The Curtis Reincarnation by Zathyn Priest
When I read the blurb of this book I had to buy it: young devilish rock star in love? shy computer geek who is mesmerized by the lure of the show business? hot sex from night one? yes, it seemed another of that "show business" novel I like so much, full of scandal and spoiled naughty young artist in love... and I was wrong! No, not since I didn't like it, I'm up at 2 at night since I can't give up the book till I reached the last page... I was wrong since this is not a glittering love story for paparazzi.
Right, Jordan is a bit of a geek, he is a 28 years old software gay engineering and his target in life is to build a comfy nest for another lovebird... there is the little problem that Jordan's expectation in a partner are quite high and till now no one has measured up to them. But Jordan is willing to wait, he is in no hurry. Have you started to realize that Jordan is not an easily impressionable man? And so he is less than happy when his sister forces him to be her chaperon on the hottest rock concert of the season, a live performance of Tyler Curtis; from what Jordan knows, Tyler is a spoiled badmouthed rock star with a rotten attitude and the habit to sleep with a different groupie every night.
On the scene Tyler is good, but all the circus around him is so tiring that on the following party, Jordan is only searching a way to escape. And far from the crowd he meets Tyler... actually no, he meets Alec, the real "Curtis". Alec is a barely 20 years old man with the behavior of a teen and the innocence of a baby. Due to an health problem, Alec was abandoned by his mother and sheltered by his father; when the father suddenly passed away, Alec felt almost captive of a selfish manager who treats him like a puppet. The real talented Alec was hidden to allow the birth of Tyler, a man Alec himself despise.
Alec is all Jordan's dreamed off: sincere and trustful, naivee till embarrassment, all blushing and sweetness... he is so innocent that "virgin" is not quite enough to describe him. Suddenly Jordan is fiercely protective for the man who seems to be the lovebird missing to his nest. The author manages to turn the tables in all I was expecting: it's not Jordan who is swept away in a world that he didn't know and let him helpless, it's Alec who is the "damsel in distress"; it's not an erotic and naught love story, on the contrary, the sex is almost chaste and always behind closed doors if not for only once time; it's not a funny romp, sometime it's almost a drama.
I was well aware in some part of the story that the author was pushing on the moving button, while reading some scene, I was really thinking, here he is, now he pushes the right button and he is sure to have the reader in tears... and I was in tears! I couldn't help myself. All right, it was only a moment, and after all the story is more sweet and tender than dramatic, but nevertheless I poured one tear or two.
So if you want to read a very unusual gay romance, with a very fresh and young style, The Curtis Reincarnation by Zathyn Priest is on my recommendation list; I don't know how old Zathyn Priest is, but I would bet that he is young, since his novel has a very young feeling.
http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=ZPCTREIN
Amazon: The Curtis Reincarnation
Amazon Kindle: The Curtis Reincarnation
Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (February 16, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 160820779X
ISBN-13: 978-1608207794
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle
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