Richard Lynch is a 50-something executive with an ex-wife he's still hung up on and a son in grad school who only calls when he wants something. In his professional life, Richard's successful and in control, but his personal life consists of little more than sitting down in front of the television set at seven and being in bed by nine.
Then he meets his son Kyle's best friend and roommate, Paul Watkins, the handsome gay son of a former rockstar. Richard's bland, predictable world is thrown into chaos by Paul's sweetly determined pursuit of him. To some Richard's new lease on life seems like a mid-life crisis and Paul's infatuation seems motivated by daddy issues, but to Richard, Paul is his chance to explore a part of himself he's kept buried all his life. With friends, family, and their pasts threatening to keep them apart, what will it take for each to become the other's man?
Publisher's This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find male/male sexual practices.
Clancy Nacht is a bisexual genderqueer person who lives in Austin with a husband, and three feral rescue cats. Clancy has published several ARe bestselling contemporary romantic thriller m/m and m/f stories. Three of her books have been honored with Rainbow Awards; Le Jazz Hot won for #1 Best Bisexual/Transgender Romance & Erotic Romance. In 2013, Black Gold: Double Black was a runner up for a Rainbow Award and in 2015, Gemini won an Honorable Mention for Gay Erotic Romance at the Rainbow Awards. Her books have been nominated for several Goodreads M/M Readers Choice Awards.
This review was originally written for The Romance Reviews and can also be found there.
I'LL BE YOUR MAN is a story about two men who were disappointed and let down by others. Always struggling on their own and pushing through life filled with loneliness and heartache, they are surprised and reluctant to give more of themselves to someone else.
Richard is an older man pining for his ex-wife and has been for years. He kept expecting her to stop sleeping with others and come back to him. While those were nothing but pipe dreams, in all that time Richard's life stood still. His main focuses were his son Kyle and his work. But when he meets Paul, Kyle's best friend and roommate, certain desires come to the surface. It doesn't hurt that Paul is more mature than his age might insinuate and that he has a heart perfectly matching Richard's.
Now Paul is a young man who's been through a lot. With a father who was nothing but a bad influence and the source of Paul's highly developed distrust, he wants some stability in his life, someone who would love him and someone he could love back. While he sees all that in Richard, his hang-ups can't disappear overnight but he's more than willing to try.
While everyone seems to be against them, the attraction can't be denied and the love they feel for each other is just too strong to give up on.
The age difference is something I love in books. It makes the whole situation more interesting and the conflicts are more often intriguing than not. In this story, it was really written well and not once through the pages did I think how the two aren't really fitting for each other.
Both characters were really likeable and original in their own way, but it was the son, Kyle, who brought in that bit of spark. His energy and behavior, while irresponsible, was very refreshing in the sea of ‘goodies' and I for one really liked him.
The story didn't drag at any point and I read it from the beginning to the end with genuine interest. There are no complications or plot fillers, just a simple story about two men who don't fit a certain mold and who struggle through their own thoughts as much as they do through other's condemnation.
My two remarks, and the reasons why this is a four star read for me and not a five, are about the sweetness and repetition. I like characters who are realistic, and I like my books that way too. When they cry too much or break down constantly, it's off putting. I agree it is often sweet and romantic even, but here, it was a tad too much. As for repetition, certain conversations repeated themselves and could have easily been cut out of the story. There is only a certain number of times one wants to read about the same thing, and I wish it was written differently here.
Remarks aside, this is a great read and the authors have done a wonderful job in making it approachable, interesting and quite satisfying.
3.75* rounded up. Enjoyable older/younger guy romance. The blurb pretty much covers what you need to know so not doing a rehash but It's a sexy easy read and I do love P L Nunn covers. That's what drew me originally. I liked it.
