
Grade: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary:

Jeff Morgan is about to get the education of a lifetime...
At eighteen, Jeff Morgan is the quintessential all-American boy--blond, blue-eyed, and a star jock at his small Kansas high school. Enrolling at California State University-Polk, Jeff plans to become a writer. He also hopes that the macho nature of fraternity life will help him get over his lifelong attraction to other men. The reality couldn't be more different...
 
Through Blair Blanchard, the drama major son of divorced movie stars, Jeff discovers the Beta Kappa fraternity, and enters a world where alcohol and drugs serve as an excuse for covert trysts between frat brothers...where the pledging process becomes a sensual, S&M-fueled bacchanal...where weekends in L.A. and Palm Springs are no-holds-barred adventures in sexual exploration...and where Spring Break is a boys-gone-wild porn movie come to life. Through every encounter, from intense couplings with older frat brothers to sizzling three-ways with hot new pledges, Jeff also deals with his increasingly complex feelings--for Blair, for a handsome new arrival, and for life within Beta Kappa itself.
 
Sexy, steamy, and incredibly erotic, Every Frat Boy Wants It proves that when it comes to learning all there is to know about mind-blowing pleasure, nothing beats hands-on experience...

Review:

The set-up seems fairly simple: Naïve, innocent Kansas boy goes to a big, California campus, and subsequently a macho frat where innocent Kansas boy gets his eyes opened by beefy men who like to get it on with each other.

And that’s what happens, sorta…  I think I got it figured out…

Something that really frustrated me throughout the whole novel is that there didn’t seem to be a central conflict.  Was this about Jeff and Blair’s relationship?  Was this about Jeff’s need to come out as a gay man?  Was it about just how incredibly ridiculous and dangerous frat houses can be?  Or was it really all just an excuse to write a series of disjointed gay hook ups?

I think this was supposed to be a gay erotica/romance because the central story kept circling around to the relationship between Jeff and Blair.  It’s not that romantic of a relationship.  Sure, they tend to fall into each other’s arms a lot proclaiming their love, but in the end Jeff still has a hell of a time keeping it in his pants.  One moment he’s confessing his love for Blair then two seconds later he’s screwing some of his frat brothers.  Seriously?  This probably wouldn’t have bothered me as much if they were both getting around, but I just felt sorry for Blair because it was clear Jeff’s actions hurt him.

But the main reason I question if this was truly intended to be a gay erotica/romance is because of the amount of time spent on Jeff’s initiation into the frat, Beta Kappa.  If there was anything I took away from this book it is to NEVER JOIN A FRAT!  Reading about the initiation and hazing is not for anyone with a weak stomach.  It’s an in-depth, honest look at drinking on today’s college campuses.  I’m surprised none of the characters were sent to the hospital for alcohol poisoning.  The thing is, I don’t really get what was the point of having all that detail.  None of it was part of the erotica… it sort of felt like two books mashed into one.  Book one- a study of Greek life on today’s campuses.  Book two- gay erotica.    

Another thing that was grating on my nerves by the end was the number of loose plot threads.  Blair states at the beginning of the novel that straight guys will do just about anything when they are horny, including fooling around with gay men and then pretending it never happened in the morning.  It seems to be implied (at least to me) that at some point Blair was in love with, or at least involved with another frat brother or straight guy who burned him.  This would explain why he’s so secretive about his and Jeff’s relationship and about his own past, but for some reason this is never explained to the reader.  It’s just left hanging.

Blair himself annoyed me by the end of the book.  He started off as this awesome character, full of mystery and glamour, and then just ended up being whiny and needy.  Even Jeff was bored with him, which made me completely doubtful that their relationship would last much farther than the end of the novel.  I can’t say too much more for Jeff.  He started off as this young boy from Kansas, and his innocence and constant discoveries is what initially gave the book its erotic edge.  By the end he was this coked out horn dog slowly dying on the inside.  At the same time, he was still a better character than Blair, because it wasn’t a weak character, just extremely unlikable.  The Jeff’s physical and emotional decay is supposed to be a blatant reflection of the toll that pretending not to be gay is taking on him.  The problem with this is that the decaying went so far that it seemed too abrupt that he would suddenly be ok again and that his and Blair’s relationship would be revived just by coming out of the closet.  Yea, that would go a long way toward helping, but he was pretty messed up by that point, and that’s saying something after all he went through to get into the frat.

The book’s saving grace that kept it from falling into the 1 or 2 star categories is that it was well written.  It’s painful when something is written well enough that you want to keep going, but the story isn’t compelling.  I’d be willing to try Todd Gregory again in the future, but I wouldn’t recommend Every Frat Boy Wants It, unless there is someone you are trying to scare out of joining a frat.

