Monday 10 September 2018

Loving a Straight Boy by Joseph Lance Tonlet



Word count: 3k approx.

Blurb

A short-short story that may have you questioning what you would endure for love.

Review

You know an author is beyond talented when he can take over your mind with just 3000 words. Hours after I finished reading this story I’m still playing the ‘what if’ game, wondering what might (or might not) happen next—if anything will ever happen and whether that would be good or bad for either or both of the friends featured.

Unrequited love, or rather unrequited attraction is often beyond heartbreaking. And yet, there is no denying the two ‘boys’ in this story deeply care for each other. All would be just dandy if it wasn’t for the fact that one of them is gay and the other straight. And while the straight guy is perfectly happy to be close and cuddle, his gay life-long friend yearns for more.

And that’s all I’m going to say about this gorgeous, breath-taking and heart-shattering short story, except that I think it poses more questions than it answers. Pondering those questions is both a delight and frustrating. Of course I can come with answers of my own. In fact, I adore books that allow me to work out for myself what might happen next, after the story on the page has ended. But in this case I can’t help wishing that maybe the author will one day feel the urge to let us in on what he imagines might (or might not) happen in the future.

The main puzzle I was left with though was whether or not this story described the ultimate form of tease and denial, and, if so, whether that means the straight guy is knowingly teasing and denying his best friend or the gay man has a masochistic streak so strong he’ll take it even if there’s no such intention from his friend.

Suffice to say that these 3k words will stay with me a lot longer than most full length novels do and that I’ve yet to figure out whether I love or hate the author. Regardless of the answer to that last question, there is no doubt that Loving a Straight Boy once again shows off Joseph Lance Tonlet’s incredible writing talent in all its magnificent glory.

If you want to know what inspired Joseph Lance Tonlet to write this story you should visit his blog, here.

And if you want to read what all the fuss is about for yourself you can pick up a FREE copy here: Smashwords

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