Reviewed by JustJen
Title: Meatworks
Author: Jordan Castillo Price
Heroes: Desmond Poole/Corey Steiner
Genre: M/M Sci-Fi
Length: 300 Pages
Publisher: JCP Books, LLC
Release Date: July 3, 2014
Available at: JCP Books, LLC, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: Desmond Poole is damaged in more ways than one. If he was an underachiever before, he’s entirely useless now that he’s lost his right hand. He spends his time drowning his sorrows in vodka while he deliberately blows off the training that would help him master his new prosthetic. Social Services seems determined to try and stop him from wallowing in his own filth, so he’s forced to attend an amputee support group. He expects nothing more than stale cookies, tepid decaf and a bunch of self-pitying sob stories, so he’s blindsided when a fellow amputee catches his eye.
Corey Steiner is a hot young rudeboy who works his robotic limb like an extension of his own body, and he’s smitten by Desmond’s crusty punk rock charm from the get-go. Unfortunately, Desmond hasn’t quite severed ties with his ex-boyfriend, and Corey isn’t known for his maturity or patience.
Meatworks is set in a bleak near-future where cell phone and personal computer technologies never developed. In their place, robotics flourished. Now robots run everything from cars to coffee pots. Taking the guesswork out of menial tasks was intended to create leisure time, but instead robots have made society dependent and passive.
Desmond loathes robots and goes out of his way to avoid them. But can he survive without the robotic arm strapped to the end of his stump?
Review:
From the very first JCP book, I fell in love with the covers. There is just always something about them that sets the tone for the story and character they portray that calls to me. The characters are usually on the gritty side, a bit damaged even, but still oh so sexy. At this point, I don’t even have to read the blurbs on one of Jordan’s books to know I want to read it. I can just tell by the cover.
I’m not generally a lover of anything sci-fi related, but that didn’t even cross my mind reading this. It is a futuristic world where people have allowed robotics to basically take over their lives, keeping track of everything they do in the guise of having them choose things based on their readings of any given individual. For example, they control the temperature of a room based on a person’s body temp, or choose music for them based on likes and dislikes.
While all of that is going on in the world surrounding Desmond, his main focus is trying to cope with the loss of his hand while accepting and gaining control of the robotic arm he now has in its place. Meatworks is the name used for the non-robotic limbs. Des is not a fan of robotics in any sense. He refuses to allow them in his apartment, won’t drive a new robocar when he has his sorely lacking old school Gremlin to rely on and has basically been in denial where his hand is concerned by not learning to use to his advantage.
Des lives on the money he receives from Social Services, but they are now making him jump through some hoops in order to keep the checks coming. One such hoop is attending group therapy, or Gimp Group as Des calls it. It is here that he meets Corey, a young man in full control of his own robotic arm who also fully knows how to work the system. The two hit it off, but there are quite a few obstacles in their way. I loved these two! They have such great chemistry, fabulous senses of humor and hilarious conversations. I laughed out loud more than once at one or both of them.
“Seven months.” Corey leaned in closer and pressed his mouth to my ear. In a whisper so quiet I felt it sizzling against my ear more than I heard it, he said, “I can’t wait to see how far you shoot.”
When Gimp Group doesn’t work out for Des, he has to attend solo sessions. These were hilarious.
“Fast-forward, Wednesday morning. Paperwork? Check. Clean underwear? Check. Disability card? Check.
Box of arm? Check.”
One of the funnier things that happens is that Des must care for a roboegg, without the use of his arm. He must care for the robobaby egg when it needs to be fed, held or coddled. There were so many great lines and funny moments with this.
“Exact same egg we had in Health Class,” Corey said. “I’ve heard some of the newer models have a diaper button, too.”
“Just what the world needs. Robotic shit.”
Really, I could go on and on. I have never enjoyed or wanted to remember so many quotes before in anything I’ve read. I absolutely loved Des’ dry sense of humor. I almost forgot to mention Des’ poor pet sea monkeys, or as Corey calls them, his pet plankton. Those little buggers just kept coming back to life!
There is one other thing at play here, well there are quite a few, but the most important was with his ex, Jim, who also happened to be his case worker and also the person behind the padlocked chain Des is still wearing. I liked Jim, but most of the way through this, I wasn’t sure what would happen with him and Des, or if Des would make things work with Corey, etc.
This was so different from anything else I’ve read, and I absolutely loved it! It is, by no means, a typical romance, which is, ironically, quite typical of JCP’s work. It was everything that I love about a JCP book, so very creative and well done. I remain a steadfast fangirl and highly recommend you give this or any of her other fabulous books a try if you haven’t already.
Overall Impression: It was Amazing!
*I received a copy of this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review.*
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