slamRating: 4.25 stars
Buy Links: 
 Amazon | All Romance
Length: Novel


Jude Biggerstaff is out and proud, an amateur poet working at a vegan cafe and living with his mom.  Though still a bit sour from a bad breakup, he is generally a pretty happy guy, especially on Saturdays when the local karate class runs by the cafe and he catches a glimpse of his hot crush, Karate Crumpet.  After a chance encounter leads to a dashing rescue by the gorgeous hottie, Jude is thrilled to get to know David better.  Except for the part where Jude’s mom leads David to believe Jude is only 15 so she can convince her boyfriend she is ten years younger than she really is.  This is just the first of many stumbles along the way, as Jude and David get to know one another and begin dating.  But although Jude is hot for David immediately, David wants to take things slow.  He is not out at work and Jude is definitely a flamboyant guy, with his eyeliner and stolen fuck me boots from his mom.  Add to that accidents, work complications, a few tricky white lies, and the guys must navigate through a lot of issues and craziness if they are going to make things work.

So you know right off the bat when you hear the hero’s name is Jude Biggerstaff that this is going to be a book laced with lots of delicious humor.  I mean, has their ever been a pornier sounding name? It is especially funny when you know Jude looks like a teenager, is half-Japanese, tall and willowy, and crazy quirky.  The best part of this book for me is that it just cracked me up.  Like laugh out loud in inappropriate places funny.  Jude is a bit wacky, with sort of a constant stream of consciousness that seems to take him in all kinds of directions.  I got a kick out of watching his mind wander, and David is equally amused at the crazy things that come out of Jude’s mouth. Add in his interest in poetry and the constant creation of naughty limericks and he is just a lot of fun.  And it is not just Jude. I loved his mother, despite the fact that she is a bit crazy herself.  This scene totally makes me laugh and sets up some of the conflict for later in the book. It just totally captures Jude and his mom, both their personalities and humor, as well as the love they have for each other.

“I kind of, well, misled him about my age, that’s all.”

“Misled him how?”

“I sort of dropped ten years off it when I told him. He’s only thirty-two. He wouldn’t want to be going out with a forty-four-year-old!”

“Yeah, but Mum, if you’re thirty-four, that means you had me when you were twelve. Isn’t he going to be more worried about that than about you being a bit older than him?”

“No, because he thinks you’re fifteen.” She said it like it was the most unimportant thing in the world.

“Mu-um!” I couldn’t believe it. “You know I hate it when people think I’m a kid!” I thought about it. “And how do you explain me not being at school?”

Mum muttered something into the cupboard as she got out the teabags.

“Mum?”

Her face looked a bit flushed when she pulled it back out of the cupboard. “I told him you’d been suspended for smoking pot.”

I stared at her.

“Well,” she said, “You’re so bloody skinny, everyone thinks you’re on drugs anyway. Or anorexic. I did think about telling him you were off sick with anorexia, but…”

She looked at me, her lower lip quivering just a little. I’d always wondered where I’d got that from.

Not.

“You,” I said, pointing at her with a teaspoon, “are going to pay for this.”

Her eyes twinkled. “Let me guess. Unlike my darling boy, it isn’t going to be pretty?”

We burst out laughing together. You’ve got to love my mum, even when she does stuff like this.

So the best part of this book for me is that it is just fun.  I loved Jude. I loved his crazy mom and their loving and a bit quirky relationship.  I loved Jude’s best friend Keisha and how even though they fight and bicker, they both totally have each other’s backs in any situation.  And we even get to meet Jude’s boss and his wife, aging hippies who run the cafe and are family to Jude, and especially Keisha who really needs it.

I also loved David, that hot, sexy Karate Crumpet.  He is gallant and hot and sweet.  He takes care of Jude even when he thinks Jude is just a kid.  And I loved that even though Jude is so different from his usual type, and that being with Jude is sort of shaking up his world, that David just hangs on for the ride with a sense of bemusement and a real fondness for him.  My only complaint, however, is that I wish we had more of them together.  Their relationship build up is pretty slow. At first it is because David thinks Jude is just a child.  But even once that is squared away, they have a series of casual dates and occasional encounters that just move things forward very slowly.  It is not just that there is no sex for a long time (or even anything beyond a fairly casual goodnight kiss until about 70% of the way through the story).  It is more that there is so much going on here and just not that much time for them together really developing things between them.  Also for the majority of the book, Jude is basically throwing himself and every possible sexual innuendo at David, while David keeps things fairly low key.  Given that, it was a bit shocking then to see David suddenly hot and heavy and wanting suddenly out of nowhere for their first sexual encounter.  Don’t get me wrong, it was so totally hot.  But it just seemed like sort of a big jump for what seemed like casual dating to hot sex and real feelings.

But even with these issues, the humor and fun just won out here for me. As I said, I just adored Jude and the whole host of side characters.  The story is light and fun and sweet and a bit crazy.  Definitely entertaining and enjoyable.

Cover Review: I like the look of this one, but wish the cover model looked more like Jude is described.  I mean, we don’t really see his face, but this guy doesn’t say “tall, willowy, eye liner wearing Asian” to me.  Plus we know Jude likes to wear his shirts a lot tighter than that! 😉

jaysig