Yaoified Love by Z. Allora

92 pages

Publisher: Rocky Ridge Books

This book is free (almost) everywhere; details on the author’s website: Z. Allora

Blurb

YaoiCon! like stepping into a manga. Why had Rory Lewis waited so long to join this friendly, fun-loving group, cosplaying their favorite ctional characters, or browsing tons of merchandise? He’d nally found his people! Folks who didn’t run away when he gushed about his favorite Japanese authors, or look at him oddly for mentioning “Seme” or “Uke.” And the scantily-clad bishōnen aching to serve made the convention as close to Heaven as Rory might ever get.

Running into a fantasy come to life, and watching con dent Kyle Austin lose his clothing piece by piece in Bishie Bingo, fries Rory’s brain. He runs. Even worse than not seeing how far Kyle would go, Rory’s lost his chance to make a once-in-a-lifetime connection.

A pushy best friend, Facebook, and Skype conspire to give Rory a second chance. Can life echo his favorite boy-love romance?

Review

I really can only think of one way to adequately describe this story: adorable. I mean, everything and every person in this book oozes sweetness. Of course, first place on the ‘cute list’ goes to Rory who is a charming combination of shy and needy. Setting eyes on Kyle turns our young virgin into a conflicting mess of feelings. His attraction to Kyle can’t be denied, but Rory’s insecurities won’t allow him to act on it. While every encounter with Kyle is more sexy and enticing than the last one, Rory can’t deal with the urgency of his desire and flees before he can find out whether the attraction is mutual or just something he’s conjured up in his own mind.

Rory charmed his way into my heart from the very first paragraph and Kyle wasn’t far behind. Because we experience the whole story through Rory’s eyes and mind we know from the start that Rory is smitten. While Rory may be blind to the fact — or unable to believe what he does see — it was instantly clear to this reader that Kyle fell just as hard. When a combination of Rory’s fear and a case of bad luck conspires to keep the two men apart I was almost as distraught as poor Rory.

Cue Amber, Rory’s best friend and staunchest supporter in all things love. Not only did she make sure Rory didn’t give up on Kyle when all seemed lost, she also brought the most wonderful humorous interludes to what might otherwise have turned into a very angsty story.

In fact, between Rory’s soul searching, Amber’s irreverence, and Kyle’s dominance this story had just about the perfect combination of deep yearning, delightful humour, and enticing sexy times. Yaoified Love was a delicious read from start to finish and left me with a huge grin on my face after I’d read the “over the top” (but very fitting) epilogue.

Now, before I finish this review, I have to admit that what I know about Yaoi would fit on the back of a postage stamp, so I couldn’t tell you how fitting to the genre this story might be. What I can say is that if this story sets a standard, I have obviously found yet another genre I need to investigate further.

“I love when real life is like Yaoi.”