Dawn reviews Jay Northcote’s ‘Nothing Serious’. (The book was published on October 23rd 2013 by Dreamspinner Press on July 26th, 2014, 158 pgs).
This book was provided free of charge for an honest review by Jay Northcote
Mark O’Brien is finally being honest with himself. His relationship with Rachel is over and he’s moving out of the home they’ve shared for six years. They get along, but he can’t fix a relationship when the person he’s with is the wrong gender.
Jamie Robertson, one of the removal men, is huge and ridiculously gorgeous, and Mark is smitten at first sight. When a cardboard box splits, revealing items of a personal nature that Mark never wanted anybody to see, he’s mortified. But it sparks the start of a beautiful friendship with benefits.
As Jamie initiates Mark into the joys of gay sex, the two men get increasingly close and “nothing serious” turns into something rather important to both of them. But communication isn’t their strong point. Will either man ever find the courage to be honest about his feelings?
Cover: I think of Jamie when I see the cover now.
Title: The title is how the two main characters start their relationship….. but things change.
Story: You meet Mark as he packing up his possessions, to move out of the flat he shared with Rachel. He had been living a lie for over 6 years being with her, as he was gay but was afraid to come out. You really feel for Mark as it comes across that he feels he must do that his family and be who society thinks he should be, instead of following his heart to be true to himself.
This is when he meets Jamie, and he although embarrassed at the way they met (his personal item box fell apart), he felt an instant attraction. The author manages to convey the mixed feelings that Mark is experiencing – sadness at leaving Rachel, but also the excitement of the attraction he feels for Jamie.
Jamie and Mark then decide to have a friends-with-benefits relationship, with Jamie teaching the “gay rules” to Mark. You can feel the excitement that Mark is feeling, You also realize that Jamie is the one who suggested it, but he is hesitant about showing Mark some things. Though he is the bigger of the two men, he is a big teddy bear!!
They seem to be going along quite nicely as friends, until the day Mark is ill, and Jamie decides to go and look after him – it is then that things begin to change within the book, and the author handles their emotions brilliantly, it is like their emotions are coming out of the book at you.
Even though both Jamie and Mark acknowledge to themselves that their feelings have changed, they are both still hesitant of telling the other – both afraid of rejection.
I really did enjoy this book, it was great to see, and in someways feel, the emotions of both Mark and Jamie. This is also a book you will smile at, with some of the things that Jamie is teaching Mark….. even if the answer was a groan…….
BUY THE BOOK @ Amazon, Dreamspinner Press, Kobo, All Romance
Jay lives just outside Bristol in the West of England, with her amazing, occasionally ridiculous husband, two noisy-but-awesome children, and two cats.
Jay 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.
Jay writes contemporary gay romance, usually set in or near her home town of Bristol. She enjoys the challenge of bringing the men in her head to life through her words
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