Now this book really leaves me with a slight dilemma. I did enjoy the story. I loved Jesse and Lorenzo, loved Jesse's manic artistry. I loved Lorenzo's steadfastness.

What I didn't love was the way the story seemed to jump... there were quite a few WTF moments, where I actually had no idea were something came from. Twice I actually went back in the book to check if I had simply missed something. Then there is Sadie... okay, it might just be me, but please can someone explain what she was doing in this story? And Sam at the ending.. another strange insertion that just really didn't fit for me.

Now unfortunately I feel that a lot of these issues should have been picked up either by a beta reader or the editor. It really has very good bones, it's just the packaging it comes in that lets this book down in my opinion. ( )

This book had different stages for me. The beginning felt very slow and a tiny bit boring. Then, after two thirds it got dramatic and exciting. The last part was unfortunately very disappointing and even annoying for me.

What I disliked so much about the finale:
Jesse and Lorenzo are separated, because Jesse betrayed Lorenzo's trust in a very bad way (sells and publishes a nude painting of Lorenzo without his consent). This was not ok in any way and Jesse couldn't even say he was sorry, because he went on with it till the end, including Magazine covers and Marketing etc.
So why does Lorenzo forgive him? Because Jesse gets shot. And that is obviously enough to forgive everyting and be even ok with being drawn further in against his will by the sleezy and manipulative ex-boyfriend.
Well, that did not work for me. At all. I find it unforgivable to use people like this against their will. And art is no excuse.
So it was only the icing on the cake when Jesse in a btw manner mentioned that he had lied about his living situation (sharing an appartment with his ex/on-off), because he didn't sleep with that guy, and that makes lying about the appartment obviously ok.
So Jesse was not my kind of guy at all - way to spoilt and self-centered. And so this book lost a bit of its potential for me. A pity, because some parts were really brilliant. ( )

3.75 stars ( )

This book was COMPLETELY different from what I expected and I'm so glad. I really enjoyed it and would love to see where Lorenzo & Jesse are in a few years time.

Excellent book. ( )

First off, I really like this cover. Did I like the book though? Well, I did. But. It was one of those books where the more I thought about it, the more things I came up with that bothered me. The men said "I love you" too fast for me to really believe. There was a bit at the end where it took me a few pages to work out what had actually happened. I might be a bit dense but it wasn't obvious to me WHAT had actually happened. I thought it was a stunt at first. The resolution (or lack of) that part of the storyline was a problem too but there wasn't time to develop the storyline (it took a sharp right turn) or to resolve it properly. I was uncomfortable (to say the least) with what Jessie did as regards his painting and his betrayal of Lorenzo (I'm sorry, I just can't call him Mary - Lorenzo's last name is Maryboy- or zo-zo - Jesse's "sex" name for him) by his art. I was uncomfortable that even though he knew Lorenzo would be upset he said up front he wouldn't change anything and then he still expected not only forgiveness but happy families too. After I came out of the book, I thought about how Jesse needed to go to San Francisco from time to time to get the vibe and take in the art scene and how he also needed to go to Marathon to get away. I'm not sure that where Lorenzo fits in to this was dealt with. I don't know that I believed that Lorenzo would be able/happy/comfortable fitting in to the San Francisco scene where I gather things were pretty frenetic. I wondered whether he'd forever feel an outsider. I had more sympathy for Lorenzo overall - the story is told from his 1st person POV so I got to know him much better than I did Jesse but I don't know that I trusted that Lorenzo would be happy with Jesse forever and ever. He just seemed too flighty to me. The book was just over 120 pages long so it was pretty short and I'm not sure I was sold on the HEA. That said, I did enjoy the book while I was reading it. I liked Lorenzo and I liked the way he thought and spoke. I enjoyed the parts of the book about his comic strip and the thought process he took to get it up and running. I liked "The Original" too. Jesse, I'm not so sure about. I found this very difficult to grade. I'm going with a C. ( )