Davis always assumed they would wind up back together, until Jack calls and invites Davis to his wedding to Tadd Austin, a prominent architect in Chicago. Jack’s only known Tadd for two weeks, so whatever Jack feels for Tadd couldn’t possibly compare to what he shared with Davis. There’s no way in hell Davis can stand by and watch the life he always expected to get back slip away to some guy Jack barely knows. Tadd Austin, indeed…more like Toad Ass-ton, Davis thinks.
With his best friend, fashion designer Deseree Wildwood in tow, Davis has to shed his sweet, guy-next-door persona, and re-vamp his image into a self-confident, hot piece of eye candy. He’s going to the wedding with only one goal in mind: to do whatever it takes to win back Jack. The Toad is toast!
Once in Chicago, Davis discovers it isn’t going to be as easy as he thought. Not only is Tadd very un-Toad-like, but a mysterious British playboy named Alex Parker manages to interject himself into the mix. Only true love will survive as the tug of war ensues in this Bermuda love triangle from hell.
Jack invites Davis to his wedding because Jack still loves Davis – but not as a boyfriend – more as a lifelong friend, even though they were once together intimately for 4 years. But Davis doesn’t believe that Jack is really in love with Tadd aka Toad because he’s only known him 2 weeks so he agrees to go the wedding, but his plan is to get Jack to realize that he loves Davis and not Toad.
Deseree gets Davis to Chicago early and gives him a makeover. He’s looking pretty hot by the time they meet up with Jack and Tadd. You can tell from minute one that Jack definitely still has feelings for Davis – but obviously not strong enough. Davis is freaking out because time’s a wastin and Jack is still moving along with his plans to wed Tadd.
In the midst of Davis trying to coax Jack away from Tadd he meets Alex. Alex is a playboy with a fantastic, kind of base sense of humor (that I enjoyed thoroughly) and is willing to help Deseree and Davis in their plotting against Tadd. But Alex ends up with much more interest in Davis.
In the end – and quite a bit happens to get us there – Davis has to realize that as much as he may think that he’s in love with Jack – he’s more in love with the Jack of his past. He truly doesn’t know the current Jack as they haven’t been together for 6 years. So what does he do? Give up or keep trying to get Jack away from Tadd?
This is my first read by Ethan Day, but it certainly won’t be my last. I enjoyed his writing style immensely and of course the wonderful sense of humor that he imbibed his characters with. I love humor in books and this was great.
Davis grew quite a bit in this book and I loved seeing that. He has flashbacks to college when he first meets Jack and then again from 1 year prior to the wedding. I think that the flashbacks helped us get a good grasp on their relationship without having a full info dump and that was much appreciated. I did see from these flashbacks though that Jack and Davis’s relationship was lacking a huge amount of communication. They just couldn’t talk to each other and let the other know what they were thinking and feeling. It was rather sad to see their relationship dissolve for such a reason but it does happen all the time – in RL and in books. There were a few parts of the book that I would have like to have seen expanded but I think that’s just my personal preference rather than an absolute necessity. 🙂
Rating 3.75 out of 5
Verra nice review. Hummm sounds like a godo book for those that want to jump in the baby pool of some m/m lovin!
Great job hon! Hope you have a great weekend!
I've had this one in my TBR for a while now. Nice review!
I liked this book too Tracy, although I thought Davis cried an awful lot. At one point I wanted to tell him to pull himself together and man-up!
Great review!
I haven't read this. I only read one Ethan Day book and the ending made me so crazy I've stayed away, even though up until that ending I laughed my ass off. Sigh. How twisted is that? I will likely try another and maybe this should be the one.
I see from my reviewette that this one had me sniffling. Of course, I get sniffly during the song "The Tigers Have Spoken" by Neko Case, so…..
I really enjoyed this book. And I agree, watching Davis' growth and settle his "relationship" with Jack was touching.
Cecile – It is a good book – there are some pretty hot sex scenes so I'm not sure I'd call this jumping into the baby pool of m/m. But it's definitely a good read. 🙂
You have a great weekend as well!
Lily – Yeah, it managed to stay in my TBR for a while as well. Thanks!
Jenre – lol I thought Davis cried an awful lot too! At one point I was just shaking my head. But in his defense it was a very emotional time for him.
Tam – which book did you read that the end made you crazy? I need to know! lol
Chris – no sniffling for me – me being completely stoic and all. *snort*. But parts were very emotional.
Mariana – I knew from the beginning that Davis and Jack were not meant to be – obviously with Jack marrying someone else. But it was nice to see Davis coming to that realization as well.
It was Dreaming of You. Everything was going great until it got to the end and then I was just so pissed off I didn't think the other hero deserved him. I would be devastated if the guy I loved did what he did. I think Kris had a similar reaction. I believe we ranted about it on more than one occasion. I'm pretty easy going but it still pisses me off. LOL That's one of those cases where you give it a rating of 4 until the last chapter and whammo, 2 when you are done. I couldn't get past it.
I think I maybe had a less extreme version of that reaction to the same book. 🙂
Oh, I do like the sound of this. Thank you Tracy!
I'm telling you Chris I normally have very little emotional reaction to a book. I can just go "meh" if it goes down in flame but for some reason that one really hit me. I think maybe because I was totally loving it up to that point. It was such an abrupt turn around for me that it made my reaction stronger.
Hi Tracy:
Thank you for sharing a wonderful review. I've not heard of this author before but the story does sound very good.
I hope you are enjoying a great weekend.
Tam – got it…dreaming of you has an ending that may piss me off. lol Now I have to read it to see what the guy did!
Orannia – you're welcome!
Lea – It was a good story. I think I first heard of ED on Chris's blog but I'm not sure. Whoever it was I heard his name from I'm thanking. 🙂