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Time To Upsize (2012)

by Graeme Aitken(Favorite Author)

2.95 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

20Ten Books

series

The Indignities

review 1: I picked this up for free from ARe, and that's about all the good I can say about this book. If this was supposed to be satire (as the blurb might lead you to believe), it failed. Stephen is in a relationship with Blake, who might be a bit bland compared to his usual fare, but is a nice, reliable, caring guy. Stephen, however, is not only a conceited, vain asshole, too busy thinking about his less than average dick, but also a cheater and liar, and basically takes Blake for granted. He's an out of work actor, whose only claim to fame was a short sting in an Australian TV series playing the boytoy du jour for one of the more famous characters. He has done nothing much since other than sit on his ass, go on long holidays with Blake, that are all about Stephen, and fuck his w... moreay through the bath houses and gyms in Sydney where they live. It's all about Stephen. It's all about Stephen's charisma, and Stephen's needs and Stephen's wants, and Stephen's desires, and he cares nothing about anyone else. He schemes and he plots and he does all kinds of terrible things to get what he wants. His derision of Blake made me angry, and Stephen deserved every bit of what he happened to him. He's a psycho, and I wouldn't wish this guy on my worst enemies. The writing may be good, but the character from whose eyes we see this tale unfold is so unlikable and so fucking awful that I nearly DNF'd the book. This was a waste of time, and I cannot in good conscience recommend this to anyone.
review 2: Time to Upsize by Graeme Aitken Pick up Stephen’s story right after he ex-boyfriend Ant has moved to New Zealand and his best friend Blair has relocated to London, both went in pursuit of the “love of their life” which turned out to be only a poor imitation. Still there they were and Stephen was left with just Strauss as friend and companion and a limping acting career to boot. Lest you think that Stephen has become any less self-centered or less crazy for that matter, think again. Once again Stephen is up to his old ways of getting the most out of a relationship with the least amount of input. He stumbles upon cute twenty-something Blake and begins a three-year relationship complete with house and living together. However, even though Blake is (or seems to be) content with Stephen being the dominant one in the relationship, Stephen begins to feel those age old feelings that he needs more—more variety, more partners, more sex. He begins to cheat on the side, brushing away any quilt with the idea that Blake himself welcomed threesomes occasionally and even though clandestine and anonymous sex in the saunas was not quite a threesome, still it wasn’t really cheating. Welcome to Stephen’s suspect point of view.All was floating along with seemingly a hitch when the neighbor across the street moved out and well-hung gym bunny Rick moved in—then Stephen’s world turned upside down as he began to realize that Blake was not all he seemed nor was he any longer content to be Stephen’s second choice.Graeme Aitkin is a remarkably funny writer. He has a very really gift for creating characters that are larger than life and oh so compelling to read about. His dialogue is smart and cutting, his characters constantly plotting and thinking—just a pleasure to read and spend time with on the page. My only hesitation in giving this novella five stars was the middle section or the set up of Stephen and Blake’s relationship. In contrast to the description of Ant and Blair’s moves and the subsequent three- year partnership, this establishing of the couple seemed a little slow—rather dry in comparison.Overall, Time to Upsize was an incredibly good sequel to Graeme Aitken’s first novel, Vanity Fierce less

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