Rate this book

Snapshots And Bylines (2011)

by Stephani Hecht(Favorite Author)

3.33 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

eXtasy Books

series

Friends to Lovers

review 1: This book is kind of divided into two parts. The first 2/3 of the book is Sammy and Marc as high school graduates who have been best friends since Sammy moved to town. Although they knew each other was gay, they finally get together and it's amazing being each others first. However Marc's Mom is a loser and abusive and when she reveals some information he is sure will cause Sam to hate him, at the same time she's up and moving them to another town, he leaves without telling Sammy why, and it breaks Sammy's heart, he thinks he's been used. Years later, Marc is a film maker who wasn't to do a film using Sammy's GLBT centre and despite his feelings Sammy agrees and their friends decide it's time for the two to talk, whether they like it or not. To be honest I thought Sammy ga... moreve in too quickly. LOL Yeah, I'm mean that way. Apparently Marc had been talking to their friends for years but refused to contact Sammy and everyone was "but you didn't contact him". Umm, yeah, he didn't walk out without a word. It wasn't on him to explain or ask forgiveness. I wouldn't have minded the ending being more drawn out as most of the story was them at age 18 rather than at age 30something, but the romance of friends to lovers as kids was sweet and intense as young love often is and Sammy's elderly neighbor was a hoot.
review 2: This story had so much potential, yet what did we get instead? 62/81 pages of Sammy and Marc when they were 18, followed by a “10 years later” and a rushed and immature resolution with both of the MC shoved in a closet. Stephani Hecht can do better and this basically read like a plot outline, not a fully fleshed out book. So much time was dedicated to meddling old neighbours, rashes and talk when the boys were teenagers, that there was no room left for the fact that they were separated for so long, had so much between them they needed to settle and were going to need a really long talk to make up for it. I didn't find the reason for the separation believable, it was actually very weak, and a ten year period of feelings of abandonment, hurt and incomprehension were magically solved in under 3 minutes, which was underwhelming. We get nothing about what their lives have been like since their separation, the blurb actually tells us more than they do. The whole book was basically the one scene of when they were 18 and their unsatisfying reunion. When I read in Stephani’s blog that we would be getting 2 books a month, I was excited. But if this is what we’re going to get, quantity over quality, I’d rather wait for a decent book that took more time to write. This one at least would have benefited from it. I was not impressed. less

Download links for: Snapshots and Bylines

Advertising