Rating: 2.25 stars
Buy Links: 
 Amazon | All Romance
Length: Novella


Aidan Markham longs for the moment that he meets the man he will fall in love with. So far that hasn’t happened, but until that day comes he can continue to pine after his best friend, lust after the detective he’s helping on a case, and daydream about the gorgeous hunk of a snake catcher that’s working to rid his house of the creepy reptiles.

Six months ago, Aidan had a one night stand with his best friend, Baxter, and since that fateful night Aidan has wanted more from their relationship. But Baxter has made it clear that he is not a commitment kind of guy. So Aidan has taken to being his wing man and trying to protect Baxter when he goes out to pick up men.

When Aidan discovers a nest of snakes living under his house, his once happy, rather quiet existence turns chaotic and stressful. Not once, but twice Aidan has returned home from his morning run to find the slithering reptiles on his front porch. And as enjoyable as it is to watch the sexy snake catcher, Aidan only wants his home back – free of snakes.

As a professor of sociology, using his skills in their most practical form, Aidan is contracted out to the local police department from time to time to help as a profiler.  This time he is helping Detective Sam Walters stop a ring of burglaries whose only connection seems to be a recent infestation of snakes and the need for snake catchers. Sam has been starring in all of Aidan’s dreams as of late. Too bad he’s straight, even if he sometimes seems to be hitting on Aidan. Aidan is sure that it’s only his overactive imagination.

Between the mixed signals form Sam, finding out that Baxter used him and that he’s been keeping secrets from Aidan, more snakes showing up at his house, and discovering a dead man in his living room, Aidan has to find a way to bring his life back to rights after wading through all of this chaos.

What About Him is a story of finding love…or at least, the beginnings of the possibility love. The story itself is a good idea, but weakly executed. All of the characters could have used more development and the story itself could have been smoother. As it is the storytelling is very choppy and extremely predictable.

Aidan is frustrating, but somewhat likable. He’s lonely so he sees all of the men in his life as potential partners, but can’t seem to make up his mind one way or the other. He jumps at the first sign that one of them is interested. And the character is a little conflicting. For someone who “reads people” for a living, he is oblivious to the people around him. I could tell Sam was gay almost immediately. And I figured out the “secret relationship” in the second chapter. I think the humor of his situation with the snakes and his reaction to them is what made Aiden mildly likable, for me. His schoolgirl-like fear of the snakes was entertaining.

The story is disjointed and a little confusing because there was so much happening all at once and it is so unfocused and rambling that it is hard to meld this story.

1) Aidan wants to fall in love. He has three options in this story, but can’t really decide on one. And even with three men, there’s not really an emotional connection between Aidan and any of them. His obsession with Baxter is just that…obsessive. He can’t seem to get over what once was. And the strange, somewhat forced relationship with Sam is odd to me.

2) Snakes have invaded his house. It’s humorous at the beginning, but then it’s repetitive and doesn’t add a lot to the story. It does give Aidan something to stress about.  It introduces Doug, the snake catcher, and lends a little help to the investigation. But it takes up most of the story and adds very little.

3) The burglary investigation, which I expected to be a rather large part of the story, falls by the wayside and is solved easily with a one-liner at the end. I was looking for more of a mystery and a bigger conclusion, especially after the murder, but it didn’t happen. It was disappointing.

In the end, I had high hopes for What About Him after reading the blurb, but I was only left wanting and dissatisfied.