Sunday, December 20, 2009

Review of Gobsmacked by L.B. Gregg


L.B. Gregg
Gobsmacked (Men of Smithfield, #1)
Aspen Mountain Press, February 2009

Genre & Keywords
: Gay, M/M, One Hot Cop, Betrayal

Rating: êêêê½
Heat level:
¹¹½


The Back Blurb:
No more Mr. Nice Guy.
Mild mannered Mark Meehan’s good judgment flies out the window when he finds his lover banging another man. Things go from bad to worse as Mark’s crazy revenge scheme uncovers shocking secrets—sending him straight into the arms of hunky lawman and old friend, Tony Gervase, a man of limited patience and secrets of his own.


This is the first of three books in The Men of Smithfield series. The other two are Happy Ending and Cover Me and both are on my TBR pile impatiently waiting to be read, because they know I badly want to.

Seriously, Gobsmacked was a delicious read! I obviously enjoyed it for the sweet romance and hot love scenes between cuties Mark and Tony, but even more for the highly entertaining, diverting voice with which this story was told. The voice is Mark’s, the story is told in the first person. Not a POV I normally prefer because it easily gets boring and annoying to miss the thoughts of the other characters. And I admit that in this case I missed Tony’s thoughts as well, very much so. But that little disappointment was compensated by the very amusing thoughts of Mark. It never got boring at all and some scenes were downright hilarious thanks to his voice. In previous posts I gave a few examples which I’ll recollect first:

On December 8th I wrote:
This morning, before work, I started reading Gobsmacked by L.B. Gregg and I can't wait to get back to that story. I loved the first chapter where the hero smacked his cheating lover on the head in church 'in front of God and everyone' LOL! Here's the description of that scene:

“My hands clenched the book rack, and my fingers brushed against the Bible proudly displayed there. Staring at Jamie's once sweet curls hugging his rough jaw, I slid the good book out of its safe haven. The cracked leather was worn, but its bulk reassuring. Encouraging, even. So I hauled back, fueled by boiling rage, and gobsmacked that bastard as hard as I could in front of God and everyone. The Bible hit the back of Jamie's head with a resounding Thwack!”

Priceless isn't it?
And on December 11th:

I posted some tid bits earlier and Mandi 'warned' me for a ‘cereal stuck to butt’ scene :) which I anticipated a lot! And indeed... it had me laughing out loud and it kept me chuckling for many minutes. Until the hot sex exploded from the pages... I plan to write a review about this first book in the Men of Smithfield series later, but for now I can tell that I'm very glad to have this book recommended to me! It's witty, sexy and has lovely characters!

Now, about that cereal stuck to the butt scene, it’s as memorable as the thwack to the head scene. I anticipated it a lot, so when I read at page 112:

“My naked ass crunched down on a few stray puffs of breakfast cereal. Tony stepped between my knees, his pants half down his legs, his face hungry. Those deep brown eyes searched mine. I gripped his arms, his back, his neck; anywhere I could reach him.”

I rushed through the sentences. And yes, at page 113 the lube has to be retrieved from the other room and then I was treated at these thoughts when Mark walks out of the kitchen to go get it:

“I hated walking out with my bare ass jiggling, crushed cereal bits falling to the floor. Still, it was a nice ass. I'd sweep the floor tomorrow.”

These are a good example of his hilarious and entertaining voice. Are you loving it already? Alright I give you one more example. This one is when Mark’s ex comes after him:

“I looked around for a weapon, throwing drawers open. I wouldn't dream of holding a knife, he was far bigger than I and had a long reach. Plus this wasn't West Side freaking Story; I had no clue what to do with a knife except to cut meat and tighten the screw on the toilet seat. The only knife I owned was a pen knife on my key chain.” (page 64)

Gobsmacked is more than a funny story, it had a pretty good suspense thread as well. It involved Mark’s cheating ex Jamie and his problems – a storyline with some unexpected twists to it. Again, as a reader, you’re kept in the dark about Jamie’s motives and thoughts and you’re solely dependent on Mark’s interpretation of the occurrences and the people around him. It makes you wonder about a thing or two and all you want to do is keep reading to find out if things are as they seem to be.

