Practice Makes Perfect (Housemates #3)
Author: Jay
Northcote
Release Date: June 22
Length: 54,000
words
Genre: Contemporary
Gay Romance
Blurb:
Getting
experience with the guy next door seems like a great idea—until the lines blur.
Dev, a geeky
first year physics student, has zero sexual experience and he’s determined to
change that ASAP. After a bad time in halls of residence, he’s starting the
summer term with different housemates and a new plan of action.
Ewan lives in
the house next door to Dev. He’s young, free and single, and isn’t looking to
change that anytime soon. When awkward circumstances throw them together, Ewan
offers to help Dev out in the bedroom in return for maths tutoring, and Dev
jumps at the chance.
They work their
way through Dev’s sex-to- do list, but what starts as a perfect no- strings
arrangement gets more complicated as their feelings for each other begin to
grow. If they’re going to turn their lessons in lovemaking into something more
permanent, they need to work out how they feel about each other—before they get
to the end of Dev’s list.
NB: Although this book is part of a series, it is a complete story
with different main characters and can be read as a standalone.
Sitting on his bed, Dev yawned, his full stomach making him sleepy. He stared
at his phone as he contemplated calling home but decided he couldn’t face it
tonight. He loved his mum, but she did tend to bang on. Once she got him on the
line, she’d end up talking for ages and asking him a million questions he was
too tired to answer. Instead, he sent his mum a quick text.
All moved in, everything’s good. I’m shattered now so I’m going to have
an early night. I’ll call you tomorrow.
She replied within seconds as though she’d been waiting for him to call.
Okay sweetie, glad you’re settled. Sleep well xxx
He picked up his notepad and crossed off phone home. Texting counted. He
also crossed off everything else on his list for today.
That was Saturday done. Dev set his notepad aside, opened his laptop,
and pulled up his lists app. He liked his notepad for day-to- day organisation;
it gave him a certain satisfaction to cross out the things he’d done and to get
to the end of the day with all the tasks completed. But for longer-term
planning, he kept his lists on his Mac, synced to his phone.
For the first time in six months, Dev could breathe again. Finally he
had a safe place where he could get back on track and look to the future. He
began to type.
Things To Do This Term
Make some friends
Learn to cook
Research sex stuff
Join Grindr
Get some experience
Find a boyfriend
He stared at the words on the screen and sighed. That seemed like a lot
of things to aim for. But it was good to have goals, right? Jez and Mac seemed
really nice, so hopefully Dev was already on his way to achieving the first
objective. And that bloke Ewan… Dev’s mind conjured up the image of the
flame-haired hunk who lived next door. Ewan had been friendly.
Maybe there was potential there too.
My Review:
I’d been looking
forward to this book. After thoroughly enjoying both Helping Hand and Like a Lover
I couldn’t wait to see what Jay Northcote would come up with next, and she more
than lived up to the promise those first two books in the Housemates series made.
Practice Makes Perfect is a touching,
sweet and very sexy tale about two young men making an arrangement and getting
far more out of it than they could have foreseen. In fact, neither of them knew
they were looking for what they end up finding.
The idea seemed
so simple and perfect. Dev will help Ewan with his math issues in return for
lessons in intimacy and sex. No strings and certainly no expectations are to be
connected to the arrangement. In theory it is the perfect solution to two sets
of problems, in practice however, it soon becomes clear that the best laid plans
can still be turned on their head when the heart comes into play.
Poor Dev, not
only is he completely out of his depth when it comes to any form of intimacy,
he also has no idea how to interpret the signals Ewan appears to be sending him
and it isn’t long before he finds himself wondering whether or not their mutual
tutoring deal has morphed in something more…something which won’t stop once
they’ve worked their way through his list. Asking is not an option though; if
he’s wrong he might end a friendship that has only just been forged.
And I guess,
Ewan isn’t much better off. He may know what he’s doing when it comes to giving
and taking physical enjoyment, he has no idea what to make of Dev. Is his
neighbour only in it to gain experience before throwing himself into the gay
scene, or do his blushes and the way he looks at Ewan mean more than that? And
why does Ewan suddenly feel that a relationship might not be a bad thing after all?
From start to
finish this story was an utter delight. I loved how Ewan jumped into action
when he thought Dev had put himself in danger and adored how shy Dev turned
into a bit of a daredevil once passion took over. The conflict in this story is
mostly the result of the two men not talking to each other when their feelings about
the arrangement change. Usually characters refusing to communicate frustrates
me and it was wonderful to read a book in which I actually understood why
neither of them opened his mouth for the longest time.
With Ewan being
Dev’s first in every respect, this is one very sexy tale. From Dev’s first ever
kiss, through mutual exploration of each other’s bodies to penetrative sex,
Ewan introduces Dev to all the pleasures his body can give and receive, and it
was delightful to read, as well as incredibly hot of course.
Jay Northcote
has a knack for writing characters that come alive on the page and worm their
way into the reader’s heart. Dev and Ewan were no exception to that rule. Also
as always, the writing was smooth and flawless and the story almost impossible
to look away from once I’d started reading. In short, this was a perfect read
on a very rainy Sunday afternoon.
On a final
note, I can’t help wondering if I only imagined a hint at a next book in this
series. It seems to me that there’s a certain Ryan whose orientation is in dire
need of exploring. And I can’t help feeling there may be more to Shawn too. Just
saying J
‘“I was an
idiot.”
“We both were.”
Ewan grinned. “That’s
why we’re perfect for each other.”’
If you’re
curious as to what I thought about the two earlier books in the Housemates
series have a look at Helping
Hand and Like
a Lover.
Author Bio:
Jay lives just
outside Bristol in the West of England, with her husband, two children, and two
cats.
She comes from
a family of writers, but she always used to believe that the gene for fiction
writing had passed her by. She spent years only ever writing emails, articles,
or website content. One day, she decided to try and write a short story–just to
see if she could–and found it rather addictive. She hasn’t stopped writing
since.
Giveaway:
No comments:
Post a Comment