Try (Temptation #1) by Ella Frank

Summary:

Try – verb: to make an attempt or effort to do something or in this case…someone.

Sex. Logan Mitchell loves it, and ever since he realized his raw sexual appeal at a young age, he has had no problem using it to his advantage. Men and women alike fall into his bed—after all, Logan is not one to discriminate. He lives by one motto—if something interests you, why not just take a chance and try?

And he wants to try Tate Morrison.

Just coming out of a four-year marriage with an ex-wife from hell, a relationship is the last thing on Tate’s mind. He’s starting fresh and trying to get back on his feet with a new job at an upscale bar in downtown Chicago.

The only problem is, Tate has caught the unwavering and unwelcome attention of Mr. Logan Mitchell – a regular at the bar and a man who always gets what he wants.

Night after night Tate fends off the persistent advances of the undeniably charismatic man, but after an explosive moment in the bar, all bets are off as he finds his body stirring with a different desire than his mind.

As arrogance, stubbornness and sexual tension sizzles between the two, it threatens to change the very course of their lives.

Logan doesn’t do relationships. Tate doesn’t do men. But what would happen if they both just gave in and…tried?

My Review:

So when you hear that a traditional male/female romance writer is diving in the male/male genre you are curious. When you hear that it’s an author that has a dedicated following you are a bit excited that they will be introducing their fans to the wonderful genre that you are saturated in and loving. When you get the book, you are confused from page one when the MC is balls deep into a wet pussy. Oh yeah. I had to check the blurb before I went on to make sure this was about two DUDES and not some sort of ménage or just a bisexual deal. Nope. Okay then, let’s see where this goes.

Where this went was downhill fast. The MC’s were not likeable, Logan was arrogant to the point I wanted to punch him in the throat and Tate was so wishy-washy I rolled my eyes so much I could see yesterday. Cheesy lines, you say? Oh yeah. How can my brain not go there after struggling through 300+ pages of I don’t know what the hell that was? Can someone help me, please?

We are told how to feel as these men test the waters of their relationship. I never figured out why either of them liked the other. I get it; they are both hot yet other than Logan’s constant reenactment of a Robin Thicke summer hit wearing Tate down, I don’t understand why he went for it. Logan is supposed to be some sexy alpha man whore whose milk shake brings everyone to the yard…um, I never saw the appeal. The story was all over the place, it was awkward and did not have a steady flow. The abundance of details may suit some but not me, nor does repetitiveness and good lord the dialogue drove me nuts. Did the inner goddess come over for tea with the boys? I was so tired of reading the word TRY in every tense it could be in. I couldn’t bring myself to do a search count for it, I did not want to see it again. Can we say over usage at its finest?

Now, I get that this will have an audience and the audience it is intended for… I am not a ticket holder of. I currently read strictly m/m romance, I am lost in it and I love it. From boys figuring out their sexuality to gay for you stories, to FBI agents to hard core BDSM. The boys do it for me and they are boys. Now, if you haven’t read m/m romance you won’t understand that there IS A DIFFERNCE in how it’s written. It’s not just a search and replace him for her or penis for vagina. It’s different. Men are different. They have sex different, they interact different, they think different. This read to me as men thinking like women would. They had sex like women would. Yes, anatomy aside, it read as women in the scenes. Along with that misstep, there was zero connection between the MC’s. I did not feel they were into each other at all. Scenes that should have had me full of emotion had me irritated to the point I wanted to give up and DNF this at 30% but I have liked previous work from the author and know what she is capable of. Unfortunately, this fell short. Hell, this didn’t even pull out the toddler stool to see onto the m/m shelf. It was just off, so off when it had a chance to be a bridge between the two genres.

With all the hype and pre-release reviews out there already I will expect this to have glowing ratings. I will be the odd chick out and that is fine. Regardless of where I get a book, I am honest about my reading experience.  I am sure the reader this was intended for will love it and that is as it should be. This just was not for me.

*ARC provided by the author for an honest review*