Over the next 3 or 4 weeks, I’m going to be putting up a lot of Claire Thompson books. Some will be MF, some will be MM, some will be kinky, others will be vanilla or vanilla-ish. Today we’re starting with Perfect Cover. This one is an MM vanilla-ish book. I’m calling it vanilla-ish because there is some light bondage, but nothing more than that. And now, on to the book.
Ryan has been working in the hospitality field, but was recently let go from his job. So when he hears that an all-inclusive paradise resort in the Caribbean is hiring, he’s all for it. When he’s interviewing for the seasonal position at Club Eros, he finds out that he’s basically being hired because he looks pretty in a speedo. His job is to be a gopher for the patrons of the resort. They all like to look at scantily clad pretty boys, as Club Eros is a resort for gays to come and celebrate and be comfortable with who they are. There’s all kinds of sex, both public and private, in couples and more-somes, vanilla or kinky. Pretty much if you want to have sex, there is at least one guy there who will be more than happy to help you with that. For Ryan, though, it’s a real worry. You see, Ryan is straight, and he’s going to have to stay in the closet and pretend to be gay while he’s there. Ryan figures that he can do that, but he doesn’t figure on the patrons and other employees.
Sean is a full-time employee and lives at the resort in a lovely little bungalow. Most of the time he has it to himself, but during the season, he has to have a roommate. This year, his roommate is Ryan. When Sean first sees Ryan, he falls into immediate lust with him, but he keeps telling himself to not do anything, he’s waiting for his one true love to come along. He’s not into casual hookups and random parties anymore, so he mostly stays to himself. He’s a true romantic. Then, he finds out Ryan’s secret and decides that he’s going to help Ryan. He and Ryan pretend to be a couple, which pretty much keeps everyone off Ryan.
At its heart, I think that this story is really about finding out who you are and being happy with that person. Ryan goes on quite a journey. There are some times when I really didn’t like him all that much. He gets surprised by some of the things that the patrons and other employees do to him, but I was like dude, get over yourself, this is stuff that gays have been dealing with in the real world, so just think. There were a few episodes of what I thought was toxic-ish masculinity, but Ryan really did grow and change, and Sean had everything to do with that. It made Ryan a much better person. Claire writes such thoughtful stories, with a lot of depth and layers, which make you think.
One of the places I didn’t think that Ryan needed to get over himself was when the massage happened or what happened with his boss. Those things pissed me off quite a bit. His boss valued friendship over what he had seen of Ryan and his character. That was so, so, so wrong. And I would hope that the other dude got all kinds of terrible consequences. He needed them. He needed a lot of them.
I also didn’t like Ryan’s dad. His family culture, in general, was highly stressful, but the way that his father pushed him and devalued what Ryan did and what he was choosing to do in his life really annoyed the hell out of me.
Anyway, that’s the first of Claire’s books to show up on my blog over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more. Go check it out. Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 