Ok,not my usual type of m/m book. What we basically have here is the story of a man with low self esteem/alcohol problems who attempts to gain the approval of his 'mates' by doing something stupid, the result being a severed limb. Desmond has great difficulty adapting to having a robotic prosthetic, which brings him to a support group and the delightful Corey. This book was entertaining and genuinely laugh out loud funny in places until I was about half way through. Then Desmond started to piss me off with his complete lack of fore thought and a genius for total fuckupery. Desmond had two great guys who would walk over hot coals for him, (god knows why) and messed them both around. I could not predict which one he would end up with, because he was such a mutable, messed up personality. There were times I wanted to take the bottles of vodka and pour it down the sink and slap him round the chops with his prosthetic hand! I was glad that eventually he started to get his act together but i'm still unsure wether he chose the guy he ended up with because he really loved him, or because he was 'handy'. I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The main character was surprisingly real, not perfect and with plenty of faults, and I did like him. The other thing I liked was the way this book dealt with anxiety and depression, which is rare and it came across as very real and very difficult. I enjoyed the lack of a simple black and white worldview, however I thought that Desmond, the lead, was a little too out of touch with his feelings for my taste; in the end I just wasn't satisfied, which I guess is another hazard of writing about real life (in a fantasy setting, of course). I wish I had enjoyed this book more, but I really hate lying and I definitely don't forgive Desmond for being such a shit boyfriend. He is really, really lucky to have all these forgiving men in his life.
