“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt
Author: Charley Descoteaux
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages/Word Count: 150
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Blurb: Ross Jenson is looking forward to a little midmorning delight to celebrate making Lifetime in Weight Watchers, but after he spent eight months losing ninety-eight pounds, what his lover gets him is a triple-layer chocolate cake. When Ross refuses to eat it, the newly minted ex leaves the country and dumps him via e-mail, with three sentences and a link to a chubby chasers web site. A few days later, Ross’s best friend and workout buddy takes him to her favorite club for drinks. Ross is shocked when he realizes it’s a sex club but warms to the idea in record time when a mysterious Japanese man and his silken ropes sweep him off his feet. Ross has never thought of himself as adventurous, but he can’t stop thinking about the man who makes his bones feel like gummy worms.
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Review: Have you ever had one of those days where it starts off fantastic and then all hell breaks loose? Well, Ross is having one of those days. After making Lifetime with Weight Watchers, his boyfriend welcomes him home with a yummy looking chocolate cake. After refusing to take a bite of the concoction, Brad, the boyfriend and future douche bag, gives Ross an ultimatum. Either eat the cake and gain the weight back, or move out! Seems Brad likes his men chubby.
Needless to say, Ross moves out and stays with his fellow Weight Watcher, Janet. And Janet talks Ross into going to a sex club with her. There, he meets “Shaggy”, a Shibira Master, AKA Miles Shigihara, who blows Ross’s mind with a demonstration of knotty sex. This is where I kind of, sort of, start to have mixed feelings about this storyline. For one thing, I’m not really a big fan of BDSM. Oh, it was pretty mild, but still, bondage is not one my favorites.
Another think I had mixed feelings about is that Ross’s self-image seems to depend on his weight. Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s great when one works hard to lose weight—if they’re doing it for the right reasons, such as for better health, but I’m under the impression Ross hated himself as a chubby person. I’ve got news for ya, Ross. You can still feel that way about yourself even as a slimmed down, skinny person too. It just struck me as sad, that this sweet, caring, gentle man was so down on himself at times. For me, beauty is within a person, and I won’t even go into what that douche bag of a ex does to Ross at the Expo, but Miles was my hero by being very supportive, patient, and loving towards Ross when it came down to the telling. Miles won me over when he told Ross that it didn’t matter to him whether Ross was overweight or not. That was an aaaaaaah moment.
So, I’m going to give this one 3.5 Stars. I liked the story a lot even if I did feel a little cheated that it ended abruptly.