Samhain Publishing, $5.50, ISBN 978-1-61923-340-9
Contemporary Romance, 2016

Nate Keller is a rock star who has two boyfriends. Big deal, I know, Mick Jagger probably had like 5,000 shag buddies. Still, Nate’s two beaus, Theo and Cameron, are apparently so fun to be with that they have actually been only with one another despite their relationship being technically an open one. Alas, all good things have to come to an end, and so, shortly after the story opens, Nate learns that Theo and Cameron are going to have a trial separation. Nate is like, no, the three of them are meant to be together forever, so oh, he has to do something. Meanwhile, Theo is like, ooh, depression and Cam is like, oh, his life is going down the drain. Will this threesome stay a threesome, or will everyone call for a forced Hiatus?

Okay, that last line is lame, but you can’t tell me you aren’t expecting that one from me.

Is Hiatus a sequel? I’m one of those plebeians who don’t follow too many authors of gay romances closely – doing so often requires sloughing through these authors’ gender crisis drama, feuds with other authors or bloggers, and blog entries resembling bottom-drawer gender study theses – so I have no clue. And that’s a problem, because I have no clue and hence I have not many hoots to give to these three guys. I’m tossed into the middle of all that angst and hand-wringing, it’s like being parachuted right into the middle of a shrink session with strangers and I can only say, “Uh… who are you people again and what the hell am I doing here?”

And when the author could have showed me more about these characters – you know, to give me a reason why I should care about them – she’d rather show them having sex instead. It’s not even a fun and kinky kind of sex, so it’s not like I have to read them. Therefore, the structure of the story is like this: angst – sex – angst – sex – angst – sex… you get the drift, I’m sure. The whole thing feels so compartmentalized, it’s like the author wrote this book while glancing impatiently at the clock.

I close this one thinking that these three guys actually do need some hiatus. Their behavior never rises beyond childish finger-pointing, whining, and sulky expressions punctuated by boring vanilla sex, and they all seem to reinforce one another’s issues. It makes more sense for them to be away from one another, maybe to meet and hook up with some mature guys on their favorite hook-up apps. That, or in Nate’s case, stop being such a wimp and go do real rock star stuff like snorting lines off a Tijuana mule’s rump or something.

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