My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommended by: Buddy Read with Loederkoningin, Anna (Bananas!) and Lee.
Recommended for: All M/M readers
Read from July 01 to 03, 2013 — I own a copy, read count: 1
4 emotionally rewarding stars!
A heartwarming, funny as hell yet meaningful story of a simple, endearing, built like an ox guy named Al (Alan Fletcher) who works down Scudamore at Cambridge, England pulling punts for tourist. He may have a scary mug as he calls it but inside he is all soft and cuddly. A gentle giant who have a fetish for all things small and cute. That's why he can't help falling in love with pretty Larry who's skinny and in Al's opinion, so little and fragile that Al wished he could wrap him up in a warm cocoon to protect and worship.
Larry (Lawrence Morton) is a History of Art professor at Cambridge University and both he and Al had actually met in the most unconventional way. Their first meeting cracks me up so much I cannot stop laughing and even snorted several times when I tried to suppress it lest those around me thinks I have gone psycho. Let's just say that their unique love story started with a wazz in an alley.
I find Larry's skittishness quite adorable, he reminds me so much of this little fellow here...
You really couldn't blame Larry for being such a timid guy since he is so tiny and as Al puts it, he could easily snap little Larry in half effortlessly. I love that Larry likes to snuggle alot and that jives so well with Al's urge to cuddle him all the time. Larry is such a classical giggly uke too, plus he also has a submissive side - he gets excited when Al goes alpha mode during sex. I am loving all these physical and characteristic aspect of the MCs because I have a thing for large alpha-ish men with their little man. Which is why I enjoyed books by Lynn Hagen, Joyee Flynn, Gabrielle Evans and a couple of others that features twinks in the arms of muscle-bound men. Oh yea and Want Me by Rowan McBride tickles this fancy of mine very well too. So now you know why I don't exactly need sex for a book to work for me - it's the fetish that gets me going. *tongue-in-cheek*
Please don't get me wrong tho, I love the sex in this book. I think it is handled pretty well and rather sensual too. By the way, Larry is a quite a good rider considering the fact that he does have the right bronco under him. Psst.. and that little rough patch by the wall is jism. Al says not to tell and it was Larry's idea not to clean it up :3
I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing things through Al's eyes. Yup, this book is entirely written in first person's POV or in this case, Al's POV. His simplistic and practical calm approach at handling situations is refreshing and at times eye-opening too. Frankly, it is a rather soothing and soul enriching experience not to mention hilarious as hell too. Because....
.... Al tends to say the darndest things at times:
On Tuesday we were both a bit sore, so we went to the gallery with Michelangelo’s David in. He looks a lot like Larry, but for a seventeen foot tall guy, he’s got a really tiny cock. Larry’s cock is a lot bigger than that. Larry said that Michelangelo was a poof, so I wondered why he’d sculpted a guy with a really tiny cock. But I know when you go to old houses, the doorways are much smaller, ’cause people were shorter then, so maybe cocks were smaller too. It makes me glad I wasn’t born a few centuries ago.
To me, I do not think Al is stupid or slow or anything like that, he is quite smart actually. Thing is, he is just misunderstood by others as he lacks the natural inborn ability to interpret people correctly. Seems like he might have a milder form of autism known as the Asperger syndrome/disorder, with symptoms that affect his social interaction and behaviour.
I would recommend reading House Rules by Jodi Picoult if you are interested to learn more about this unique disorder in a more interesting way rather than just googling up boring medical materials. The book itself is fast paced and full of interesting plots and feelings. The characters are well drawn and compelling. I've enjoyed it immensely and learned much about this condition through the eyes of a very young man facing crime prosecution that he may or may not have committed. If you are a mother, this will not be an easy read as you could literally feel the anguish his loving and supportive mother has to go through.
While we are at it, I also wish to recommend a movie featuring an lovable handsome young man with Asperger syndrome. The film was poignant, endearing and a pleasure to watch -
Adam (2009)
Now back to the story...
I'll say, Muscling Through ended on the right note and totally made my day. Dear author, thank you so much for this:
Click to View:
Now to wrap this review up, I would highly recommend it all M/M readers as I feel that this book does seems to work well with readers across the board. Just that you might have to risk your face freezing up due to too much grinning from the beginning until the end.
