Bad Idea by Damon Suede

Summary:

Some mistakes are worth making.

Reclusive comic book artist Trip Spector spends his life doodling super-square, straitlaced superheroes, hiding from his fans, and crushing on his unattainable boss until he meets the dork of his dreams. Silas Goolsby is a rowdy FX makeup creator with a loveless love life and a secret streak of geek who yearns for unlikely rescues and a truly creative partnership.

Against their better judgment, they fall victim to chemistry, and what starts as infatuation quickly grows tender and terrifying. With Silas’s help, Trip gambles his heart and his art on a rotten plan: sketching out Scratch, a “very graphic novel” that will either make his name or wreck his career. But even a smash can’t save their world if Trip retreats into his mild-mannered rut, leaving Silas to grapple with betrayal and emotions he can’t escape.

What will it take for this dynamic duo to discover that heroes never play it safe?

My Review:

***This may not be the most functional review and it is quite possibly a bit confusing but honestly, I am still a bit confused by this book. This is a tough one to get over so there is always that bit of information to tuck away behind the shelves at night.***

What a journey this has been. I am not sure what to say, not sure if my experience with this book is due to the fact that I recently enjoyed a webcomic, that I secretly am a total comic book fan girl or that finally, FINALLY Damon Suede and I clicked like a fully stocked utility belt around the trim waist of the muscular hero who came to save me. A hero in the form of a book come to save me? Yes? No? I am not sure. What I am sure about is that Bad Idea was one hell of a good idea for me to get lost in.

It’s all new turf. No secrets. No plan. No map. Just treasure.

The story starts off with the best meet cute (yes cute!) I could ever want. Period. It was perfect, it was funny and it had me hooked right away. Two words; Zombie. Run.

 That’s where the spark started. Two artists alone in the woods, surrounded by fake monsters.

Spector…Mr. Trip Spector, our resident artist who is “stuck” in a well paid position sketching for a comic series that is just, meh. He has an unboyfriend in a dead end relationship and just needs his life to have that special something or rather someone. Being inside Trip’s head was well, a total trip. I understood him, I got who he was even through all his fuck ups along the way where I wanted to smack him in the back of the head and tell him to snap out of it. I got him. I will admit one of the best things I adored about Trip was his friendship with Rina, Jillian and Ben (Max as well). The women in this story are beyond fantastic! Who would have thought that the girls in a book of my boys would own me and they owned me from the first lines out of their mouths and they continued their ownership with how they treated Trip. Neither woman let him get away with anything; they called him out on his shit and made him see things outside his way of thinking. It was almost as if they were his conscious at times and the girls had some of my favorite lines out of the book. Ben, he was so much fun and I just loved the whole Tick-sational business. Max, good lord some of the things out of that boy’s mouth were so insightful and brilliant. Trip, oh dear. I seem to have this affection for my boys in books who are slightly in the closet and though Trip fits that mold for me, he isn’t fully in the closet but he does hang his coat/PDA in there when it counts.

Stay here. Don’t hide. No one can judge someone else’s heroes.

Silas Goolsby…Now, Mr. Goolsby; my sweet Silas, my sexy bohunk and the He-Man who broke my heart.  Silas the FX make-up artist who can create monsters and wounds so believable you would think they were mirrors into his soul. His tastes are not what you would assume at first glance but they are so beautifully done that I couldn’t imagine him any other way even if he did plead with Make me. Silas is so not your typical muscle man and I fell hard for him in every way possible. Do not get me started on the left out “s” of a holiday, or booths in hotels or I will have to deck you through tears. This man, this beast of a man with the softest, gooiest center crawled into my hopeless romantic heart and cuddled up with me for the ride. Being inside his head, was again a total trip to see how he tripped and fell so hard and fast FOR Trip. Sigh.

From across the room, Silas watched Trip shake hands and answer questions, feeling a lazy, borrowed pride at how beautiful and talented Trip was without realizing it.

So, after that, what I just said. Did I say anything? Well, I have to say there were parts of this story that I struggled with. I won’t call it a love/hate relationship I don’t know what to call it but one minute I loved it and the next I wanted to give up on it but something, something keep pulling me back in and every time it got better and better. I did a bit of Retcon in my head (oh yeah, I paid attention, a last minute edit to fix an unforeseen problem…shit happens and times change) and at one point I had to look at this as two different books; a romance and well not a romance. Sounds off the wall but with my OCD it worked and I began to enjoy the story in a whole new way.

The art of Bad Idea is gah-whor-geous, simply gorgeous and the meta-ness of it all is sheer brilliant mind fuckery. I loved the scene where Rina and Trip come up with Scratch. I could feel the warmth of the light, the floor beneath them as they created. I was there and it was nothing short of amazing. I was right there when the working of the arch nemesis was created and the symbolism of the…yeah.  To realize that what Trip was creating is already a published title by the author…talk about one upping me on that one. Bravo, Mr. Suede, well done.

 Achievement unlocked.

Bad Idea. Goodness. What a roller coaster of emotions I went through reading this. There are moments in this book that made me melt, such sappy moments that had this self professed hopeless romantic in a puddle. *clean up at isle Sara*  Moments that go from total fuckery as dudes to these romantic realizations that were like poetry, beautiful in their own way and made me smile like a goon as I sat at my desk sneak reading.  So many, so many, many, MANY quotes highlighted throughout this book that made me smile, laugh and one about parenthood that made me tear up. So many scenes that read as if they were a comic/graphic novel, I could see each cell vividly in my head from the countdown at the New Years Eve party waiting for the a cab to Chicago in the hotel to Superman and reveals…Ugh. Did I mention how confused and messed up I am with this? I need to stop before I end up upside down and backwards.

This book may not be for everyone and honestly it wasn’t at times for me but it was worth it. It was worth the time to get lost, to see the relationship between Trip and Silas begin and to watch it grow. It was SO damn worth it to get a behind the scenes, inside the creative head of both these men to the point you felt like you were getting a hands on demonstration. It worth it, that is all. It. Was. Worth. It.

 Each turn you have to chose, no matter what. You can’t not move. No skipping. No coping mechanism. Your only choice is to choose.

Rating Clarification: 4.5 stars

ARC provided by Smith Publicity — Dreamspinner Press publishing via NetGalley.