Author: Ari McKay
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Length: 88 Pages
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: A fun and engaging read.
Reviewed By: Taz
Blurb: 2nd Edition
Boone Phillips needs a girlfriend—now! If he shows up to the family reunion alone, his mother will throw every woman in sight at him. But the only “woman” Boone trusts enough to ask is Honey, the drag queen alter ego of his best friend, Rob. It’s a crazy idea, but Boone is desperate.
Boone wins Rob over to the idea after first going on a “date” with him as Honey, but everything feels different once the plan is set in motion. Between nosy relatives, illegal moonshine, and the sight of Rob in white lace panties, Boone starts to wonder if he’s as straight as he thought. When an earth-shattering kiss sends Rob running, however, Boone learns some surprising things about both his family and himself. Now he needs to convince Rob to give him another chance, or his first taste of Honey might also be his last.
First Edition published by Torquere Press, 2016.
Review: A Taste of Honey is a refreshing and fun read, perfect for a relaxing weekend or to occupy your time before going to bed. As with most shorter works, the reader is forced to suspend disbelief a little, accepting that events unfold a bit faster than they would if the story was longer. But, some books don’t need to be fully fleshed out to be provocative. This is one of those stories.
Boone is like a wet dream. A high school athlete, southern raised, and a computer programming geek to boot. And, as far as he knows, straight.
Rob is more fluid when it comes to gender, although he is 100% gay. His feelings for Boone are undeniable, but he’s learned to keep them in check, knowing that it would ruin his friendship to act on feelings which couldn’t possibly be reciprocated.
As the story unfolds, what Ari McKay has done is present the idea of loving a person and not their gender. While Boone may have questioned his feelings about men growing up, and into his adult years, nothing pushed him to the edge of really facing who he was until he spent a weekend with Rob’s drag alter-ego, Honey. Through the ease of their friendship, and by seeing Honey as the magnificently beautiful woman she is, Boone is able to see past Rob the man, to Rob/Honey the person…a person he loves.
That storyline itself was enough for me. There were a few added bits and pieces like background character stories, family history, the speed with which characters shift gears when new information arises that perhaps didn’t need to be included in such a short piece of writing. These things, however, did not take away from the central storyline or message.
A fun and engaging read.
You can buy A Taste of Honey here:
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