Guest Reviewed by Emilie
Title: An Actor’s Guide to Romance
Author: Catherine Curzon and Eleanor Harkstead
Heroes: Adam Fisher & Thomas Fox
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 51 pages
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Release Date: January 23, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: When long-time theatrical enemies are cast as lovers, their late-night rehearsal brings a whole new meaning to method acting.
For twenty years, Adam Fisher and Thomas Fox have been the best of enemies. From their first meeting at drama school to shared stages, shared bills and a competition to amass the most illustrious awards, they have been the names on every theatregoers’ lips. Separately they can sell out an entire run in an hour, so when they’re cast as lovers in London’s hottest new play, the tickets are gone in minutes.
But for rakish Adam and gentlemanly Thomas, the small matter of their first on-stage kiss is causing a headache for everyone. Over a bottle of wine on one rainy night in the city, these two acting legends will do whatever it takes to banish their first-night nerves. After all, as everyone knows, the show must go on!
Review:
Unfortunately this book didn’t really work for me.
I loved all the theater references, many I’ve caught, some I’m sure I missed. And I liked the idea of the book with two rivals actually having been in love for decades. And at first, I loved the barbs and the taunts.
I grew quickly tired of the banter though, which was just this side of too much for me. Adam is a jerk, and if I get where it’s coming from, it grew old for me. I think the shift between hate and love was a bit abrupt as well. And the sex scene was hot but damn, can those men shut up once in a while? I was taken out of the story and the sexiness of the scene every time Thomas opened his mouth. The way he said things felt very stilted. At first, it made sense, but while having, apparently, the sex of his life? It just felt unrealistic to me and threw me out of the story. Like if those two couldn’t get out of their roles, didn’t lose control, which is what’s usually sexy about sex scenes, when characters let go. The banter was a bit repetitive and I think it would have worked better for me if it had been more sparse. I really liked Adam’s way of declaring his love though, that was what I was expecting when I started reading.
In the end, I believe I would have liked this book a lot more if the banter had been less. The onion and Tom were a little too much. A few times it’s funny, but like with any jokes, it loses its appeal when it’s repeated too many times. I did like the story part of it, the theater actors being rivals, always competing for the same shows, the same awards. That appealed to me.
And since writing style is a really personal thing, I would recommend the book if you like theater (because the references were a nice touch). It is short and rather sweet in its own way.
Overall Impression: It was okay
*I received a copy of this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review.*
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