Please Don't Hold Me To It

I try to keep my promises.  Really, I do.  Except I'm terrible at keeping the promises I make to myself.  Like, "I'm going to keep up with posting on my blog" and, of course, New Year's resolutions.  Yea, remember those things?  Those wonderful grand promises we make to ourselves when we see a whole year spread out in front of us, full of endless possibilities.  Well, this year is coming to a close soon, and I am determined to keep at least one of my New Year's resolutions before I create a whole new set.

To quote one of my resolutions:

Participate in the DIK Reading Challenge. I joined up because hopefully this will help me with resolution number one. [Resolution #1 was to start posting regularly... sorry guys!] It's my first reading challenge, and I have always wanted to try one out.

Ok, for me the DIK Reading Challenge is shot, but there is no reason I can't finish the essence of the resolution, which was to participate in my first reading challenge.  In addition to the DIK Reading Challenge, I also posted on the Goodreads groups Romance Readers Reading Challenges section 2010 A-Z Book Challenge, which is exactly what it sounds like: during this calendar year read at least one book starting with each letter of the alphabet.  I think there is some leniency with the letter X though.

Here is how I've done so far:
A-
B- Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas (3/19)
C- The Courtship Dance by Candace Camp (1/4)
D- Don't Bargain with the Devil by Sabrina Jeffries (1/6)
E-
F-
G- Gone With the Nerd by Vicki Lewis Thompson (2/1)
H- Her Secret Fling by Sarah Mayberry (3/7)
I-
J- Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James (3/17)
K- The Kiss by Sophia Nash (In Progress)
L- Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase (1/24)
M- The Marriage Wager by Candace Camp (1/15
N- Never Seduce a Scoundrel by Sabrina Jeffries (2/8)
O- Open Season by Linda Howard (8/1)
P- Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles (2/25)
Q-
R-
S- Sinful Surrender by Beverly Kendall (11/19)
T- To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt (1/14)
U-
V- The Villa by Nora Roberts (In Progress)
W- The Wedding Challenge by Candace Camp (1/3)
X-
Y-
Z-

And ya know, with my Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks coming up, I think I might just be able to finish up the remaining letters!  Going through the books I own, here's what I know I'm going to read:
A- An Unexpected Pleasure by Candace Camp
E- Every Frat Boy Wants It by Todd Gregory
F- False Colors by Alex Beecroft or Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
R- The Return of the Earl by Edith Layton
Z- Zoya by Danielle Steel

As for the remaining letters (I,Q,U,X, and Y) I welcome any and all suggestions before I buy or check out any books.  Wish me luck :)

Digitize Me

It’s been a bit longer than I wanted to go without posting something, but three weeks isn’t as bad as my seven month hiatus, so I still have hope for reviving The Romance Girl’s Guide.

Today I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon of doing an e-reader review. Almost all the romances I read (as in 99%) are mass market paperback. Admittedly, I’m unlikely to switch to reading mainly digital. I love holding books, looking at their covers (yes, even the awful ones that give our genre a bad rep), flipping through the pages, turning to the back and reading the uselessly vague blurb, and even the clutter as the books spill off the shelves into boxes and across the floor. I know that sounds sarcastic, but I mean it. As a librarian’s daughter, raised around books all my life, I love the physical experience. Am I a format snob?

Despite all this, I definitely see the value of owning an e-reader. Going on vacation and trying to stuff a suitcase with the books I want to read has always been a pain, and bringing back the books I buy and absolute headache. And despite my ongoing defense of the genre, there are just some days sitting on the bus I don’t want to be seen with that cover. On top of that, more and more there are romances that aren’t even being published in print.

For my high school graduation I was given a first generation Kindle. Even with my hesitations about digital printing, I was incredibly excited. Since then I have only used it to read a small handful of books. This hasn’t been because of any unhappiness with the Kindle, but mainly because I already have a huge pile of TBR books that I already own and a really bad habit of walking into a bookstore and not walking out empty handed (I do not seem to be alone on this). Also, my freshman year of college I left it at home and decided not to ask my mother to mail it across the country. And if I’m truly honest, there has always been some ignorance on my part about the vast world of digital printing. Now years later my Kindle has collected dust and has trouble keeping a charge.

A few days ago a friend of mine lent me her Nook for some pleasure reading. I have NookStudy on my laptop for rented textbooks, but I had never used the actual reading device. I have to say I liked it. So I’ve decided to do a comparison between my experiences with my outdated Kindle and my friend’s Nook and see how they match up.

My favorite aspect of both the Kindle and the Nook was the screen. Neither had backlighting, and text size could be easily adjusted, so my eyes were never strained. Personally I think this is the most important aspect of an e-reader, as what I really want to do is read my book without any distractions. A slight distraction with the Kindle was the placement of the page turn buttons. They take up the entire side of the reader, so if I wasn’t careful where I rested my thumb, I was suddenly flipping through pages. This wasn’t too big a problem as my Kindle was in a case, but I can see how this would have been a problem for someone who was just holding the Kindle itself. I liked the page turn buttons on the Nook much more. The small solid buttons just required one firm push.

