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Buy it now from TLAgay.com or from our Amazon.com store - Between Boyfriends  

I finished this book less than a day ago but still had to look up the main character’s name to write this review. My incipient dementia notwithstanding, that’s not a good sign. There are other equally disturbing harbingers here—a plot as thin as a Walmart quilt, overwrought overwriting and the typical cast of Chelsea queen stereotypes. Oh, and a kooky mother. They’re usually Jewish, but this one’s Sicilian.

Steven Bartholomew Ferrante, producer of the daytime soap If Tomorrow Never Comes has been recovering from a disastrous relationship for four years, aided by Starbucks and a gaggle of gay geese that includes Lindsay, winner of a pewter Olympic medal for figure skating, HIV positive Flynn and slutty Sebastian among others. But this isn’t enough for Steven. He wants love. Will it be Brian? Frank? Or perhaps his secret admirer? You won’t know until the very last chapter.

Actually, that’s not true. If you’re an astute reader, you’ll be able to tell by page 11. It’s not that this is a particularly bad book, it’s just that you’ve read it before. From the cute ‘n’ clever conversations over coffee to Mom’s witty retiree wisdom to continual references to the gay cultural touchstones of disco, divas and drag, there’s a disconcerting feeling that we’ve been here, done it, bought the t-shirt and sent the postcard.

That’s not to say that Salvatore doesn’t have bouts with originality. When his soap opera male lead, Lucas, comes out on the Daytime Emmy show, the moment is both powerful and empowering. Sadly, however, those moments are sucker-punched by their surroundings and wind up on the canvas, down for the count despite their efforts.

“But,” I hear its supporters cry, “it’s just a light, fun read. It’s not supposed to be anything but entertaining.” Sigh. As I’ve done for years, I maintain it’s possible to have a light, fun, entertaining read that has interesting characters moving through an original plot and speaking dialogue that sounds like actual conversation instead of a Bruce Vilanch routine. It’s an old rant, but I keep reciting it in the vain hope I might win another convert or two.

{Between} Boyfriends isn’t an awful book, nor is it a wonderful one. It’s simply one that bears more than a slight resemblance to other mediocre beach reads. If that’s what you’re looking for, this will fill the bill nicely.

But don’t settle unless you have to. 

Reviewed by Jerry Wheeler