Sweet Young Thang (Theta Alpha Gamma #3) by Anne Tenino

The third book in the series, Sweet Young Thang lives up to it’s name! Collin is young and sweet. Eric is wonderful. The age difference is fabulous!  Add some mystery and drama to the romance and it all adds up to a great story!

The Theta Alpha Gamma series

  • Frat Boy and Toppy (Book #1)
  • Love,  Hypothetically(Book #2)
  • Sweet Young Thang (Book #3) – in this review

Sweet Young Thang (Theta Alpha Gamma, #3)Sweet Young Thang by Anne Tenino

My rating: 3.5  of 5 stars

The Blurb…

Thanks to Collin Montes, Theta Alpha Gamma now welcomes gay and bisexual students. Persuading his Uncle Monty, president of the TAG Alumni Association, that the open approach won’t adversely affect TAG’s reputation is Collin’s own first step toward coming out. As long as there are no repercussions, he’ll escape the closet by graduation.

Enter repercussions, stage left: someone rigs the TAG House water heater to launch through the ceiling, then plants a bomb—thankfully unsuccessful—in the fraternity’s basement. Now Collin has his hands full not only trying to convince his uncle that this might not be the work of homophobes, but also dealing with a fratful of brothers worried about their kegger fridge.

Paramedic Eric Dixon can’t stop thinking about the kid he met during a call at his former college fraternity house. The age gap between them is trumped by sexy eyes, so when Eric sees Collin again at the bomb scene, he pursues him. Soon, Eric is dreaming of being a househusband, fighting to keep Collin safe from whoever’s trying to destroy the fraternity, and helping his sweet young thang realize that repercussions sometimes have silver linings.

So what did I think?

I was looking forward to revisiting Theta Alpha Gamma and spending some time with the boys. I was so pleased to discover a story involving a relationship with an age difference.

Eric is immediately attracted to Collin but doubts his own reaction. “Besides, he was thirty-six and he had no business jonesing after a twenty-year-old kid who may or may not even be gay. Lecherous old fart.”. What I did find interesting was a repeated mention of the age difference as the relationship was announced to various friends, colleagues and family but no really obvious concern or fall out. There was just acceptance, including from Collin himself. The age difference also didn’t appear that obvious in how the men behaved – perhaps this was because Collin seemed quite mature (particularly compared to some of the other TAG boys) and he was confident in how he related to Eric.

I loved the way Eric was described, prematurely greying and losing his abs, and not just as a totally buff paramedic. Don’t get me wrong, he was obviously hot and sexy, particularly to Collin, but there was a sense of realism and also a relationship built on emotional attraction as well.

What didn’t work for me so well was the speed of the relationship and how quickly love developed between Eric and Collin, but that aside, they work so well together and I even liked the endearments.

Collin is still in the closet to his family and friends. He has an interesting relationship with his Uncle Monty who has huge influence on his life right down to his college subject choices and future career in the family olive oil business. Monty is also president of the TAG Alumni Association with a large influence on funds for Theta Alpha Gamma.

The story revolves around solving the mystery of who is trying to destroy Theta Alpha Gamma. Eric and Collin meet when Eric attends the scene of an explosion at the frat house. So while their relationship is growing, Collin is also facing frat house issues and dealing with his uncle who is exerting pressure for the fraternity to change their policy of publicly accepting gay and bi members, blaming this for the arson.

I didn’t really get into the frat house politics and thought maybe there could have been a bit less of this in the book and more of the relationship. Plus I must have missed why Eric’s knowing Monty from when they were at school was really relevant but all in all, the plot moved at a pretty steady pace, with enough action and drama to keep things interesting.

I did have some favourite funny scenes in the book. It was amusing to see the results of the Sensitivity Training the frat members had undergone – so many hearts in the right place but no idea how to execute! And Collin’s ‘coming out’ to his frat brothers was brilliant.“I’m sorry, dude, but I’m not really prepared to handle outing a guy to himself. Fuck, I hope I didn’t , like, traumatize you or anything.” Plus Eric’s mothers reaction to the age difference “Oh, a younger man.”….”So, can he just fuck forever? And my education is now complete because I know about the Awkward Turtle!

I love a happy ending and this book didn’t disappoint.
[“Ten years down the road, he wanted a househusband named Eric with completely gray hair and no abdominal muscles. An if he had to choose between those things? He’d give up the company and take the kids and the husband and the beer gut.”
(hide spoiler)]

3.5 stars

4 Stars

For more information on Anne Tenino and her books visit her website.

Buy Sweet Young Thang from Amazon.

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  • Sweet Young Thang (Theta Alpha Gamma #3) by Anne Tenino (shirleyfrancesbooksandmore.wordpress.com)

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