A Taste of Something Else

by Lukas Kawika

Daniel has been with his boyfriend William since high school, but with this relationship already on shaky ground, his sudden blossoming friendship with Harley sets into motion something that he had hardly dared to dream about. First Daniel has trouble with looking away, and then with keeping his pants on, and finally with keeping that coyote out of his bed. Things like this are never easy, but will this newfound love be enough for them to come through and heal from the things they have done?

312 pages, Paperback

Published April 30, 2022

Reviews

[Bjornulf]

The story concept is great. Learning to move on from relationships from your early parts of life can be very important for growth for many people's lives. The story captures the inexperience of youth well.

Why 4 stars -
I'm saddened that the author used "the villain is physically uglier" trope. On a society level this is quite a cruel trope.

There are zero consequences or meaningful growth for the main character. The main character wasn't innocent by any means and they exhibit their own toxic traits that they seemingly brush off and don't reflect on enough.

The ending was either immensely clever or missed the mark from a warm and happy ending. Harvey develops an emotional dependency on Daniel rather than coming to internal growth and understanding about his own trauma. Daniel is a serial cheater, he cheated on Zoey and William, having cheated on William twice, the second one being Harvey which started their relationship. Harvey also is a cheater, not to the same degree. As a reader, I look at the Daniel x Harvey relationship and can only picture it ending horribly.

I would do three stars but the main character's mother in the story did seem to hint that the situation at hand really was not being handled well, the only issue is that the mother should have given much more wisdom to her son.

[Renard Avec-Histoire]

So, first impression is that this was an enjoyable story, if not the one I expected. I think the cover art is a tad misleading compared to the actual story that’s written.

The story follows Daniel, who’s been in a five-year relationship with his boyfriend, William. Their relationship is troubled, which is exacerbated when Daniel gets paired up with Harley for a project. Daniel and Harley hit it off immediately and the remaining story navigates Daniel’s new feelings for this new friend.

I think my only note is that it felt like the escalation of Danny and Harley’s relationship was a bit all over the place starting out. It starts with playful banter, but then immediately cuts to racy texts, then back to banter when they’re in person. But that can just be chalked up to people being more brave online I guess, haha. I also would have liked more scenes with Danny and Will to really drive home how poorly their relationship was doing.

All in all, this was a solid and enjoyable read!

[Wiley]

Certainly well written and interesting, but the plot just left a sour taste in my mouth. Cheating as a major plot point is tough, because there’s really no way to not think that Daniel is in the wrong here (even if his boyfriend also has his own problems). There are moments that are very sweet but it’s also pretty heavy. Certainly worth the read