Ok, I liked the characters on the whole; I liked the storyline on the whole; I liked the seduction on the whole, but... a straight man would never be comfortable with the touchy-feelyness such as Josh, the gay character, displayed. (Or maybe I'm just acquainted with men who would be downright uncomfortable.) So that didn't seem real for me. And really? A week? That's all Tanner gets to come to terms with his feelings when most LGBTQ people have YEARS to deal with coming out? So yeah, that didn't seem real for me either. Or fair.

And yet it was an enjoyable read, on the whole! ;) ( )

Man to Man is probably the most traditional gay romance by G.A. Hauser I have read. There is still some of the elements that I usually find in one of her romances, like men who like sex for the pleasure of sex, and who are incredibly outrageous, but all in all, these two men are two romantic at heart.

Tanner, a lifeguard, is just out from a bad divorce and he doesn’t want to have a committed relationship any time soon. There is also the little problem that Tanner doesn’t want kids, that is the mainly reason for the failure of his marriage, and at 30 years old all the women who buzz around him seem primed for pregnancy. So basically Tanner is avoiding any relationship at all, and things work just fine at least till the day Josh enters his life.

Josh is 25 years old and in searching of a change in his life. A business degree on the shoulder and a year of work as white collar left him with a desire for something different. With the summer approaching, Josh decides to enlist to be a lifeguard and he is also very good at that. At first Tanner takes him under his wing thinking to have found a good work partner, but he doesn’t expect all the trouble Josh is bringing on.

Even if Josh behaves like an “easy” man, he is for real thirsty for love; all his previous relationships, three in totals, have always left him with a bitter taste in his mouth, and in the end, his partners have always taken advantage of him. Josh has never been the one in control, he was always the one who begged for love and only received sex. Just before meeting Tanner, Josh was considering the idea to try to have next a sex relationship instead of searching for love, and then here it’s Tanner, sexy and single. The little detail that Tanner is straight it’s not something Josh considers important, two of his three previous boyfriends pretended to be straight, and used Josh as hidden boy toy.

The problem is that Josh is totally unable to prevent to his heart to be involved and on the other side, Tanner is not a bad guy like his previous partners. Both men realize that they are venturing in dangerous waters, that their hearts are on stake, but the temptation is too much. There is a bit of 'gay for you' in this novel, even if it doesn't bring along the usual angst; yes, Tanner is scared to 'come out' as gay, he is still stuck with the definition of what is straight and what is gay, and he is maybe considering the option of bisexual, but all in all, he is not resisting so much or so strongly to the idea.

Usually I like the G.A. Hauser’s men since they are not likeable characters, they are whining, spoiled, vain… and they are adorable. Josh and Tanner have not the negative traits and all the positives, they are handsome, generous, devoted to their work and unable to have a relationship without commitment, even when they are both willing to have it. In a way they are so perfect that they should be unrealistic, but I was more in the mood to hug them, at least when they were not bad mouthing the women around them! Yes, that is another thing from the previous novels by G.A. Hauser that comes back again here, women don’t come out exactly in a positive way, even if, in the end, the author gave them a moment of redemption.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JIGCGM/?tag=elimyrevandra-20