Can a gay couple, be together, love each other, going against all gossipry that insist there are more behind it? Like interest for money or notoriety? yeah, call me hopeless romantic, but I believe in true love
Richard Lunch, 50, is an divorced executive. Paul Watkins, 25, trying to be a writer. Yes, you all can guess all the comments Richard would listen: He want your money, everyone knows Paul's father is broken... listen to me, Paul want your house, your car, your money, not you Paul is confused, he want a father because his never care about him. You are taking advantage of Paul, that's the true about you two! What? He is the friend of your son! Are you serious? It can be true love, it's your midlife crisis Do you really think Paul, gorgeous are he is, will never get tired of you and find someone of his age? and well... the list can go on forever....
But this is a book where both will be the narrator, so what would Paul hear from others? Oh please, you are the son of a rockstar. Richard just want the publicity What? He is that old? Are you thinking when YOU will be that old, and your lover will be what? In diapers? He is using you just to show off. Come on, someone old as him just want it... young guys to show how virile they are!
The world has always something to say and well, you must read to know with Richard and Paul can ignore all the jealousy surrounding them. Because it's the true about all gossip and bets against their relationship, everyone can look at them, seeing the truth: how much they love each other.
I really adore this romance, and was very sattisfied with all the erotic scenes. I was tempted to take out one star. Richard cry a lot!!. But someone so lonely as him would do it... be loved, after such long sad life, is not easy to Richard, as It would not be easy to any of us.
5 stars and certainly it's one the best romance I read this year
Ive never been one to be into May/December Stories,But I FREAKING LOVED I'll Be Your Man By Clancy Nacht. This Story is about Richard a divorced 50 yr old who is Wanting waiting for his ex to come back to him...Tho this is never going to happen!! And Paul and Young 25 old who is a journalist and his BEST friends with Richard's son Kyle..
Paul and Richard become friends at first,have a couple dinners and bike ride,while Richard teaches Paul a few tricks in the kitchen.There was so many funny moments and so many CUTE sappy momemnts!
"Hello?Hello,Dad,why are you calling my friend Paul?"Before Richard could react,Paul was giggling"I'm sory.That was evil i do a pretty good Kyle on the phone though,dont i?"
Then One Night Paul's Rock star Father tricks him into visiting him at his house and what Paul dosent know his dick of a father is throwing a massive PARTY and gets trapped there!!
"His voice was like the sound of God,If God drank too much and sucked a lot of cock"
And When Paul ring's Richard to come and save him, It has to be the most AWESOME part of the story!!
Are you serious?What the fuck?Putting on my ass-kicking shoes." "No, no ass kicking.you dont understand Richard this guy is big like Hagrid is big No,like Hagrid's fat fucking brother,only in chaps with a big flabby,furry ass and i think he said he had a whip somewhere and...oh god you dont know who Hagrid is do you?......
That scene was awesome, and from that point the story was about them got Cuter and Sweet and how they had to over come there insecurities and interfering friends and family to get to there Happily ever after!!
The sex was Brilliantly HOT.. I loved that Richard was the V and the bottom (hehehe) And Paul was the take charge Top of the relationship! The scene in the Car was Smoking!!
Love is Glue
I really Enjoyed this and I would Recommmend for a Sweet, easy NoT heavy on the Angst with a really cute Love story :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This is hard to rate for me. There were moments where the story was a 4+ and then there were times a 3 was more fitting. I can overlook the insta-love but they seemed to seesaw a lot, telling how much they loved each other one minute and questioning if their relationship was based on real feelings the next. I loved the premise, I liked a lot of the interactions between the characters, but there were moments of unease/inconsistency that took away from the story, IMHO.
What an annoying book...clumsy, overt flirting leading to an operatically-dramatic romance with excruciatingly detailed dialogue. If I wasn't reading this for a challenge, I'd have stopped reading at the 20% mark. This story reminded me of the series 'Sweet Valley High' despite the fact one of the characters was in his 40's...I think the most annoying part of the book was the intense & fervent declarations of undying, committed love which was then undermined so very easily by one of the lesser characters in the book...I kept on thinking "really?! You're so insecure that despite someone declaring undying love for you two hours ago, one comment from (insert character here) is enough to have you suicidal with despair????" It was a very melodramatic story with Lolita-ish over-tones. Not a book I'd recommend.
