Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Thomas Elder

When I took the position as vocal professor at Lakeview Unversity - I knew I was giving up my performing career. I loved being onstage, but I craved security, and not being broke - so I walked away from singing and into the not so fabulous world of being a college professor. I had finally setled in and was excited about my second year of teaching, when a jock with an attitude walked into my vocal studio. The thoughts running through my head were not the kind of thoughts that a professor should have. I don't know whether I should fail him or kiss him! But the real question that's haunting me - why can't I get him out of my mind? It's like he has some kind of power over me. I hope it's not... No! It can't be!

Darren Peterson

My friends think I'm crazy to switch my major to music. But they don't understand that music is as much a part of me as being Lakeview's star soccer player. I'm not going pro, and the last thing I want to do is be a coach. I like making music. I've been a DJ since high school and making my own mixes gives me a high unlike anything else. Except... My vocal teacher. He's a total geek! He likes opera, and old classic books and film. I bet he's never even seen a superhero movie. But I can't stop wondering what my hands would feel like against his skin. I'm nowhere near ready to settle down, but the smell of him makes me question everything.

 

Book Review

The line between “light” and “slight” reading entertainment is (a) quite subjective, or (b) too often notable in gay literature – using that last noun most generously, or (c) a matter of the reader's moment, or (d) all/any of the above. Perhaps the more important question remains whether “slight” is worth the effort? So many MPREG novels seem to eschew personality, mutual interests, and interlocking intellectuality – all merely favoring chemistry – as the world becomes a charming petri dish. Forget fear versus fate; scratch drive over destiny –imagine that it’s just raining hormones!

 

If you favor purple prose, are you ready to cross the line for puce? If so, find a cozy corner, far from curious passersby, and indulge yourself. Just remember that, were fabulous (from the root of fable!) to be high in calories, ‘Try Me’ would be very fattening.

 

Thomas, at thirty, unsuccessful as a vocal performer, has fulfilled his overriding need for security by gaining employment teaching music at Lakeview University. It is a quiet but sufficient life, with two good friends on the faculty, and a plethora of school events filled with just small talk.

 

Darren is the scion of a wealthy family which is well engaged in the University’s alumni efforts. Darren, a star athlete on campus, has been earmarked to practice law with his father, but secretly pines for a career related to music. Oddly, Darren is “as tone deaf as a hippo fucking a rhino.” [WTF?] But Darren is still drawn to the business side of the music industry, and Professor Thomas’s curriculum would be suitable!

 

If plotting is a construction, all the raw materials are present – men who are gay (or occasionally bisexual), who are immediately attracted to the other’s physicality, and who share an interest in music. Were ‘Try Me’ a Hanna Barbera cartoon, the screen would pulse with beating hearts!

 

As the novel is both slight and short, I'll best save most of the detailed descriptions of personnel and performance for your own reading – suffice it to say that quotes, such as “Well… I was attracted.” “You got a chubby?” “It was moving towards the full log” – are representative of the author smartly providing bon mots, or are the bone mots?

 

The biggest surprise is presented well into the text as we enter MPREG land (soon to be a new attraction at Disneyworld?) and the discovery of the Alpha and Omega aspects of our main characters. What a clever coup that the younger, Darren, is the Alpha.

 

As a critic, let me be critical. The story is sweet, predictable, and libidinously satisfying. Simple or simplistic? It is brief enough that the quick reader can avoid calluses of the palm. The secondary characters are almost phantoms – disengaged parents who never elevate to villains; friends who are two-dimensional, and whose problems are merely hinted at. (Perhaps seeds for volumes two and three?)

 

This critic’s critique:

 

1. This read is fun, quick, and sexy, much like an unexpected alley tryst.

 

2. Example from a committed grammarian: “I avoided passing people who I didn’t feel like speaking to.” How about – “I avoided passing people to whom I didn’t feel like speaking.” Even potty prose can be of minimal literary integrity.

 

3. If reading on an airplane, reach for the little paper bag in the seat back:

 

“The Omeganess of him called out to my Alpha with a fiery passion.”

 

“The passion flew out of me in a very unexpected way.”

 

“The duet of our souls would be eternal.”

 

In summary – predictable and fun, but so are most f**k films. So enjoy.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the author via GRRT for the purpose of a review.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novella, 128 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	26-December-2022
Price	$4.99 ebook, $13.99 paperback
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Try-Me-Lakeview-University-Try-mester-ebook/dp/B0BGXYRCCT