“The truth is too simple: one must always get there by a complicated route.” – George Sand
BLURB: When one man is the epitome of calm and the other of chaos, how will they ever admit to loving each other? Can a kiss really change everything?
Nick and Alex have made a very successful movie together. Now they need to decide whether their next project is another joint venture or they go their separate ways creatively. Then the perfect manuscript arrives, offering financial security and future opportunities.
For Nick, the film is his dream: amazing effects, wonderful script, a part every actor aspires to play, and a director everyone’s begging to work with. There’s one snag: Nick and Alex will have to get to rather personal on set.
He has to refuse even though Alex isn’t willing to take no for an answer, and sets out to talk Nick into it. Nick finally agrees, despite a nosy reporter and his brother turning against him. After all, it’s just pretence. It’s not as if he’s gay and wants to make out with his friend…not until Alex kisses him. Then life gets even more complicated and interesting
REVIEW: The story told in this book is not a new one. You have two men who have been friends for what seems like forever. They pretty much grew up together and have spent most of their adult lives working together. They are both actors and are both finally starting to get some professional recognition from their last movie they did together. So the obvious next step is to do another movie, right? Well, Alex definitely seems to think so, but Nick isn’t so sure. There is the fact that this could end up branding them as a matched set and limit their options, but that isn’t the only thing Nick doesn’t like about this project. This new movie is a great action-packed fantasy movie, but the twist is Alex wouldn’t be his partner in fighting crime; no, he would be his partner. As in, he and Alex would be the two romantic leads.
Nick has never considered himself anything but straight, and he knows Alex is straight as an arrow. It turns out that neither of these two facts turn out to be true. When they share their first kiss, it throws Nick into a tailspin that he doesn’t know if he can ever recover from. Feelings that Nick thought were dead and buried start bubbling to the surface, and Alex keeps fanning the flame.
After a few starts and stops, Nick and Alex start a somewhat “friends with benefits” relationship, but they keep this secret for the sake of their careers. Nick doesn’t tell Alex he has another reason to be hush-hush but then again, the threats from his brother aren’t something he wants to share with anyone.
Everything seems to be going well, their careers are blowing up in a good way, their dreams of starting a production company seem closer than ever before, and Nick realizes he is in love. YAY right? Well, maybe not. Alex seems happy to proceed with a no strings, friends with benefits arrangement, and that just isn’t enough for Nick any longer. The biggest problem is that Nick doesn’t know how to tell Alex how he feels and what he needs, but he knows they can’t keep doing what they are doing. When these two men finally come clean with each other about what they need it could make or break their tenuous relationship, but they have to start being honest. No matter what the cost might be.
I truly enjoyed reading this, and I loved how the author made everything work between these two, both professionally and personally. The ending was absolutely hilarious and very touching at the same time. The only thing that gave me any pause was the switching of POV that confused me at times, but not enough to ruin the story. I highly recommend this book, and it seems to be the start of a series, so I can’t wait to see where she will go with it.
You can buy Acting Out (Calm and Chaos: Book One) here:
