Dandy

by Jaidon Wells

Andrew is a little overwhelmed, between grad school, his bookstore job, crazy friends, and a roommate slowly turning criminal. The very last thing he needs is more stress, but it's what he gets anyway, in the form of Cassidy, the frustrating, intriguing, and supposed-to-be-dead brother of his law-breaking roommate.

Throw in a flamboyant campus hero, a series of kitchen fires, a slanderous romance manuscript, stoner music shops, an arguably-mad scientist, a terrible indie band, and a blue period, and Andrew realizes that being overwhelmed is easy. It's the rapidly spinning out of control that's a bit difficult to handle.

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, LGBT

221 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 6, 2013

About the author

Jaidon is an asexual transman living in Austin, Texas who works restaurants by day and writes gay romance by night. Kind of like a superhero, only much less cool. He writes mostly comedies and is still waiting for someone to find his sense of humor as hysterically funny as he does. He’s been accused of being both dry and completely ridiculous. Expect a lot of puns.

Jaidon still doesn’t understand how most of the internet works, but you can find him elsewhere at:

jaidonilwells.com
twitter.com/smugbitchesinc

Reviews

[Elizabetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite the different read and hard to categorize. As the blurb states, there is a little bit of everything thrown in, but it’s based around the zippy character sketches the author sets up. It reminds me of a “Friends” episode in that there are a lot of attractive people talking, hanging out at coffee shops and bars and such, but nothing much really happens. At least not for a long time. This is not so much a romance as it is about quirky characters acting… quirky. So the charm is dependent on those characters pulling off a likable wackiness, and the nothing much else that isn’t happening needs to be entertaining at the very least. Luckily, the author does deliver some laugh out loud moments.

In the “straight”-man role is Andrew (Ross?), a gay uni graduate student (of British extraction) studying somewhere in the US. So, Andrew is set-up as a bit of an awkward foil for his friend’s looniness (yeah, Ross). For someone who doesn’t make friends easily, as stated by said friends, he has a lot of people swirling about him, greatly concerned and interested in his romantic life. Or, the absence of one. At the top of the list are girl friends, Channary and Tansy.

(A tangent… Suffice it to say, it seems that in slash romance, the girl friend of the gay guy is a hugely difficult character to write… So often they are just plain hard to like or annoying, and they usually serve as nothing more than to make a romantic partnership happen. I go back and forth with Andrew’s female BFF’s. I think they mean well but after a while, I just wish they’d go away.)

The claim by Channary (or was it Tansy?) is that Andrew is too surly to find a boyfriend. They have a point, but maybe it’s because he spends an inordinate amount of time never getting his work done because he’s running after his friends, cleaning up their messes, and indulging their demands. It’s no wonder a boy hasn’t a moment for himself; he is long-suffering (I counted 45 sighs). But, I heartily swear that when Cassidy (a graduate student in music; these names are Confusing), in all his snarky, stalking/wooing, self-assuredness, sets his eyes firmly on Andrew… I just want them together, and all the crazy friends to take a back seat. Just when you think it’s going to happen, something interferes.

I have other issues: the main characters have got to be around their mid-twenties (they’re grad students), they certainly speak as if they are, but they act and interact like teen-agers. Secondly, the story starts off as one thing… a festival of witty repartee and awkward flirtation between Andrew and Cassidy that morphs into a paranormal pseudo-crime story. At one point in the story, Andrew is assaulted and a mysterious masked, winged, in flight, “Dandy Boy” superhero comes to his rescue.

At the start, I had high hopes for Andrew and Cassidy, it was fun to watch their verbal sparring and posturing. But it went on forever and got diluted with too much other stuff. Also confusing— while there are adult themes that include depiction of alcohol and drug abuse, there is no on-page sex. I enjoyed the beginning of the story, but the UST vibe became compromised by the PNR twist, and it fell apart for me. This is apparently a debut book and I greatly appreciate the author’s effort here and do think he shows promise. If you’re looking for paranormal zaniness with a touch of romance and can ignore all the rest, this may just be for you.

For this review and much more:

[Chris, the Dalek King · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 (ish)

Pretty decent story, though the superhero angle just felt a bit odd. Maybe because I didn't actually know if it was real until about 80% of the way into book. But seeing as how I got this book for free, I can't really complain. Don't know if I'll read it again, but I would say if you got it laying around to give it a go.

The cover is a bit off-putting, though.

[Aviva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the writing of this one, the way it was slightly crazy with dry humour and a nice cast of characters, with a bit of unbelievable thrown into the contemporary setting and all of that melted together. It sort of gives a Know not Why by Hannah Johnson vibe and it left me feeling good so it was good one!

