Sandra @ My Fiction Nook

Brandon Wilde is looking for that special someone. Not one to jump into clubs or one-night stands, he opens an account with a gay dating site, OpenHeartsOpenMinds, and hopes to meet The One.Nate Tippie is the stereotypical gay bachelor, always on the hunt for the next guy, clubbing, fucking and generally acting as if his single-dom doesn't bother him. Even though, in quiet moments, it does. Like when he's leaving his latest hook-up who fell asleep on him but wakes up as Nate is getting ready to go. Here, I had to blink a few times and then snorted out loud when I was treated to a "winking hole" on display. Nate's sister Hannah and her friend/co-worker Marilyn are both portrayed in a bad light from the start. First, the two cook up an account for Nate on the same website Brandon joined, inputting Nate's information and looking at the various profiles. Hannah then comes across Brandon's profile and questionably feels an immediate connection to the man in the picture. Stupidly, she then sends an email to Brandon, posing as Nate, and initiates contact. Then, to top things off, she uploads a photo of Nate to the profile she created when Brandon replies and asks for one, and while feeling terribly guilty, she continues to perpetuate the deception, panicking when Brandon presses for a meeting face to face. Upon confessing her sins to her brother, Nate understandably gets angry, but agrees to meet with Brandon to let him down gently. Hannah, still without much of a brain, decides that she needs to spy on them, to make sure Nate does what he said he'd do. Except, when Nate meets Brandon, there's an immediate spark and the two men go home to Brandon's place for a bit of shmexing. Brandon wants to take things slow, but is then portrayed as so overcome by lust that he has sex on the first date. Please. These aren't teenagers, and I didn't buy it. Meanwhile, Marilyn shows up at the same bar and acts all jealous when another man shows interest in Hannah. She's also portrayed as someone who reads lots and lots of M/M romance (with the obligatory name dropping of existing romance authors and their books), and continuously flirts with gay men, including Nate, even when she knows they have no interest in her. There were a couple of scenes where she lays it on so thick that I felt uncomfortable for Nate. The characterizations of the women really irritated me. Hannah's unrealistic infatuation with Brandon (based on a profile pic and a couple of emails), Marilyn's almost desperate need for attention, both their jealousy and whiny-whines were off-putting and made these two fall entirely flat for me. The fact that Hannah continued to email Brandon after Nate has met him was the final straw.I really liked Brandon. He was kind, steady, trustworthy and only asked that people be truthful with him. Nate deceives him twice, and while Brandon initially reacts the way he should, forgiveness is quick. Too quick, for me.There's a happy at the end, that Nate actually didn't quite deserve. I understand his reasons for the 2nd deception (and wouldn't be surprised at all if this was pulled straight from real life), and I applauded him for coming clean despite the fall-out, but the 1st deception should have been cleared up immediately upon first meeting Brandon. Before he had sex with the guy. This was cute but not worthy of four stars. I felt a bit let down after reading Chaser and Raining Men by this author, primarily because of the portrayal of the women in this novel and the fact that Brandon seemed to throw his values out with the bath water because of insta-lust.It was an okay read for me, and overall, I liked it. I guess I expected more from this.I received a free ARC from Dreamspinner Press. A positive review was not promised in return.