Novel: The Friend
Author: Christopher X. Sullivan
Genres: Memoir/Asexual/Romance
Released: January 7th 2019
Part of Book Series: It’s Just Us Here, Book #1
Summary:
An asexual man meets a male model… and slowly falls in love.
Mark, the model, has not been challenged in his life and is emotionally withdrawn. He returns to Chicago in the hopes of reconnecting with his college friends, but everyone has moved on without him, starting families and growing up. Chris, the writer, is socially awkward and introverted. He actively tries to be as invisible as possible.
The two men meet one day in Chris’ favorite park and strike up a friendship. Since this is written as a romance, you probably have a pretty good idea where the story goes from there.
You’d be wrong. (Well… and kinda right.)
I’m Chris and this is my story. It’s not a traditional romance. This is my version of a Happily Ever After, which means Mark and I became great friends… and that’s it.
Mark and I end this first installment of my self-portrait in a Queer Platonic Relationship. There was cuddling and emotional closeness, but nothing remotely sexual… at least not to my mind. Mark obviously wanted more and he would eventually get it, but this book, Book One of It’s Just Us Here, would have been my perfect, ideal romance.
If you need banging and crazy monkey sex to keep your interest in a story, then jump in at Book Four of this self-portrait ( The Lover). Otherwise, come along for the ride and meet the man who would sweep me off my feet, Mark Wolff, one of the top ten most self-absorbed men in the whole world.
[NOTE: This book is a 95,000 word romantic self-portrait featuring the beginnings of a queer relationship. It is the first book of a trilogy, which is itself part of a larger trilogy. Low heat… for now. I don’t think we need trigger warnings for this book, but future installments might warrant them. Maybe that can serve as enough of a warning? Warning: this book is full of life.]
Post’s Author Opinion:
Note: This is a personal opinion, it does not reflect YaoiOtaku’s official position towards the novel.
The Friend is one of the best ace-romance stories out there. A memoir of the author’s love life, very realistic and well-written. I enjoyed this book immensely and felt really grateful that an ace author has kind-heartedly shared his real love story with us.
The Friend was told in First Person’s Point of Views which I really liked here. It was very engaging with some hilarious and interactive commentaries by the author within chapters. I couldn’t put it down and ended up reading The Friend in one sitting! Such an interesting way to tell the memoir and the author absolutely was successful to catch and gain the readers’ attention throughout the book.
The love story itself was a tasty slow burn with a dash of cute obliviousness (from Chris the ace author) and some sexual frustrations (from Mark the model & would-be lover/husband IRL). It was also a strangers-to-best friends-to-lovers type of romance. It started funnily with a flirty-ish “hello” from Mark, yet what he got in response was a very clear and pointed “what do you need?” from Chris. From there, I knew that I would love to read more about the interactions between these men and their queer platonic relationship. 🙂
The Friend is the first book of the series, so zero sexual scene here . . . But! The memoir has a lot of cuddling! Emotional closeness! Sweet feelings! Fluffly moments! Between Chris and Mark as adorkable best friends!!! ♡♡♡
So please, read The Friend if you want a closer look of ace-romance in real life. It’s fun and refreshing. Highly recommended! 🙂
What’s your opinion on The Friend novel? Please let us know in the comments below.
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