The romance in this story moved really quickly but I could forgive that because it was so sweet. Richard and Paul are both flawed characters and both have spent a lot of time looking after the people in their lives with very little emotional return. Paul is looking to fall in love with someone who is reliable and who will return his feelings. Richard fits the bill perfectly. The insecurities of both men play a large part in the story and their families continually interfere in their relationship. I loved the part where Richard comes to get Paul from the party at Paul's father's house. It was brilliant and the reasons for it were completely unexpected.
What a crock of patronizing bull. This isn't a story. It's a parable. It's an excuse to pedantically lecture the reader by proxy. Long-suffering daddy dearest having to live through all the abuse he gets from his horrible, horrible son; why can't you be more like your friend here? Thanks, but no thanks.
I really enjoyed this one. It was a older/younger gay for you story. No angst. There weren't many big problems because of the age difference. Richard and Paul needed each other and they worked it out together. Good love story. It was sweet and sappy. Nothing complicated.
This book started off with a really promising story line-an older man that has been alone for years falling for a younger man that just happens to be his son's best friend-but the story quickly went out of control. The two MCs seemed to have a lot in common at first but it seemed to me that they got together initially, not because they were uncontrollably attracted to each other, but because they were lonely. Paul has a rock star father that is very selfish, making him unable to give Paul the love and support that he needs, and Richard has an uncaring ex-wife that he is still waiting to get back together with ten years after the divorce is finalized, and a son that only seems to come around when he needs something from his father.
The plot of an older man becoming gay-for-you with a younger man is further hindered by Paul's best friend Madison that is trying to tear them apart because she wants Paul for herself, Richard's son Kyle, who is disapproving of his father suddenly becoming gay, Richard's ex-wife, who is trying to break them up and Paul's father who is...yep, you guessed it, trying to break them up. It became a case of too much in too short a book. It might have remained interesting if the relationship between the two men had been enough to carry the book but their interactions were so sugary sweet that I almost expected them to break out into song. Thankfully the reader is spared that but the last third of the book was painful to read and I found myself skimming it just to finish.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The premise of this book was interesting. I was captivated to see how it would play out. I also liked that the author dealt with the dangers of unprotected sex. Although we never really get Kyle's results. Did I somehow miss that?
This was an easy read. I'm glad that Richard and Paul at least tried to date some before they got to the sex. This was only a 3 star read for me because after a while, both Richard and Paul seemed a bit too needy. I guess that's what you get when you jumped into a relationship without really getting to know each other.
I could have done without all the extra drama of the ex-wife who wants her ex-husband back after 10 years of doing her own thing. Paul's dad was a tad bit more believable as an unfit father.
Should have researched the book better. I didn't like their first book and this was a miss too. Way too much talking. I got lost. Had no clue were they were talking about and some subjects of conversation popped out of nowhere. I skimmed through at least half of the book so one can say this is a DNF
PS: that should teach me to get sucked in by a pretty cover!
This is my absolute favorite May-December romance. A little bit Lolita, a little bit white knight, all yummy. Tropes that were well handled: the Scheming Ex = "I don't want him but you can't have him", Coming out as a Mid-Life Crisis, Feckless Frat-boy Grows Up.
3-3.5 stars for me...enjoyable read, but I kindof thought things moved too quickly and there was so. much. talking. I thought some of the plot elements were a bit over the top, but if you don't read too deeply into it, it's still a fun read.
This was a lovely story. Richard and Paul were a great couple and I even liked Kyle. Catherine and Bruce were the two villains for me for me, but they were needed to make the story as good as it was.
Blast from the past! This continues to be one of my favorite books. I love Richard and Paul's relationship. It is one of my ultimate favorite May/December romances. It's been a while since I've read it and I still love it.
