NeedingSethRating: 2.75 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novella


Seth Landers is an introverted sci fi geek. He’s got a job at a medical group, and he goes to college at night. One day, Seth is hanging out with his friend Ruby. He tells her he may need a makeover and she enthusiastically agrees, calling him “nondescript.” After a day of visits to a stylist, an optical center, and a department store, Seth has a new ‘do, new glasses, and new jeans that Ruby swears make his butt look good.

The next day, Seth heads to work and is in the break room when one of the doctors in the medical group, Dr. Casey Logan, comes in. Casey asks Seth if he’s new, and Seth tells him he’s been there for about a month, and HE (and the office manager) interviewed him.

The two men wind up having lunch together the next day. Next, they wind up dancing on Seth’s birthday. After that, it’s dinner and a (slightly) romantic restaurant. All of this leads to Seth handing his heart (and his virginity) to Casey. Eventually, they fall in love, and Casey helps Seth through a difficult and upsetting situation. That’s when they realize they really need each other to get by.

I thought/hoped this would be a sweet little romance that would give me some warm feels and a happy feeling as I drifted off to sleep (I do most of my reading at night.). I’m so sad to say I feel let down. It started out ok. The makeover was a fun thing, but I was a little put off when Casey noticed Seth after that. I was getting the whole “you only matter when you’re pretty” vibe, and I don’t care for that. Seth was still Seth, even with new glasses and darker hair. This led me to feel sorry for Seth. It made me sad to think he wasn’t good enough for anyone. From that, I was a little miffed at Casey. He wanted to have lunch with/dance with/go out with the hot Seth, but he couldn’t even remember him from his interview.

I started to come around after a while and began to relax into their relationship. Casey did treat Seth with some reverence, especially when it came to sex. He took it (somewhat) slow and didn’t push. Seth was the one who initiated a lot of their encounters. The scenes were hot, and I enjoyed reading them, but I didn’t connect with the rest of the story.

There was a slight conflict near the middle of the book, but it felt forced, almost as if it was added after the fact. It was resolved quickly and no further mention of it was made. Also, Seth’s father is homophobic. VERY homophobic. He said some terrible things and treated Seth with such contempt. However, once again, it felt like his words, especially the little speech he gives Seth when he brings Casey over for dinner, were written to create more drama than necessary.

The ending was neat and tidy and wrapped up as was expected. That’s not a bad thing. Sometimes, predictable can be nice. I’ve mentioned comfort reads before, and an ending like this one offers the comfort and satisfaction I needed after struggling through a lot of the book.

Needing Seth had potential. I think if there were 50 more pages, Seth and Casey could have been better fleshed out, along with the conflict and Seth’s parents. This is a novella. Had it been a novel, I think I could have really enjoyed it.

kenna sig