Zach Kelly is a big, timid, ginger guy from Texas who gets dumped and flees to P-town for a week to recover and lick his wounds. He's chosen Provincetown because he's always been a bit sheltered and a bit clumsy and awkward hopes to maybe turn over a new leaf. There he meets porn star Hart Throb without recognizing him. They meet when Zack slips into the first available store to stem a minor attack of agoraphobia. There he sees a cute young guy who calls himself "Van" and Zach is smitten. But then in his typical, clumsy fashion he upsets a display of leather harnesses, and a pyramid of lube which creates a mess. But Van helps him clean up the mess and an unlikely romance begins.The sexuality in the book is a bit more earthy and unrefined than I'm used to. The author clearly has some hot buttons involving man-scent that I don't share but the story is well told for the most part. The scene where Van reveals his past and explains how he got into the biz is particularly poignant and well written. The writer does a great job of evoking the hedonistic atmosphere of Provincetown and given the dance-floor BJ scene set at the Boat-Slip, I'm guessing that the place hasn't changed all that much in the three decades since I was there last. The night time walk down Commercial Street and the over-the-top drag shows also rang a few bells. I'm guessing that this is an M/M story that might appeal more to men than to women as the focus on the sex scenes is high on sweat and physicality and kinda low on romance. Also the author is an English teacher and there are spots in his prose that are over-written but by the time one gets through the "ginger bull in a P-Town china shop" meeting of the two M/C's those moments are mostly behind us and the story flows a bit more naturally. The audio-book version of this is narrated by Tristan James who does a good job with the basic narration, makes the main characters voices distinct enough to tell apart and does a pretty credible job with the voices of the women and drag queens in this one. If you'd like to visit (or revisit) P-town and don't mind a bit of sweat with your sex, by all means check this one out. This one will be super hard to review. On one hand this is a new author for me. And I did really enjoy the writing style and it read almost effortlessly. I was even caught snickering through part of it. Which rarely happens to me. Mostly I was not sure if the whole stink thing was hilarious or slightly gross. I think if it would if been a one time quick comment that as offhand and hardly noticed it would of went over than the constant I want your stink on me. The book takes place within one week. I really wish there was an epilogue. I see this is part of a series so maybe the epilogue will tie in with the next books in the series. I'll add the second to my TBR.
What do You think about When Love Takes Over (2013)?
Really interesting and fun book. Great characters, and the location made for a fun setting.
—jeaniee13
I need more Zach and Van!!! Please, let there be a book 2 in the works!!
—cassycat224