I was impressed with the battery power of the Nook. After reading an entire book the charge didn’t seem hugely affected. I won’t comment too much on my Kindle. It never seemed to be able to keep a charge for long periods of time, and definitely can’t now, but that might have more to do with age and my inability to learn about power settings.


Personally I found the Kindle easier to navigate. It uses a keypad and buttons, whereas the Nook used a small touch screen at the bottom portion of the device, which didn’t always seem to respond to me or do what I wanted it to do. Maybe it just took practice.

I asked my friend and found out shopping from the Nook is just like shopping on the Kindle. However, she said she always had trouble downloading books from a wifi location, a problem I never had.

If someone came up to me today and asked, “Whaddya think? Should I get a Nook or a Kindle?” I really wouldn’t have an answer. I’ve had great (if limited) experiences with both, and haven’t even gotten to check out the newer Kindles. What I can say is that, while I still love my paperbacks and clutter, I should get over my fear of the unfamiliar and start exploring the world of digital publishing, beyond the obvious stocked shelves of Amazon and BN. After all, a book is a book, and I love ‘em any way I can get ‘em.

Time Goes On

I feel so bad for staying out of the loop for so long. What has it been now- seven months? Wow, just two more months and I could have had a baby!

No, I was never preggers, if you're wondering if that's what kept me from the blogosphere. Rather I was consumed by transferring colleges, the world's worst waitressing gig at Ruby Tuesday (never eat there!), a series of disappointing flings followed by the break-up from hell. Seriously, I need some vodka in me just to remember this guy. I think I'll be sticking to my tried and true romance heroes for a while now, thankyouverymuch.

However, despite the insanity that comes with being 20 and alive, I did manage to squeeze some enjoyable reading time in there. Anyone who is friends with me on Goodreads may or may not have seen any books I recently posted. I unfortunately didn't have time to get a review up for "Lover Mine" but there was definitely some sqeeing involved when I read it.

I wish I could promise some more regular postings, but as it stands with my class load, and already horrible organizational skills, I don't know. I'll try to pop back from time to time, skip around to say hi on all of your blogs, and keep people posted of any projects or news.

You like me.. you really like me!

I don't normally follow any type of Awards shows, but the 2010 Rita Finalists are up and I thought I'd comment.  I don't have top picks for all categories, but here's who I'm rooting for:

2010 RITA for Contemporary Single Title Romance Finalists:

Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl

2010 RITA for Historical Romance Finalists:

Not Quite a Husband by Sherry Thomas

2nd Pick:

To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

2010 RITA for Young Adult Romance:

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

(You can read my review for this a few posts back here)

Grade Inflation

I'm quite excited.  What The Librarian Did just arrived from Amazon today.  I'm hoping I'll get a chance to read it in the next week or two.  I'm still swamped with work.  I'm just coming off of mid-terms, which is why I haven't been posting much recently.  It looks like for the next two months things are stacking up, so I might be going a week or so between posts.  *Sigh*  This semester is turning into a total roller-coaster.  Summer is looking more beautiful by the minute...


Something which popped into my mind earlier today when I was browsing on Goodreads is grade inflation.  And I don't mean the academic kind (though I really wouldn't mind if someone pumped some air into my chem grade o.O).  Goodreads has this nifty little stat on everyone's profile that says what their average rating is.  Mine is 3.40, which is fine considering 3.00 is about average.  In my boredom I began to hop through my friend's profile's and look at their stats and I began to see a trend.  Not only was the average "average" rating well over 3.00, but most were over 4.00, and even 4.50!  I know everyone has their own way of rating a book, but come on, is every book really that good?  What's so wrong with rating a book as average?

More Happy and Some Reads

How could I forget this on my Mega Post of Happy Things?!?! I don't know how many other peeps are into web shows, but I love them.  It might be that they come in awesome bit size time portions (which can also be really annoying when you just want to find out what happens).
1) Koldcast.tv:
-Blue Movies is one of there really funny series.  Season One ended a while ago and I'm not sure when Season Two is starting up, but all the episodes are still posted.  The show centers around the dramas of a low budget rising pornography company and one of their new-to-show-biz interns.
2) Take180:
-They did this really great series a year or two ago called My Alibi.  Since it's over all the episodes are up and there's no need to wait for new ones.  That was possibly one of my favorite web shows ever.  Sort of a Breakfast Club spin off- a bunch of high school kids held in detention on suspicion of a prank.
**The other show of there's I really love is I <3 Vampires.  If you're into the paranormal scene at all check this one out.  I recommend it.  It's currently in the middle of Season Two, which is turning out to be much darker than Season One.  It plays off of the Twilight craze quite a bit.  I <3 Vampires is about two girls who are obsessed with a series of books about vampires, except the books turn out to be a little too real...**


Reading Update

Title: Her Secret Fling
Author: Sarah Mayberry
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: None
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary:
Jake Stevens--star reporter and celebrated literary genius--is a snake. How else to explain the way he turns Poppy Birmingham's hero worship into loathing with a single conversation? So what if she's got a lot to learn about journalism? Aren't they coworkers now? On the same team? Jake can take his attitude and...

