★★★★★ As You Are by Ethan Day ★★★★★
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
The Blurb…
Operation Danny… that’s all bartender and recent college graduate, Julian Hallowell has had on his mind the past year. Julian may have no idea what he wants to do with his life, but he definitely knows he’s in love with the boy next door: the one in the next room to be exact, his roommate Danny Wallace.
Danny owns a used text book store just off campus and while Julian has done his level best to make Danny fall for him, all his hard work appears to have been in vain. Danny doesn’t seem to view Julian as anything other than that… a roommate and friend. So when new guy in town Andy Baker asks him out on a date, Julian can’t seem to think of a good reason to say no.
Julian has already instituted a Reverse Operation Danny plan, which he’s positive will purge all thoughts of love and lust for his roomie out of his head. He’s ready to move on and start looking for his next Mr. Right, and Andy just might fit the bill. But has he given up too soon?
So what did I think?
Ethan Day has done it again – what a fun and fabulous story told with such wit and humour! And Julian? Totally wonderful!
Julian has secretly loved his roommate Danny for a year and unsuccessfully tried to charm Daniel into falling for him. When his plan doesn’t work, he finally changes tack and starts on a new plan to rid himself of his feelings for Danny.
Julian is over-the-top quirky, clumsy and just a bit nutty with his strong ideas about love and romance. But he’s also so endearing. There is lots packed into Julian’s story – his ideas about love, romance and marriage, his family, his homophobic cousin, the lack of direction in life, his relationship with best friend Gabby, his new experiences with dating – it’s a lot to take in but told in such an amusing way, it’s best just to hang on and go with the flow!
I enjoyed the flashbacks which give little hints that there is a lot more to Danny than meets the eye and he may not be as immune to Julian’s charms as Julian thinks he is. And I loved the women in the book. Luckily Julian has some strong women in his life – Southern mom Delilah and sassy friend Gabby – who put up with his quirky personality and steer him in the right direction – these are ‘pull-no-punches’ type of gals.
My only slight disappointment was that I wanted to get to know Danny better. There are suggestions as to why he behaves the way he does but I really wanted to know more of his background. I guess with the first person POV of Julian, this wasn’t on the cards.
I’m a sucker for happy endings so the story ended perfectly for me. I didn’t need the long drawn out closure or resolution of issues – it was enough that the right men ended up together.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in return for my honest review.
❅❅❅❅❅❅❅
To find out more about Ethan Day and his books visit his website.
Buy As You Are from Amazon.
Buy As You Are from Wilde City Press.