GayLife.com

Title: GayLife.com
Author: Neil Plakcy
Publisher: MLR Press
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novel (236 pages)
Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

A Guest Review by Aunt Lynn

THE BLURB

Living in the awesome gay candy store called South Beach, Brian Cohen laments his inability to score a great job or a sexy boyfriend—until he lands at the website GayLife.com, where his hunky boss may want more from him than just his management skills.

THE REVIEW

I have not read any of the popular Māhū mystery books by Neil Plakcy, so he is a first-time author for me. I also understand this is his first foray into the world of romance, and I think he hit gold with this one. GayLife.com is a funny, smart, uplifting, well-written book that would be a perfect beach read — not too angsty, not too sappy, just right — and I could see this being made into a romantic comedy film.

GayLife.com is set ten years ago in the toddler stage of the dot com boom and told in the first-person POV of Brian Cohen, a thirty-two-year-old man living on Miami’s colorful and multicultural South Beach. When we first meet Brian, he has been recently both laid off and dumped by yet another short-term boyfriend. Stella, his best friend and “fourth-highest-paid model on Miami Beach,” arranges via fellow supermodel Paavo for an interview with Nick Petrangelis, the “Supreme Webmaster and Grand Pooh-Bah” of a startup website, GayLife.com. Nick and Paavo are a gay power couple with hopes that this new online resource will be a gay super-site — the go-to place — and Nick desperately needs help. Brian is instantly, hopelessly smitten with hunky Nick, but Nick is already taken and off-limits (though that doesn’t stop Brian from thinking about him constantly!). Brian quickly becomes Nick’s right hand and Brian basks in the glow. But also being somewhat realistic, Brian knows that he can’t have Nick, so he keeps himself open and dates a series of men in the hopes of finding Mr. Right while he and the rest of the staff at GayLife.com break their backs (and put on weight!) in the weeks before and few months after launch of the site. When it seems that there may be trouble in power couple paradise, is it possible that Brian could have a chance with the rich, beautiful, seemingly out-of-reach Nick?

I loved this book and especially Brian. I thought he had a wonderful voice, and he felt very real to me, like I could be friends with this guy. He has flaws, he isn’t incredibly successful in his career or love, he’s had issues with his family, yet he is smart and witty and resourceful and above all, hopeful. I like that he admits that he likes sex. I adore that he takes people-watching — something I like to do, too — to the next level, especially when he is on the bustling, seemingly-always packs streets of South Beach. One of the things I loved about this book was the very detailed descriptions of people and the environment around him. Sights, sounds, smells all compete for an almost sensory overload. I found it hilarious that he as a thing for noticing bumper stickers, tee-shirts and signs with great sayings.

Unfortunately, because we see Nick through Brian’s eyes, and because he is not really the focus of the story (this is Brian’s tale), I didn’t get to learn nearly as much about Nick as I would have liked. For example, he has a slight British accent (“a British burr overlaid with New York directness”), yet he says “ass,” not “arse.” How long has he been in the States for that influence to take effect? But that’s not to say that we don’t get to know him at all, and I can see why Brian is besotted. Brian is attracted to Nick’s passion, charisma, intelligence, sweet nature, and how when he talks to you, it’s like you’re the only one in the world to him. It doesn’t hurt that Nick has a great body and nice ass (“Never underestimate the power of a nice ass.”). And I always like a man who likes to play with toys — and I don’t mean the naughty kinds, either! Described as someone whose office looks “like FAO Schwartz exploded in it,” he’s a sci-fi nut, complete with action figures that he makes walk around his desk, and movie and TV posters covering his walls.

There is a large, colorful, well-developed secondary cast, though, again, they all seem very real to me. Even longtime friend, Stella, who has the most glamorous career, is an ordinary person in a lot of ways. She and Brian spend average friend-time together, seeing movies, going out to eat, hanging out, going for walks. The staff at the site are average people with average issues (BTW, I found it hilarious how Brian counsels Dr. Bob, the site relationship advisor), and no one in the story is a caricature. For example, the guys Brian dates are not all out, beautiful, fit men.

A couple of things:

Firstly, note that GayLife.com is not your traditional “boy meets boy, they smexx it up, they date, they get to know one another, they smexx it up some more, they have an HEA” romance. This is more of a tale of a gay man’s life over the course of six or so months with said gay man working his ass off and dating (and smexxin up) some guys while pining over a dream man, a bunch of stuff happens — some funny and some not — and, yes, winding up with an HEA (come on, this is a romance after all!). It worked just fine for me.

Secondly, much of the story is a real-life look at what it takes to start up a massive website, with all of the uncertainties, crises, funding problems, long hours, and letting yourself go to make it happen, and then all of the issues afterward: fixing the problems, attracting more users and advertisers, the continuing funding problems, finding new hooks, keeping it going, going public. I didn’t mind this at all — been there, done that — but I can easily see someone less techy and geeky having their eyes glazed over with the detail.

OVERALL

GayLife.com is a wonderful, well-written book that I’m sure I’ll revisit again with pleasure. I highly recommend it to those looking for a fun, perhaps non-traditional, but nonetheless romantic read.