Reviewed by Nikyta
Title: Art Criticism
Author: Celeste Spettro
Heroes: James & Turkish
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 61k words
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Release Date: May 7, 2014
Available at: Less Than Three Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: James has no idea what he’s going to do with his art history degree, but for the moment he’s managing as a lowly gallery assistant… until he has to deal with an aggravating photographer. Turkish is a lot like his photographs: vapid, popular, and over the top—the perfect target for James’ snarky criticism, but somehow James is unable to reject the man as easily he rejects his art.
Review:
James may have a degree in art history but as a gallery assistant, he’s forced to deal with annoyingly arrogant photographers with crappy art. Turkish is a pain in James’ ass but being a popular photographer means he gets his way, no matter how much it aggravates James. But when Turkish shows interest in James, he can’t seem to reject the man even with how much he aggravates James. Will James be able to open himself up to Turkish or will their relationship be doomed from the beginning?
This was an adorable story. I absolutely LOVED the fact that James was so snarky and sarcastic. I had quite a few laughs from what he said. I liked that he used it as a defense mechanism and that he aimed all that sarcasm at Turkish but Turkish couldn’t really understand the sarcasm. But I really, really loved that Turkish obviously cared so much about James that he put up with James’ constant snarkiness to get under James’ skin. At the same time, it was interesting to see why James was so snarky and why he’s the way he is.
I actually really enjoyed this one but I had one big problem with it. For one, this book is in first person, normally I don’t have an issue with this but I felt like it kept switching from James almost writing a diary by talking directly to the reader to narratoring the story. If that makes any sense. It made the story feel almost choppy and every time he would talk to the reader and then switch to narrator (to me they’re different), it would pull me from the story. Aside from that, I was disappointed that there was no POV from Turkish until the epilogue. I would have loved to see his POV throughout the story while James was acting weird or just being a dick to him. Also I found it odd that Turkish was all about being ‘honest’ with life and his art but then he went along with James wanting to keep their relationship a secret. IMO, that is the opposite of being ‘honest’.
Overall Impression: I liked it
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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