Title: Get Your Motor Runnin’
Author: Rob Rosen
Publisher: Torquere
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: Short Story (3k words / 13 pages)
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
A Guest Review by Cole
Review Summary: At times funny and with a light tone, this story is written well, but ultimately relied solely on the sexual element, which left me a little bored.
BLURB
When business trips between San Francisco and LA become too tedious to deal with, Jake decides to spice things up by driving in the buff. He even picks up a hitchhiker, Les, and insists that the man take his clothes off, too. Distracted by his driving companion, Jake stops paying attention to his driving and winds up getting pulled over. Is there anything two naked guys in a car can do to convince the officer not to give them a ticket?
REVIEW
Jake is getting tired of the endless road trips he has to take for his job. Driving back and forth between San Francisco and Los Angeles every weekend is getting to be incredibly boring. What can he do to spice up the drive a little? Why, drive naked of course! Partway into his trip, he’s having the most fun that he’s ever had and decides to pull over to help the sexy young hitchhiker who looks to be having a hard time finding a ride.
Les is a musician, heading down to LA for the weekend for a gig. He’s quite surprised when the man who pulls over to offer him a ride is completely naked. Yet, the man is attractive and he’s getting desperate to get to LA, so Les agrees when the driver, Jake, points out that it is a bit awkward for him to be naked and his passenger to be fully clothed. They’re having a pretty good time flirting and admiring each other during the whole drive, until Jake becomes distracted by the show Les is putting on for him and speeds past a highway patrolman.
Jake and Les are nervous about being pulled over naked, but it seems that the cop’s day has been quite monotonous as well, and all they have to do to be on their way is give him a little show.
This is the first story that I’ve read by Rob Rosen and I find this to be a highly subjective story to review. There isn’t a whole lot to the story other than the sex, which for me, was quite a bit dull. The writing is good and I wasn’t bothered by the improbability of the premise (which, lets face it, is quite improbable, especially on such a highly traveled thouroughfare) because of the tone of the narrative, which was light and fun. This story certainly doesn’t take itself seriously, which is nice to read. This really only left the one thing that I mentioned earlier to critique, the sex, which like I said, is subjective to each particular reader’s tastes and peferences. I would have enjoyed this story much more if it were two, or even three times as long. As it stands now, the story was way too short for me to get to know the characters, or even for any real scene (sexual, or non-sexual) to come to its natural conlusion without rushing through the story too quickly.
I have heard a lot of great things about Rob Rosen’s stories, but this one didn’t really work for me. I am looking forward to reading more of his works, though. If you are a fan of Rob Rosen’s stories, perhaps you might like this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend this story.
I agree with you. It was good but not one of his best I don’t think. I’m pretty good at overlooking coincidence and improbable set-ups when a story isn’t meant to be taken seriously, but this one seemed a bit exteme even for that.
Yes, you’re exactly right Tam. Sometimes I also feel like I need to really love something about the story (characters, premise, plot, etc) in order for the unrealistic bits not to bother me. And honestly, I never became interested in the story…
I haven´t read anything about this author, so I think I will wait a bit more before having a go^^ Maybe with longer stories things work out better.
Thank you for your review 🙂
Hi Helena,
You should look online for some reviews of his new novel release, Hot Lawa from Torquere. I haven’t heard much about it yet, it was only released a few days ago (or last week?) but I know that its a much longer work than the short stories that he usually writes.
Thanks Helena 🙂
Hmmm… I almost bought Rob’s novel, ‘Hot Lava’ last night but decided to put it off until I had more time to shop.
Rob Rosen tends to write shorts, I believe, and while I know I’ve read several of them, I don’t recall any premise that seems quite so unlikely as this one.
That said, I seem to recall having enjoy Rob’s writing, so I’ll likely give this one a shot eventually. I do plan to buy the novel I mentioned sometime in the next week or so, and that’ll probably be a good time for me to pick up this short.
I’ll stop back and let you know what I think after I’ve read the sip. *hee*
Nicely reviewed, Cole. Thanks! 🙂
~Tis
I’ve heard a lot of great things about Rob and his other stories, and I certainly liked his writing. I think one of his other stories would probably suit me more, I really just never go into this story.
But, definitely let me know what you think if you read this one, because I’ve seen mixed reviews from others so far. I’d love to hear what you think 🙂 Plus, its so short you can read it in ten minutes!
At least it was only 10 min. of boredom. 3000 words, so little time to form an impact. The story has gotta be fast and furious.
Thanks for the review.
That’s what made this story difficult for me to review — it was well paced for such a short story and it didn’t take itself seriously, which I usually love. But there was just something missing for me…
Thanks Hannah 🙂
Yikes, I feel like a spy on my own life here. As for the story, yes, it’s subjective, and I always write in that 3,000 word range, FYI. In fact, I’ve had close to 300 stories published in that range. It’s just a personal preference of mine. I really don’t enjoy writing something that’s more than 5,000 words, nor do I enjoy reading longer stories. As for “Hot Lava”, this is my third novel, and it is full-length, and it does have awesome character depth. So please give it a try and let me know what you think. Thanks for taking the time for all your comments! All my best, Rob Rosen
Hey Rob, thanks for commenting! As I said, this story just wasn’t to my taste, but I’m definitely excited about reading more of your stories. I’m a fan of shorts as well, especially short shorts, which I love to read, so I’ll be sure to read more of your work. Thank you!