Review: Too Stupid To Live by Anne Tenino

Posted January 17, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 3 Comments

It isn’t true love until someone gets hurt.

Sam’s a new man. Yes, he’s still too tall, too skinny, too dorky, too gay, and has that unfortunate addiction to romance novels, but he’s wised up. His One True Love is certainly still out there, but he knows now that real life is nothing like fiction. He’s cultivated the necessary fortitude to say “no” to the next Mr. Wrong, no matter how hot, exciting, and/or erotic-novel-worthy he may be.

Until he meets Ian.

Ian’s a new man. He’s pain-free, has escaped the job he hated and the family who stifled him, and is now—possibly—ready to dip his toe into the sea of relationships. He’s going to be cautious, though, maybe start with someone who knows the score and isn’t looking for anything too complicated. Someone with experience and simple needs that largely revolve around the bedroom.

Until he meets Sam.

Sam’s convinced that Ian is no one’s Mr. Right. Ian’s sure that Sam isn’t his type. They can’t both be wrong . . . can they?

Sam is trying to rush home with a new romance novel hidden in his jacket when he is hit with a rugby ball and goes down. That’s what he gets for not paying attention and walking across the field! lol He’s helped back up by Ian who is a complete hottie in Sam’s book, but when Sam asks Ian out for coffee Ian tells him that he’s not his type. Awww – very sad.

Sam and Ian run into each other again at Sam’s best friend Nik’s party. Turns out that Nik’s boyfriend Jurgen is Ian’s cousin. Small world, isn’t it? Ian and Sam have some hot sex after the party but then don’t see each other again. In fact Ian had no intention of seeing Sam…ever. When they run into each other again Ian realizes that Sam’s a lot hotter than he thought at first. Not as tall and awkward as he first thought – and he’s got a mouth to die for. After yet another interlude Ian proposes that he and Sam have casual sex a couple of times a week with the knowledge that nothing more will come of it. Sam knows that he shouldn’t say yes because he’s holding out for Mr. Right and not Mr. Right Now but Ian’s hot and they have great sex together so he goes for it. He really doesn’t want to be the TSTL heroine but he can’t help himself with Ian.

It doesn’t take long for the pair of men to start to see more and more of each other and start falling in love. Ian has some emotional issues, however, and those need be worked through and before he can truly commit to Sam.

So when I read the blurb to this book I was definitely intrigued and knew I wanted to read it. I love Anne Tenino’s stories and knew it would have some humor in it but this was really an all out romantic comedy. Yes, there were definitely periods of seriousness and those were really well done, but for the most part this book kept me in stitches.

Sam is a writer (though we don’t see him writing all that much) and loves romance novels (yay Sam!). He has his ideas of his perfect hero and he’s A-OK with being the heroine. He loves them Highlanders and a man in a kilt just yanks his chain. His inner monologue sometimes just had me laughing out loud and my kids were looking at me like I was nuts when I would just burst out laughing.

As I said there were periods of seriousness and those, for the most part, were on Ian’s side. He hadn’t come out until recently and even then only to those who asked. His father is bastard who wants him with a woman and Ian is working though a bunch of emotional crap and his own roadblocks he’d put up when it came to actually dating and possibly having a long term relationship with a man. Sam and Ian really worked this stuff out together and I thought that they each brought something special to the relationship and helped each other in ways that they couldn’t have done on their own. I loved the very real aspects of the story and the characters and this book definitely floated my boat. (Does anyone say that anymore? Well, I guess I do. lol) This is one not to be missed.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Anne Tenino


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3 responses to “Review: Too Stupid To Live by Anne Tenino

  1. Tam

    As I said at Cole's, about 1/4 the way in they were both annoying me, but about half-way it turned around and I ended up liking them a lot. I'll have to get to my review early next week.

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