I liked the book a lot. The beginning is the best, though, when they get to know each other, even the clumsy flirting is authentic and cute. I didn't even mind the very fast "I love you"s. I prefer a book going at a fast pace, then a book skipping weeks at a time. I even liked the drama, which is unusual for me. But I could deal with Kyle being upset, it does make sense that it's not easy when your dad and best friend get together. I could even see where Madison was coming from. Now Bruce and Catherine, those took the cake though. Especially Catherine. After getting told so much from Richards PoV I had a hard time consolidating this bitch with the woman he would have loved. She is simply too much.
Also, Richard and Paul just get way over top in their dialog. A bit neediness is fine and some fluff is endearing but they where so esoteric and insecure and just totally melodramatic at times, but then entirely secure and calm at others that it was really weird. And I felt they kept having the same conversation several times. They even went from I love you back to I like you and then back to I love you as if they hadn't said it before. I have no idea what that was about, did the author forget, or did the characters forget?
Whatever you think a May-December romance might be. Think again. Despite the age difference the two main characters are definitely meant for each other. Family tries to get in the way but they don't succeed. Such a wonderful special book.
This is a sweet book. A really sweet book. Like I'm in sugar shocked after finishing it. The the premise and the basic story were both good, but for me it went a little off the rails with the talking. I seem to recall from one of the other books by this author that the sex scenes tend to get very chatty. There is a lot of discussion during the act about feelings and emotions. And I like this things, but the timing is off. Like there is so much dialogue when the next description happens I sometimes have to go back to figure out how that hand got there or whatever.
Also things move very fast. From meeting to I love you seemed to take no more than 2 weeks. And that fact that one of the main characters was straight until that first encounter made the speed that this relationship happened hard to believe.
There wasn't a ton of conflict and the people trying to cause conflict were so over the top it was hard to be worried that anyone would take them seriously.
So it was a sweet fast read, with a little angst and a lot of dialogue. Not for everyone, but not too bad.
This book was quite difficult to rate because I did really like some parts of it but when I got to about 2 thirds through I started thinking Richard should grow a pair and tell his ex of 10 years to f off. I just couldn't get my head around the fact that here was a 50 plus man who was a hard nosed businessman, protected Paul from his father and a huge leatherman but then when confronted by Paul's galpal and ex-missus acted like a total angsty sap. The first half of the book seemed really sweet and a nice progression of the relationship between the two protags, then, all of a sudden they both seemed so wimpy that it turned me off. The book is very dialogue heavy which I actually quite liked (although I know some reviewers didn't) and I didn't have any difficulty in following it.
I can honestly say I love this book. This wasn't the first time I'd read it, and it moved and captivated me just as much this time around. There's something amazing about a story that can so deeply and realistically portray a person's flaws and insecurities while still manifesting hope for their future.
Richard and Paul are not your typical couple, and their romance can almost be considered whirl-wind. But the deep connection the two men find and share brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart as I watched it unfold.
Wonderful read that I couldn't put down! I look forward to reading other titles by this pair of authors!
From romantic point of view, this was truly amazing story. I really enjoyed both of two main characters. Richard and Paul were beautiful together. All other money lechers were really annoying characters true the whole story. I mean Richards ex wife, Catherine, Kyle and Paul own father, really what kind of horrible characters. Selfish and money centered. I didn't particularly liked how Kyle behaved toward his own father with so little respect. But in general it wasn't his story anyway.
I really liked the story and writing but I got so annoyed over the course of the final pages of he last chapter. Why? At least the epilogue made that feeling a little better. Still 3 stars as the rest was an enjoyable read.
Yeah, I liked it...even the son redeemed himself to some level :) ... I like stories with age gaps...first I didn't mind them but now I kinda really like them. Just a tiny observation about me :D
It started really good, but early into it, it went downhill to a cast of amnesiac characters that repeat the same dialogues until a pretty inane ending.