Then during a job-related road trip, their relationship goes from antagonistic to hedonistic in no time flat. And suddenly Poppy can't think of anything more delicious than having a secret fling with Jake. But with all this intensity, can she really keep it no-strings-attached?

Review

I know a lot of people are big fans of Ms. Mayberry, but I just wasn't feeling it.  I couldn't really connect to either character, and that just made the book fall flat for me.  This really comes down to personal taste, but Poppy was too bubbly and optimistic.  It might have been the Olympic athlete in her that had her always keep going, never give up, and keep her chin up high.  While Jake was a bit of a prick, I could relate to him more. 

I felt that Jake was justified in being annoyed with Poppy for getting the job at the newspaper.  There were tons of people who worked really hard in journalism and deserved that job.  Poppy worked really hard in her field and did deserve recognition, but didn't necessarily deserve rewards that she wasn't qualified for.  She didn't have a college education, and a full time job at the paper didn't seem to fit.  It seemed more like a midlife crisis.  I don't know.  I think I sound I bit mean, but it's mostly because Poppy spent most the book being stressed out rather than achieving something meaningful.  Other than being a big fan of Jake's works, there didn't seem to be anything pulling Poppy to a career at the newspaper, and I don't think writing was her passion.  

All in all, while Her Secret Fling didn't click with me, I'd be willing to give Sarah Mayberry another try in the future because the writing was ok and the sex was steamy.

Title: Lessons in French
Author: Laura Kinsale
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: None
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary:

"It was quite settled by now. She was born to be a spinster. The gentlemen would have to declare their undying devotion to other ladies. Callie would be too much occupied with developing a delicate constitution and a dependable recipe for tapioca-jelly."

She is, after all, Lady Callista Taillefaire, jilted three times in spite of her fortune and her father's best efforts to find her a husband. Now her greatest desire is to win the silver cup at the agricultural fair with her gigantic prize bull, Hubert. But when Callie's only old flame returns from his long and mysterious absence in France, her quiet spinster life turns upside down.

Dark-eyed, elegant and a magnet for trouble, Trevelyan d'Augustin has given Callie lessons in more than his language in the past. Her father put a harsh and humiliating end to any dreams of romance with a French émigré scoundrel, however, and Callie never thought to see him again. Swallowing his pride, Trev has finally come home to care for his failing mother, but his secrets and misdeeds follow him.

Callie soon remembers that nothing is ever peaceful with Trev around. The enormous Hubert vanishes into thin air, one of her former jilts comes back to woo her in a most determined manner--and her bull takes the town by storm! In the midst of these misadventures, Callie finds herself falling in love again with the worst possible man for her...

(Dear God, for the life of me I could not find a shorter summary, and honesty I was too lazy to write one myself.)

Review
**warning, mild spoilers!**

I had mixed feelings about this book, but overall I really did like and enjoy it.  It was the first Kinsale I've ever read, though I do have a copy of Flowers From the Storm waiting patiently on my shelf.


It worked well as a light comedy, though a times I felt confused about what was going on.  Either too much action was going on too follow or it seemed like characters were saying (or thinking) one thing and doing another.  Often Callie and Trev seemed to be having these internal angst moments where they swore it was too tormenting to be near each other, and then go right along with their witty banter and flirtations.  Either I was seriously misreading or they were being over the top.


I really did like all the characters though, especially Trev and Hubert (the bull).  For a bull, Hubert had a lot of personality, even if he mostly was just stubborn and ate buns.  Admittedly, I have a soft spot for farm animals.  Trev, on the other hand, I didn't want to like, but I couldn't help it (sort of like Callie).  He bungles almost everything up, and makes more messes to cover for those.  Total boyish charm *sigh*.


Here comes the spoiler...
Something that did bother me though was that Trev was supposedly a virgin (if I managed to interpret that part of the story correctly). I don't know what it's supposed to add to the story, especially since it's rather awkwardly tossed in there.  Also, it's not believeable.  Trev wasn't in love with Callie until they met again, so what was he saving himself for?  Especially with so many chances?  It just seemed too contrived for me.


Nevertheless, Lessons in French was a fun, light read for me which I would recommend to anyone else who likes historical romances.