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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deliciously layered romance novel set in Sobe gay community, September 18, 2009
This review is from: GayLife.com (Paperback)
Brian is an unemployed 30-ish gay man, who relocated to Miami's South Beach as a change from his dead-end work history, and - hopefully - find a Mr. Right among the oh-so-wrong beauties in that diverse gay community. His BFF, Stella (a model), gives him a job lead at GayLife.Com, a start-up company looking to debut the ultimate gay website for the community. Brian is immediately in lust with Nick, the big boss, but knows that Nick is partnered with Paavo, a hunky supermodel who makes Brian look like a waste of skin by comparison. Reluctantly, Brian takes the job as Nick's assistant, using the time-consuming nature of the work to cope with the frustration of being so close, yet so distant, from his boss. A series of internet hook-ups do little to help, but Brian takes some comfort in knowing that his hard work and dedication is helping Nick (and Paavo, who is an investor in the business) make their site successful. A subsequent revelation gives Brian new hope, but soon an unexpected event, right before the site's IPO (stock offering), threatens to separate him from his job as well as Nick's friendship.
Author Plakcy is best known for his Hawaii-based wonderful "Mahu" series of crime mysteries, but he lives in Miami and that connection is obvious in the realistic local flavor of this deliciously-layered "coming of age"/romance novel. The relatable characters seem to leap off the page, with even minor players (such as Brian's family in NYC) creatively managed. Excellent escapist read, which I will give a full five Sobe stars out of five!
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sobe indeed!, August 4, 2009
This review is from: GayLife.com (Paperback)
Having spent some time in SoBe and South Florida, Brian Cohen is spot on. The trials and tribulations of living in a gay mecca are not easy for anyone. Eye candy everywhere, users, abusers, abound, and finding Mr. Right is just as hard as Brian makes out. There is more truth than fiction to this romance. All the characters are real in the sense that I've known people just like them in SoBe, and through the ups and downs, the story is well told, hilarious, poignant, and insightful. Thanks Neil.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gaylife.com by Neil Plakcy, July 27, 2009
This review is from: GayLife.com (Paperback)
Gaylife.com is the name of the website where Brian, unemployed thirty something gay guy in Miami ends to work for, but it's also the summa of what the story is the "gay life" of a man who is at that moment in life when he has to take a decision, living forever like a globetrotter, without basis or purpose, or doing something with his life. The time is the late '90, I believe for two reasons: first, the Internet was still enough young that the adventure to launch a gay website could be still something new and original and second, maybe the out and proud movement was not so strong, and some of the events that take place in Brian's life were still possible and common.
Brian is not a bad guy; he is average handsome, average clever, average funny... he is average, but a nice type of average. He is still self-conscious enough to not be too much bothered by that, he comes from a supporting family that gave him that security that allowed him to follow his mood: from small town near New York City, to living in New York City itself trying to find his way in the Broadway industry labyrinth, nor good actor enough, nor good director enough, nor good stage manager enough... and truth be told, not interested enough. From New York City he moved to Miami, always living on temporary jobs and mourning the lack of a steady boyfriend, but then bedding the first man he meets on a club without too much second thoughts. Brian tells to himself that he wants a good man, but the first thing he notices on a man is his look; true, he is nice enough to move over it if the man is interesting, but still I believe that he is not so convinced of what he is saying to himself, I don't think that Brian is really ready to set with a man, since, truth be told, he is not yet set with his life.
Then he meets Nick, his new boss at the gay website Nick is launching. Nick is nice and full of idea, but he is quite disorganized; he needs someone who is able to do pretty much everything, someone who is able to adapt, and Brian, with his unspecialized skills is exactly the man: every little trouble Brian has a solution for, calling favors with friends, and bartering others. And at first Brian is doing all of this since he is fallen in love with Nick and he would do everything for him. But Nick has a boyfriend, Paavo, who is model material, for real, and Nick and Paavo seem the perfect gossip gay couple. Brian has no change to be noticed by Nick, and despite his previous experiences as not devoted worker, he is starting to be good at his job.
Meanwhile, Brian is also trying to date, and he goes over all the stereotype of thirty something gay guys: the twink one, the closeted one, the married one, the perfect one but not for him, the lying one... the strange thing is that in all of them Brian finds something good, sex, conversation, common interests, but neither one of them is the ONE. When compared with Nick, the unreachable one, all of them lose the contest. More the book goes on and more I, the reader, is starting to wonder if, in the end, Brian will ever have a chance with Nick. Truth be told, more the time passed, and more I had the feeling that Nick was no more so important for Brian; yes, he is still the dream man, but at the beginning of the book, finding true love was the only purpose in life for Brian, and instead, more the story advanced, and more I had the feeling that it was not more his main path: Brian was finally growing.
Gaylife is basically a romance, but the romance is not so obvious. More than a story of two, is a story all centered around Brian and his experiences with the love. The good thing of the man is that he is able to learn from all them and keep something for him without regret or remorse.
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