The Tipsybibliophile

Amy Lane...AMY FRIGGING LANE MAN. Respect.

As always with any new book by Amy Lane, I was super excited to read this one, but I was also kind of trepidatious. One of the main characters in the book is black, and even though I LOVED LOVED LOVED [b:It's Not Shakespeare|12861173|It's Not Shakespeare (It's Not Shakespeare, #1)|Amy Lane|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347655868s/12861173.jpg|18013056] and the interracial couple in that story, it is always a delicate thing, to manage a respectful, appropriate, subdued portrayal of a character like Terrell. An African American man who comes from a place where being gay is just not a possibility. A young black man with a lot of anger, with a lot of resentment, who has been touched by bigotry and injustice too many times. It is very easy to make a character like that either shallow or incredibly over the top. I think Terrell was perfect, just right. I knew Terrell.

This story was Amy Lane in her sweet spot, characters who from the very first paragraph were open and raw on the page, showing us all that they had, their yearnings, their wants, their fears, their desires, everything.

Colby and Terrell are coworkers at Papiano's a local restaurant. Colby serves and Terrell tends bar, but they are more than that. They are buddies. Terrell is kind of prickly he's 30 years old and has a degree in journalism that so far has not gotten him much. He's still in the same job, a few years after getting his degree. Colby is a recent graduate, 25 and he kind of makes Terrell's life 100 times better than it ever was before. Colby is this golden boy, with golden hair and a beautiful smile that for some reason, can't seem to get enough of spending time with Terrell. Terrell doesn't get it. If only he could be gay, Colby would be the man of his dreams. But that's not his life and besides Colby isn't even gay...FAST FORWARD TO MAKING OUT IN STORAGE ROOM....BOOM...Oh shit, Colby is gay, and now Terrell really needs to face the music....Oh and their coke head boss got shot, and no one knows who did it...Fun times.

Amy Lane KILLED IT with this book, for reals. I mean I say this with every book, but damn it's for real people, this was a proper murder mystery, with all kinds of whodunit deliciousness PLUS Colby and Terrell falling in love...Actually no, not falling in love...Colby and Terrell becoming a couple, finally getting to the place that was right.

Colby was fantastic, he was heroic and relentless he gave Terrell no quarter, they WOULD be together. He SHOWED Terrell that he would love him, that for once in his life there was someone that would love him unconditionally, that would not give up on him. Terrell had reasons to be skittish, but Colby had been wearing him down for a year and when he made his move he did not rest until Terrell could open up to what he could have with Colby. Happiness. Lust. Passion. Sweet sweet love (Terrell only knew sex that made him feel shame)....LOVED THEM. Loved this story. It is not and easy road, but they get there and in the midst of it all we get all kinds of awesomeness. A crimmie, a look at what it is like to be a young black man trying to break out of the cycle of poverty and violence, injustice, learning to accept who you are and letting go of the things and the people that will never accept you...All of that and a hellishly fucking awesome cat battle, that made me almost piss my pants laughing, made for some fabulous reading.

Amy Lane has had my number since I read about Crick and Deacon, that is the truth, but she keeps working on her craft and she keeps getting better and better, and she has made a niche for herself writing absolutely fantastic interracial couples.

Amy Lane.You rock my world.