Why I read it:  After reading the wonderful Paper Planes, I was keen to try and repeat the experience with the next book in this (extremely loosely linked) series.What it’s about:  Rockstar Keith Black and actor Adam Cruce are lovers who invite a third occasionally for a bit of fun.  Their respective careers keep them apart and their arrangement is that they can have sex with other people, just be safe.  Part of the arrangement comes out of Keith’s bipolar disorder (disclaimer- I accepted that this was what Keith needed in the context of the book but I don’t necessarily think that all people with bipolar disorder would feel the same way).  At Charlotte’s Pride concert/fair/thingy, both Adam and Keith separately meet up with Sebastian Keane, a 21 year old college student who is slight and short and wears glitter eye makeup.  Both Adam and Keith are smitten and they invite Sebastian (Baz) back to their hotel for sex.  After spending all night and the next day with Baz, Adam and Keith are eager to repeat the experience, even though none of their thirds have ever been invited back.  Baz visits Keith and Adam in LA and they spend a few days together but are outed by the media which creates problems for all three.  All three want the relationship to continue permanently but all three have their own fears about coming out and saying so.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): It’s a hot story – there’s plenty of sex and it is very well written.  Each of the three men have distinct personalities and I was able to distinguish between them fairly easily fairly quickly.

Keith’s mental illness is described, from his point of view, as colours – the blackness moving in, a smile from Adam maybe causing a rush of purple, a high from performing a fireworks of gold and silver sparks for example.  It was a very effective and lyrical way of describing his emotions.  Keith is vulnerable.  He worries that he’s too needy for Adam.  He worries that his feelings for Baz will push Adam away or make Adam feel bad.    He’s desperately in love with Adam (and later Baz also) but he’s very frightened of getting any treatment for his mental illness because his manager has warned him it is a career killer.

Adam is worried about Keith all the time.  He is also desperately in love and he worries all the time that Keith will lose it and hurt himself or someone else. He’s worried that he’s older than Keith and a lot (but I didn’t catch how much) older than Baz.

Baz is a little more straight forward – he’s interested in both men from the start but worries about intruding on their long term relationship.

Unfortunately, these issues weren’t canvassed anywhere near enough in the book.  Here’s what I noted on my Reader immediately when I finished reading last night: “BOO! Ending way to abrupt! HISS!!  On the positive, I was totally caught up with the story and the characters .  On the negative, the story WAS NOT FINISHED.”   Literally, I went to press the next page button and there was no more book!!  Argh!!

Keith’s vulnerability, Adam’s worries, Baz’s concerns and what would happen with his school and career – these things were all mostly unexplored and left hanging. Would Keith change managers?  How does his treatment go?  Too many questions!!  The last sex scene was particularly unsatisfying.  It needed another 50 or 100 pages to finish the story.

There’s also a stalker-ish subplot which didn’t really add to the story and could have been left out.

What else?  If I’m lucky, there will be a sequel and the things which were missing for me can be explored but as it was, I’m struggling to grade this book now.   It would be a B+ for what book there was but the ending (or lack of it) was closer to a D.  Honestly, I was so caught up in the story (which is a good thing) that the lack of closure was a big deal for me.  Overall, therefore, I’m going to go with a C/C+.

Grade: C/C+.