Hungry for Love, Rick R. Reed

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Genre: Gay Romance

Tags: Contemporary

Length: 200 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Dreamspinner Press, amazon.com

This review is slightly spoilerish but no major spoilers are revealed.

Nate Tippie isn’t a one-man kinda guy. At least not on the outside. He’s in the bed of a different guy every time he has the urge (which is often). On the inside? He wants to find true love just like most do. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be in the cards. One one-night-stand after another and he’s no closer to finding a partner than ever. He enjoys the sex and the random hook-ups but he hopes that someday he can find someone to love and who will love him back.

Brandon Wylde has never been involved in the club scene. He doesn’t have a lot of sexual experience and that’s by choice. He’s not looking for random hook-ups like his best friend, Christian. He’s looking for true love and is determined to find it even if it means signing up on a dating site to do it. Taking a chance, he creates a profile on the site OpenHeartOpenMind, a site that specializes in romance, not just just sexual encounters. Brandon looks in a mirror and sees plain. He sees nothing spectacular that would make other men turn heads. He is who he is and doesn’t see himself as others do…… a good looking man. He has an amazing mother, who the reader will fall in love with immediately. Brandon is a self-professed mama’s boy (I loved that).

Hannah is Nate’s sister and Marilyn is Hannah’s ~~psychotic~~ best friend. I have to state early that I am not a fan of either. This lack of love did not go away as the story played out. If anything, it grew. More on that later.

Hannah and Marilyn are heavily into M/M romance novels. Marilyn goes one step further and is obsessed with gay men in general. She’s loud, obnoxious and doesn’t censor anything she says, regardless of who is around or where she is. The two get drunk one night and decide to check out some of the gay hook-up sites online. One ~~drink~~ thing leads to another and a false profile is created on OpenHeartOpenMind with the women using Nate’s info. It’s only to check out the men on the site, right? Well, not exactly. The profile is supposed to be deleted but it’s not and Hannah takes it a step further by contacting someone on the site under the pretense of being Nate, but not for the reasons one would think (hence my total lack of love for Hannah).

Brandon gets a message on OpenHeartOpenMind and is convinced that he may have found the one. One message after another and the two ‘men’ agree to meet. This is done via messages on the site. It also leaves Hannah with a major dilemma. Nate has no idea that his name (and later, photo) were used on this particular dating site, though he has used a lot of the others to meet random men for sex in the past (and often). She eventually comes clean with Nate and he reluctantly agrees to meet Brandon to let him down easy.

It doesn’t quite happen that way.

There is much more I could say about all of the above but I won’t. That would be completely giving the story away so I will hold back on what happens when Nate and Brandon actually meet for the first time and what happens later. I will, however, give my thoughts on the characters.

Hannah. She claims to have her brother’s best interests at heart but in reality, all she cares about is her own selfish, jealous self. Setting up the false profile on the dating site was one thing. She brought Nate and Brandon together. A good thing, right? Definitely. But she also goes out of her way to try to sabotage her brother’s happiness because of her own jealousy. I feel that she’s forgiven too easily but that’s just me. Nothing she did later redeemed her character in my eyes.

Marilyn. Where to start? Not much of a best friend to Hannah but then again, by the time I got to the end of the book I felt that they deserved each other. She’s loud and obnoxious and just as selfish as Hannah. Not someone I would want to be associated with, especially in public.

Nancy, Brandon’s mother. I adored her. She’s the perfect mother and one that any gay or straight person would be very lucky to have. She did one thing that had me shaking my head but as a mother myself I could relate so I let it go.

Brandon. I absolutely adored him. He’s a little shy. He’s very self-conscious. But inside, he’s a wonderful human being. All he wants is a man to love… a man he can trust.

Nate. I liked Nate a lot even if I didn’t always agree with him. I felt that he should have been more forthcoming on some things but had he been, the story would not have worked out the way it did. It was a pleasure watching him go from a different man each night to falling head over heels in love with Brandon. His profession is kept secret throughout most of the book but it didn’t take long for this reader to figure it out. It actually touched on something that I have even written about in another review, only in Nate’s case it was the opposite of what I normally see. As much as I really want to go into more detail in regards to it, I won’t. I will say that I am itching to do so but will step back from my laptop now. 😀 This is a subject that my blog partner and I have discussed at length (privately) and this book will no doubt bring up the subject again. Sure, I’m being cryptic and I apologize for that but I don’t want to ruin any part of the book for future readers.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, as I have every other I’ve read by this author and I’ve read quite a few. The love story is good. There is just enough conflict to keep it interesting but not so much where the reader gets frustrated. All of the characters are perfect for the story, even if I didn’t necessarily like some of them. The way everything comes together at the end is very nice. There is a quick epilogue so the reader can see Nate and Brandon (and the other characters) a little down the road. It was perfect.

Another great read by Rick R. Reed.

This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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Admin

Kazza K

Oooh, Hannah’s character has my hackles up just reading your review. Sounds like you really enjoyed another of Rick R Reed’s books. I have to read him one day. I must check out the cryptic bit with you. Email incoming!! 😀

Author

Cindi

I couldn’t stand Hannah but she was very necessary for the story. I can’t think of one of his books I haven’t really enjoyed (and you know how many I’ve read). This one was no different. A really good book.

You’ll get it when you and I speak privately. 😀

Guest

Rick R. Reed

Thanks so much, Cindi, both for the review that had me smiling and for keeping your mouth SHUT on a critical plot point. I appreciate that! You didn’t like Marilyn? Oh come on, that gal is a hoot. I’m bringing her to Atlanta for GRL in October….

Author

Cindi

You’re welcome, Rick. I would NEVER spoil this (or any of your books) for other readers. I found the ‘critical plot point’ interesting though as it’s something my blog partner and I have discussed at length privately long before I read this book. Marilyn is definitely a hoot. I’m sure she would grow on me after a couple of good, strong margaritas (me drinking them, not her) 😀

Another great book. I look forward to your next one.