Challenge Week Review: Sex & Sourdough by A.J. Thomas

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Sex & Sourdough
Author: A.J. Thomas
Heroes: Anders Blankenship/Kevin Winters
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 266 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: December 13, 2013
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble,
All Romance eBooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Anders Blankenship never intended to hike the Appalachian Trail alone, but when his boyfriend cancels, Anders steels his courage, leaving the abusive relationship to tackle the long-distance hike. Though a hiking virgin, he’s glad he made the decision when he receives threatening messages from his ex. Luckily, Kevin, an experienced backpacker, takes him under his wing.

Kevin Winters isn’t looking for a hiking partner, let alone a fling with a cute man on the rebound. After learning he has the autoimmune disorder that killed his father, Kevin left his family to wander remote trails. Convinced his future holds only pain and death, Kevin refuses to get close to anyone. The family sourdough recipes he recreates over a campfire are his only solace.

In the wilderness, Anders and Kevin discover a lot of common ground. While the future holds uncertainties they may not be ready to deal with, it might also hold the chance for happiness.

Review: 

Anders might have been ditched by his boyfriend at the last minute but that’s not going to stop him from hiking the Appalachian Trail for the summer, even if he’s never hiked something like that before. Help comes in the form of Kevin, who’s willing to keep Anders company just until Anders gets the hang of things. Before long, Anders is realizing that his boyfriend is nothing but abusive and selfish and does everything possible to be done with that relationship. At the same time, the friendship between Kevin and Anders grows stronger and more intimate. Unfortunately, the summer ends all too soon and leaves both men wondering just what will happen next.

This was a very inspirational story about how Anders finally takes the time to figure out what he wants in life. Over the course of the summer, he changes from a man with no self-worth to someone who’s confident in not only himself but what he wants in life. Kevin helps immensely with that and I absolutely loved the way these two grew closer as the story went on. They both broke my heart because Anders really thinks he’s worthless while Kevin is adamant he’s going to die soon.

They’re perfect for each other, though, because they brought joy to one another, gave each other a purpose, a reason to keep going. Even after their separation, with the thought they’d never see each other again, they still thought about one another and what that person would think, be doing, would want to do next, etc. I loved these boys so much. They had so much characterization to them that I felt like I really knew them by the end of the book and felt like they deserved the ending they finally got.

My biggest issue with this book was that toward the middle, there was this giant cluster of sex scenes that really put me off. They also caught me by surprised considering that Susan told me there was barely any sex in this one! Sadly, our definitions of ‘barely any’ are very different (LOL) because there had to be at least seven scenes in a 25% span… too much for moi. Beyond that, I wished there hadn’t been such big gaps in the transition between each chapter, especially towards the end when I really wanted to experience what happened during the skipped parts. I felt like I was missing something because we didn’t get to experience what happened during those missing pieces.

In the end, I still loved this book. It was sweet and heartbreaking but had a lot of amusing and fun moments. I loved the balance between the sad and happy parts. The authors writing is engaging and the characters had a lot of depth to them to the point I felt like I knew them. I’m a little sad with how some parts of the book played out (Chex Mix anyone?) but it was well worth the read. Thanks, Coug!!

Overall Impression: I really liked it!

*I purchased my own, personal copy of this book for review.*