Besides humor and suspense Gobsmacked has hot lovin’! Tony and Mark are a sexy couple. They have a history of teenage crushes but never acted on their feelings. Mark lived under the assumption that Tony didn’t return his feelings, what Tony felt we don’t know until the end of the story when he voices his feelings towards Mark.
At the instant we step into their lives, Mark just found out about the cheating of Jamie. After cleaning out his apartment and getting rid of Jamies stuff, he goes to his friend Tony’s house to hide from Jamie for one night. And then things start to get hot, hot, hot. Thanks to some alcohol that’s thrown into the mix Mark and Tony end up in the bathroom finally getting down to some hot action.
I loved all the sex scenes between those two guys. My only complaint is that there weren’t enough of them ;) No seriously, the balance between the humor, suspense and hot lovin’ was perfect. I enjoyed Mark’s self absorbed ramblings as much as the ex involved action and the sexy scenes with Tony.

To round this up: if you happen to like reading M/M romances and you want an entertaining, sometimes even hilarious, romantic and very hot read with a little suspense and sexy as hell protags, you should definitely pick up Gobsmacked! Don’t wait, go get it now!

17 comments:

  1. Okay okay... I will be adding this too the list soon, I swear!
    Very great review hon! I love the tidbits you gave us there... you really know how to draw it out for us... lol!!
    I have yet to read anything by this author... but that will be changing soon... I promise. I like the chemistry between Mark and Tony.
    Have a great day hon!

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  2. I have read this story last week and couldn't agree with you more. I crushed on Mark and Tony as an item and Mark was an incredible 1st person to tell the story. I've got bk 2-3 too and will be returning soon! Very good review Janna, I ate it up :) Cereal and all rofl

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  3. I love thss entire series.. Ms Gregg does make the books not only intense interms of her plot but she gives her characters a fun side that balances the books...

    This is a must read series... must read..

    Just wait until your read Cover Me... you thought the cereal/ass was funny - you haven't read the toaster yet....

    E.H>

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  4. Soon, Cecile? Didn't I say NOW? LOL! Seriously hon! You should give this one a try. See, Leontine and Erotic Horizon loved it too! Go. Get. It. :) You'll love Mark and Tony! Won't regret it, I promis :)

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  5. Hi Leontine,
    I crushed on these two as well! I loved their first drunken in the bathroom encounter, didn't you?
    I have book 2 and 3 too and really want to start them soon.
    Thanks hon!

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  6. Hey EH, just couldn't agree with you more! Let's spread the message: Must read series, everyone! :)
    I'm really looking forward to the toaster scene now *grin*
    Mandi tweetered me today about a new series by Gregg taking place in NY. I have to check that one out too!

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  7. I do hear good things :)
    And you just make me think that all those things are so true.
    Hehe, not to wait you say, well I am a MM virgin and not ready to give it up yet

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  8. Great review, I like the sound of this one, I am still a MM virgin but will soon try this genre! E.H. has given me a book to start with, so soon, in the meanwhile this one goes on the wishlist as well!

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  9. @Blodeuedd: I'll just keep trying to seduce you with delicious books dear! Than we'll see :D

    @Marissa: E.H. is great in helping M/M virgins to deflower ;) I'm curious about the book she gave you to start with! I hope you enjoy it hon! :)

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  10. LB has a great sense of humour that really comes through in her writing.

    I agree with EH, Janna, just wait until you read about the toaster. LOL.

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  11. The kitchen cereal scene had me howling in laughter. LB has a wicked sense of humor.

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  12. @Kris: Couldn't agree with you more on the humor part. I hardly laugh out loud while reading, but this time I did... a lot :) My imagination goes wild on things you can do with a toaster! Can't wait much longer now to start reading the second book :)

    @Katiebabs: Hey there girl! Welcome to my place :) Good to see you here! Yeah, the cereal scene is really funny! I heart her sense of humor a lot! :)

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  13. So glad you liked this book! I really enjoyed it and book 2, haven't read book 3 yet but am going to soon! LB Gregg is an amazing storyteller, I found myself rooting for the h/h (that's hero/hero LOL) throughout the story.

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  14. *waves at Janna* Big fan of your erotic goodness. :)

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  15. @Patti: Yeah, and I'm so glad that you recommended it to me :) I totally agree with you. I'm glad that you didn't mention that it was written in 1st person btw, cos maybe than I wouldn't have tried it ;) And look what I'd have missed out on! A lot of fun and entertaining writing for sure and let's not forget the hot scenes ;)

    @Katiebabs: Yay, another fan of my smut! :)

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  16. great review! ive only read Cover Me and it was actually my first (and only) M/M smut. it was supercute, sexy, and hott hott hott! i have a lot of catching up to do in this sub genre though!

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  17. Hey there Lusty Reader! Welcome to my place :) And thanks sweetie!
    I'm really looking forward now to Cover Me because Gobsmacked was such a great read. You should give that a try as well :) Yeah, there's a lot of delicious m/m smut out there, still waiting to be picked up by you and me :)

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