[Curtis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Andrew is working hard to keep up with his life. Between his grad school work, his bookstore job with some odd coworkers, and his out-of-control roommate, there is very little time left to keep himself sane. And when his roommate's brother (who is supposed to be dead?) shows up, things go even further off the rails than Andrew could have imagined. But somewhere in there, there may just be an opportunity in there to make an unexpected connection.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 Stars. One reviewer compared it to an episode of "Friends" or Seinfield ("a show about nothing") and I would tend to agree. The book was fairly humorous and I enjoyed it.

[Susan Laine · Rating 5 out of 5]

5+ stars. This is one the funniest, captivating stories I’ve read. Andrew is a bit morose for a hero—but then again, the campus already has a superhero, Dandy Man, so perhaps Andrew doesn’t really fit the bill anyway. Cassidy, on the other hand, is the cockiest smartass on the planet. His path crosses Andrew’s time and again. And somehow, for reasons he can’t fathom, Andrew is starting to… feel something for Cassidy, despite his endless irritation.

But there’s so much else going on here too. A whole cast of wonderful and unique side characters, weird fires erupting here and there (mostly at Andrew’s place), and being accidentally turned blue by a scientific experiment are only a few of the delightful surprises this story has to offer. I was laughing out loud most of the time.

Cassidy’s such a wonderful character, mouthy and opinionated. Contrary to him, Andrew’s a bit on the dull side, and he’s in denial about a lot of things. The pairing gives some hilarious dialogue and erotic tension. Still, this story doesn’t have any sex to offer, so be forewarned. That shouldn’t be a reason for you not to read this, though, because this book is a treat.

The whole story is given from Andrew’s point of view, though in third person. Believe me, there’s a good reason for this, and gosh, what a twist it is. Now, the first two thirds of the book reads like a contemporary romance, with two seemingly incompatible people liking each other despite all odds. The last segment throws a monkey wrench into the machinery, shaking everything we thought we knew about the world. Brilliant fun, and scary too.

Now, the writing is good, fun and light, with excellent dialogue and good action scenes. There are a few cases of really long and confusing sentences that I had to read a second time, but this was mostly due to parentheses that broke the sentences. Other than that, and that was minor, I’ve got no complaints. The plot will throw several curve balls at you, most of them ridiculous and amusing. Andrew’s friends and roommates, especially, are one seriously insane bunch, but they add rich detail to the story. Everyone of them is fully fleshed out, given their own personalities, even obnoxious ones.

All in all, I have nothing negative to say about this. Yeah, sure, I would have wished for the sexual culmination of Andrew and Cassidy’s relationship, but sex isn’t everything. I highly recommend this story.

[Tenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really funny, but during the whole read, I just felt like the author wasn't really an experienced writer.
The banter between the main characters was funny, but also a little bit unrealistic? (people don't talk like that to each other, I think) I got lost among all the characters and what relationships they had with each other...
The weirdest part was the fantasy element. Not that it was bad, per se, but it wasn't really established in the book if magical superheroes and magic are something common or something never seen before. Main character was really laidback about the fact he was saved by superhero several times. He didn't even tried to look up some info about his savior!
Most of the book was the banter between the main characters, which yes, was funny, but the plot felt rushed afterwards and it ended abruptly...

Now, it might seem that this book is bad from all my criticism, but I wouldn't say that. I enjoyed reading it, although I was confused at the times.
And as I said, the comedy element is well handled and some lines are pure gold.

Just, it needs some beta read or editing or something, I guess...

[Helen Kord · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book so much oh my god, I've laughed through the whole thing :D Andrew and Cassidy's banter was AMAZING, the progression of their relationship was very well done (what a great pair, I'd love to read more with them!) and the rest of the characters were fun too (if a bit less complex). This book was a pure unadulterated fun
My problem with the book was it's pacing, the story was very lightly touched upon for the first 80% of the book and then very quickly resolved in the rest. Honestly, the absence of a plot doesn't have to be a bad thing (like I said, I really enjoyed the book), but naming the book after Dandy creates false expectance of what this book is about, because no, the book definitely isn't about Dandy. And the way the plot was resolved was very rushed. Some of the side characters and their motivations felt flat, but it didn't take away from the story that much.

Basically, if you enjoy hilarious bickering couples with great banter and a side-dish of magic and ridiculous hijinks, this book is definitely for you

[Samington · Rating 2 out of 5]

It had potential, I guess, but the writing was clunky and it just wasn't very good. Another round of revisions might have helped, though I had trouble really immersing myself into the world at all; a product, I think, of it being an awkward mixture of slice-of-life contemporary and inexplicable superhero drama, and not something that revisions would fix.

[Eli L · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate to give spoilers so I won't, but this book should be re-writeen as a fantasy. I don't want the author to think that I hate the book. I see lots of potential int he story and I hope that he goes back re-works the story because there is a great plot buried in there. For a full review go and see MM Good Book Reviews.

[Lindsay Loulee · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, loved the characters. ^^

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could do with some polish and better editing overall, but overall witty, innovative, and entertaining.

[Addicted2M/M · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5