Review – Everyone’s Man – Edward Kendrick (3.5 Stars)

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I started reading this book.  The description mentioned rape and I’ve usually seen it handled two ways in other books, either the Vengeful Victim or Cured by the Magic Penis.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this book used neither.

Colin is a male prostitute or, to use his own words, a “whore” who has a bad run in with a john who threatens him if he exposes what happened between them.  Colin has no intention of telling anyone anything, not even the kind doctor that patches him up after the fight with the john.  Unfortunately, the john doesn’t believe him and comes after him to make sure he doesn’t say anything.

The rape is tastefully done, mentioned in small flashbacks that Colin experiences after the attack.  The portrayal of Colin’s reaction to the rape and how he deals with it after is believable and a nice change.  He uses humor, flirting and sexual advances as a coping mechanism.  But when a flashback is triggered, he freezes and freaks out which is a realistic reaction and it takes the people helping him and caring about him patience and time to help him recover and return back to himself.

The doctor, Marc, offers sympathy to Colin and tries to help him process what was done to him and also to try and convince him to leave the profession.  I was expecting things to happen between Colin and Marc and when things didn’t go the way I expected, that actually added to my enjoyment of the book.  It’s nice when an author throws a twist into a book that you’re not expecting and pulls the story away from the predictable lines you think it will follow.

I wish the story was a little bit longer but that’s me and for its length, it’s well written.  You care about the characters and want them to end up happy, it is a romance book after all, and when you do reach the end, you’re glad for the ride.  There is little sex in the book and most of what there is isn’t too graphic until the end and that fits with the story also.

Overall, this was a good read with good characters.  I’d give it a 3.5 stars and I look forward to reading more from this author.

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