“Anticipation. In love and travel, getting there is half the fun. The lustful impatience, the passionate daydreams, the nerve-wracking waiting… lovers and travelers are all alike when they find themselves on the brink of a new adventure.” – Vivian Swift
Title: Poster Boy (A Theta Alpha Gamma Novel)
Author: Anne Tenino
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Pages/Word Count: 360 Pages
Rating: 4 Stars
Blurb: It’s all fun and games until someone puts his heart out.
After being outed to his hockey team and then changing schools, Jock figures he’s due for something good—like the sex he missed out on in the closet. Toby, the hot grad student he meets at a frat party, seems like a great place to start, and their night together is an awesome introduction to the fine art of hooking up.
Toby’s heart takes a bruising after the near-perfect experience with Jock leads to . . . nothing. He’s been left on the outside as his friends pair up into blissful coupledom, and he’s in danger of never completing (or starting) his thesis. Can’t something go right?
Then Toby’s coerced into chaperoning a Theta Alpha Gamma trip to France. Not that he’s complaining. What better place to finish his thesis and get over that frat boy? Except Jock’s outing is leaked to the press, turning him into an unwilling gay rights martyr, and he decides France would be a great escape, too. It’s a break from reality for both guys, but they soon find their connection is as real as it gets.
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Review: Poster Boy is the fifth book in the Theta Alpha Gamma series from Anne Tenino. TAG is a fraternity with an open door policy for gay members. We kind of met Jock close to the end of the third book, Sweet Young Thang when his brother, who is a member of TAG, mentioned that Jock had been outed to his hockey team and was leaving his current college to come live with them at the temporary TAG house. The original TAG house was blown up in Sweet Young Thang. What can I say, it’s an exciting series!
Jock arrives at TAG and is humiliated to find out that everyone already knows he’s gay. He barely knows it himself and his brother has told the entire membership of the frat, and it spread like a fifty-five year old out of shape former athlete’s ass on a bar stool. This doesn’t stop Jock from being ready to fully experience college life as a gay man. He meets Toby, a graduate student, at the first party he attends. Their night together is a perfect introduction to the art of the one night stand for Jock. He takes this information and skill and runs with it.
Toby is a little older than Jock. His friends are surrounding him with coupled bliss, and he wants the same for himself. He didn’t think his night with Jock was a one-time thing at the time. He is interested in way more and hurt when he finds out how Jock is using the skills he learned during his night with Toby. The distraction of Jock’s disinterest, and the couples everywhere, is making it impossible for Toby to concentrate and complete his Master’s thesis. He is consistently missing deadlines and is out of excuses.
As a way to earn a little extra time to complete his thesis, he is persuaded to chaperone a three-month TAG trip to France. All he needs to do is get the six students to school and back to the boarding house each day and keep them out of any trouble that would embarrass the university. He has a good portion of the day to himself. He sees it as a good opportunity to distance himself from Jock and get down to the task at hand.
Unfortunately, the photo which was used to out Jock to his hockey team is leaked to an on-line gay tabloid. Because there were NHL teams interested in recruiting him, the photo soon makes it to mainstream sports publications and talk shows. To get away from the demands coming at him from every direction, Jock decides at the last minute to go along with his fraternity brothers to France.
The wrench in both Toby’s and Jock’s plans is their feelings. Once they are away and in a much smaller group, it becomes clear that their feelings extend far beyond a one night stand. Toby, as the chaperone, is staying in a tiny little cottage. The French word for the house he inhabits translates into the English word “shed”. It is cozy and intimate. The TAG guys are in one of the most romantic places on Earth.
Since their History professor isn’t taking them to see the sights, Toby takes it upon himself to do this, to expose them to some of the history they took this trip to learn about. These activities frequently put the group in the van, driving from one historical site to another. The TAG brothers have decided to maneuver so that Jock is always riding shotgun while Toby drives. Evidently their mutual attraction hasn’t gone unnoticed. With these surroundings and the forced proximity, how can they not get together? The question is whether or not they will be able to withstand all the hurdles life puts in their way, including re-entering real life. Toby and Jock grow very close while staying in paradise, and it is great to see the other frat brothers, straight, gay or somewhere in between, supporting their brother and chaperone.
It wouldn’t be realistic if six college aged men were in a foreign country and managed to stay out of trouble, though. At a pivotal point in Toby and Jock’s budding relationship, that trouble comes to a head in the form of busted down doors. Let’s just say it involves copious quantities of beer and the public use of the word “terrorist”. With worldwide awareness of terrorism rightfully at an all-time high, one must be careful of throwing that word around!
Je vous recommande fortement de lire ce livre.
You can buy Poster Boy (A Theta Alpha Gamma Novel) here:
