Say It Again

Title: Say It Again
Author: Jasmine Black
Publisher: Silver
Buy Link: Buy Link Say It Again
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: Novella (63 pages)
Rating: 2 stars out of 5

A Guest Review by Cole

Review Summary: A novella with a good premise, but ultimately had way too many problems with the structure of the story and the characterizations.

**This review might be seen to contain spoilers**

BLURB

One month before the annual fireman’s charity auction, fireman, Wade Hartman announces he’s gay. This year when he strolls down the catwalk, he wants to leave with a man. When the only bid he receives is a pity bid, Wade’s crushed, but he lets his friend take him to dinner anyway.

Real estate conglomerate, Jared Kessler’s loved Wade for years. So when he reads the article about the fireman’s charity event, he knows he has to be the winning bidder. Mistaken as an unwanted bidder, Jared refuses to give up. He wants Wade, if only for one night.

One innocent dinner turns into fiery passion. But one night isn’t enough for Wade. He wants Jared for real. The more Wade pushes, the closer he comes to discovering the deep, dark secrets of Jared’s past. Can love conquer Jared’s fears or are his wounds too deep for even love?

REVIEW

Say It Again opens at an annual charity auction for the local fire department. In past years, Wade has been one of the firemen to bring in the highest bids and a popular item with the ladies. They took him for a gentleman when he let them down easy, not realizing that the real reason he never took a charity date to bed like the other firemen was because he’s actually gay. This year, though, he has finally come out of the closet and, more than anything, he wants a man to bid on him so he can go on a real date. There aren’t many gay guys in their small town, so Wade has yet to find a man to go out with, but that doesn’t stop him from hoping. Also, getting a real date might help diffuse the lust he has for his golfing buddy Jared, his only real friend, which Wade assumes is undeniably straight due to the women he leads around on his arm. But the week after the local newspaper ran the story of their local gay firefighter, the extremely wealthy Jared hasn’t shown up to any of their tee-offs. So Wade is incredibly surprised and alternately angry when Jared is the only one to bid on him at the auction. The extremely high price Jared lays down only serves to ignite Wade’s fury to a higher level due to his embarrassment and wounded pride in front of his crush.

The date is awkward and Wade can’t seem to figure Jared out. He’s acting much different than he normally does on the course. And when Jared admits to wanting him, Wade is excited and pleased. Things immediately start to go sour with their date, though, as Jared switches easily from seemingly smitten with Wade to a stony cold demeanor, and back and forth, over and over again. He can’t quite understand the sexy and aloof man and Jared isn’t giving him any answers. The more Wade tries to do the right thing in showing how much Jared means to him, the more Jared turns in on himself and lashes back out at Wade, sometimes with devastating consequences.

I was excited to read this novella because the premise is a very good one, especially for those of us who love ansty stories. It is a bit difficult to really grasp from the blurb where the real story within this novella lies, but I will tell you that it deals with severe emotional and sexual abuse. It must have been a daunting topic for the author to explore, as Jared is an incredibly tortured man. Honestly, the story was a mess and I’ll try my best to sort out exactly why and what the story lacked that would have made it the really great story it could have become.

The main problem was that the story wasn’t given enough room to grow. There are so many issues over a long period of time that are “worked out” between Wade and Jared in only a little over a month. There is a lifetime of abuse that we don’t really know has happened until later in the story that doesn’t quite get explored. Also, the characters come across as immediately falling in love, simply because we’re told that they’ve gotten to know each other over a year or so of playing golf once a week. We never really see any of these things happening, so they don’t ring true. Most of the story Wade and Jared are separated from one another, and the few times they are together on screen, the interactions between them are incredibly volatile. Ultimately, they both leave every interaction angrier than they were going into them because they only ever really had sex with each other during these times. They never really talk to each other, which is admittedly difficult when Wade is trying and getting nothing from Jared, who has shut himself off emotionally from his surroundings. Thus, it makes it difficult for us to understand how they care about one another so much. Yes, I immediately loved Wade and I hoped to love Jared as well, but being a gentleman with understanding can’t inspire love all on its own. We need more information to make any of this believable.

The tone of the story also jumped around, as did the characters emotions, seemingly on their own without any explanation to the reader. This left the story feeling a bit like a runaway train where all of the cars have come unlatched — the whole story was barreling towards a messy end. In the end, this story really needed to be twice as long, with time spent with both of the characters. It needed more interaction between the two men and more information and interaction. While the story was cleanly copy edited, it still seemed sloppy, like a rough draft that needs a few more incarnations before going to publication. That said, the writing was well done and I wouldn’t be averse to reading more books by Jasmine Black, but she should spend a little more time with her drafts to make sure they’re streamlined.

I wouldn’t recommend this story. With all of the problems in the narrative and the added heavy issues that aren’t even worked through to bring a positive light to the character’s situation in the end, why bother? This one isn’t worth your money.