Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Steamy trouble with his best friend’s long-lost brother

Peyton
I thought he was a stranger when we met—a night that started in a bar, working up the courage to explore my sexuality.

But it wasn’t until Jet dropped his wallet in an alley thirty minutes later that I saw his legal name, Alastair Brown, and my heart stopped.

My friend and business partner, Noah Brown, had a brother with that name.

A brother he hadn’t seen in years, a famous DJ and party boy with a reputation for causing scandals.

Scandals like dragging a straight-laced architect into an alley, pushing me against a brick wall, and blowing my mind.

Suddenly, Jet and I are thrown together, our lives colliding.

He’s nothing like what I expected, yet somehow, exactly who I need.

But even if my tattooed party boy is willing to try for something more, will Noah accept his troublemaking brother as the one for his straight best friend?

 

Book Review

This is the seventh book by R. Cayden which I am reviewing – and the ultimate installment in his series ‘His Best Friend’s Brother’ (about all of which I decorously raved!). I now suspect that, inadvertently, Mr. Cayden and I may have started going steady. But that’s quite okay, as I am entranced by his well-plotted and sexy tales, and (shame on me) I never feel the need to commit monogamously to any particular author. Okay! When it comes to reading Gay Lit, I am wont to whore around.

 

In many past reviews, I have generally noted how characters may begin with a hot, ejaculatory meeting, only then to be followed by story-straining efforts inevitably leading to the expected HEA. This can be stated as stages – "Fuck, Familiarity, Forever". So, too many current authors begin with a sexual coup de grace, perhaps not for narrative necessity but, rather, to excitedly grab the reader’s intellectual privates, encouraging the acquisition of the subject tome or the continuation of the reading commitment. Mr. Cayden is quite adept at this, beginning ‘Falling for Trouble’ with just sufficiently erotic dross that, much as Rumpelstiltskin's be-fated victim, he easily spins it into gold for us. Surprise – the main characters start by first noting their respective physicalities (i.e., “strong chin, squarely set” and “that smile… charming and with a hint of mischief to it.”) and quite promptly retire to the adjacent alley, not for a tête-à-tête, as the French might say, but for a pénis a pénis. Thus, the author favors us with a nice sexual aperitif.

 

From here, having zipped up their respective flies, the heroes proceed to become real people, with identifiable characteristics and interesting difficulties. For instance, Jet is much of a roue – so nicely juxtaposed to Peyton’s naïveté. “Holy shit. I was sucking a cock. I was sucking a cock and I really liked it.”

 

Further parsing of the plot, here, is unnecessary. There are challenges, confrontations, and delicious sex. Brothers struggle to understand each other, and deficient parents are confronted. There are even appropriate moralisms concerning truth and living open lives. The writing is easy and the HEA is guaranteed. I need to note that, for many readers, the placement of the people and story in this almost totally gay environment is either oddly idiosyncratic or wonderfully transporting. Chacun à son goût – to each his own. Damn! That should be enough French, don’t you think?

 

The character development is thoughtfully crafted, which likely supports the delay of coitus until past the book’s midpoint. The aforementioned erotic aperitif and several others sexual tidbits, will have to temporarily assuage our appetites! But we are so glad when Peyton finally says “I want you in me… I’m ready.”

 

Mr. Cayden has, once again, merged gay fantasy and reality in a fine, satisfy read.

 

 

ASIDE: Now, to honor for my followers (and Ms. Coyne, who taught my 6th grade English class), here is my usual supercilious grammatic criticism: let us all thank Mr. Cayden for providing the following: ‘I heard “(m)y ex-girlfriends Camille’s voice…” Parse that if you can.

 

 

 

 

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 for the purpose of a review.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 182 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	10-March-2021
Price	$0.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Trouble-Best-Friends-Brother-ebook/dp/B08XMZP52C