Sunday 9 November 2014

NOTHING VENTURED

NOTHING VENTURED by Jay Northcote
 
Length: 46000 words approx.
Date: 26/20/2014
Grade: 4+
Details: Copy received from Author
Kindle

The blurb:

“When Aiden agrees to run the Mad Mucker—a twelve-mile muddy slog over an obstacle course—he’s expecting it to be a bit of a laugh. The training will be tough, but Aiden could use the motivation to regain some fitness.

Matt is the sexy cousin of one of Aiden’s coworkers and a last-minute addition to the team. When he agrees to train with Aiden, Aiden suddenly finds the prospect of regular workouts a lot more appealing.

Soon attraction flares, and they embark on an intense physical relationship. Matt doesn’t want to fall in love with a man, and Aiden doesn’t want to fall in love at all, but despite their insistence on no strings, they grow closer. As the day of the race approaches, time is running out for them to work out how they feel about each other.”

My thoughts:

It’s hard to believe it has only been four months since I first discovered Jay Northcote’s words. Starting one of his books has become a form of comfort reading in that short space of time. I’ve come to love the men in his stories because they’re characters I recognise. It’s so easy to imagine having a pint with them, sharing a laugh, and having a good time in their company.

‘Nothing Ventured’ is no exception to that rule. Aiden is nice guy and loyal friend who doesn’t believe in relationships or happily ever afters. He’s seen too many relationships go wrong to want to enter that particular minefield himself.

Matt on the other hand has no issues with relationships as such. He can easily see himself married with children...to and with a woman. He’s bi-sexual but very much in the closet. He may indulge his desire for men with occasional hook-ups; a relationship with one is not on the cards.

When their training regime extends itself into the bedroom, neither man is looking for anything beyond getting off together. And yet, as time goes by sexual satisfaction turns into something more; something neither man is looking for or knows how to handle.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s an easy to read story with characters who come to life on the page. And yet, for some reason, I didn’t connect to these characters as much as I have done to those in previous stories. Not that I disliked them; quite the opposite in fact. They managed to make me smile, infuriate me, and had me laughing out loud. But through it all they managed to keep me at a distance. It is possible I felt that way because Aiden and Matt are trying very hard to keep each other at a safe distance.

I think I would have liked a bit more of a look inside Matt’s head. With the story being told from Aiden’s point of view and the two men not being the best of communicators, it was at times hard to get a good idea about Matt’s thoughts and feelings.

Other than that though, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially the parts involving mud for some reason. J Jay’s smooth writing style and natural sounding dialogue made this an easy and very engaging read; just as I’ve come to expect from him. I’m looking forward to reading more by this author.

For more information about the author and Nothing Ventured as well as an excerpt, go to my website, The Way She Writes, right here.


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