What do you think?
Rate this book
Tangled Web
By day Ashley Stevens is a dedicated nurse; by night he runs multiple social media sites for his crush and all-time favorite actor, Sebastian Gray. After a particularly grueling day at work, Ashley drinks away his misery while dreaming about being with Sebastian—only to realize it’s no dream when Sebastian actually contacts him. Sebastian asks him to officially run his sites and Ashley is thrilled—right up until Sebastian makes it clear that he thinks Ashley is a girl. And maybe it’s the wine, or maybe it’s a fear that if Sebastian knew the truth, he wouldn’t want him, but Ashley never sets him straight. But keeping the secret becomes a nightmare as Ashley and Sebastian talk online night after night, forging a true connection. And the longer Ashley waits to tell the truth, the more tangled the lies become. A plane ticket from Sebastian along with an invitation to meet in New York City for a fan event brings it all to a head. Ashley must face Sebastian and tell all, but he might not be the only one keeping secrets.
62 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 18, 2016
39 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
May 17, 2016
**2.5 stars**
This story was cute but the execution fell a bit short.
Ashley is a nurse with a huge celebrity crush on an up and coming actor, Sebastian Grey. Ashley’s crush does not stop at admiring from afar though. He creates social media pages for Sebastian and promotes the hell out of his work. Eventually, Sebastian contacts him to give permission for Ashley to make the social media pages official. They start chatting and quickly become friends. What also happens quickly though is that Sebastian thinks Ashley is a girl.
The story is only 56 pages so obviously things happen pretty quickly. Their friendship spans a period of 5 months until Sebastian invites Ashley to a fan event and of course, it all comes to a head there. Everything you’d expect from someone finding they’ve been tricked for months by someone they came to consider a friend happens. There are no surprises.
I guess what left me disappointed is that I didn’t buy the whole “I was only infatuated before but now I’ve gotten to know you and I’m falling in love with you” thing. Because of the short length of the story, we don’t get a lot of page time devoted to the characters truly bonding. There are snippets here and there of very few interactions and we’re told about the rest.
There is also no sex in this book. I have read plenty of books with no steam but here it was sorely missed. Ashley’s melodramatic reaction after the inevitable reveal of his gender was very OTT considering they had not really interacted in real life. I am not undermining the strength of relationships built online, but because we didn’t really see the development of this one, I didn’t believe the overwhelming emotion and heartache.
All in all, a cute story but you’d have to suspend disbelief in a major way. The writing...well it wasn’t bad, but I have to say, Ashley did sound more like a teenage girl than an adult male.
Not sure I can recommend this one.
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. See this review at Gay Book Reviews.
This story was cute but the execution fell a bit short.
Ashley is a nurse with a huge celebrity crush on an up and coming actor, Sebastian Grey. Ashley’s crush does not stop at admiring from afar though. He creates social media pages for Sebastian and promotes the hell out of his work. Eventually, Sebastian contacts him to give permission for Ashley to make the social media pages official. They start chatting and quickly become friends. What also happens quickly though is that Sebastian thinks Ashley is a girl.
The story is only 56 pages so obviously things happen pretty quickly. Their friendship spans a period of 5 months until Sebastian invites Ashley to a fan event and of course, it all comes to a head there. Everything you’d expect from someone finding they’ve been tricked for months by someone they came to consider a friend happens. There are no surprises.
I guess what left me disappointed is that I didn’t buy the whole “I was only infatuated before but now I’ve gotten to know you and I’m falling in love with you” thing. Because of the short length of the story, we don’t get a lot of page time devoted to the characters truly bonding. There are snippets here and there of very few interactions and we’re told about the rest.
There is also no sex in this book. I have read plenty of books with no steam but here it was sorely missed. Ashley’s melodramatic reaction after the inevitable reveal of his gender was very OTT considering they had not really interacted in real life. I am not undermining the strength of relationships built online, but because we didn’t really see the development of this one, I didn’t believe the overwhelming emotion and heartache.
All in all, a cute story but you’d have to suspend disbelief in a major way. The writing...well it wasn’t bad, but I have to say, Ashley did sound more like a teenage girl than an adult male.
Not sure I can recommend this one.
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. See this review at Gay Book Reviews.
May 19, 2016
Ashley Stevens is gay, a nurse, and in love/lust with Sebastian Gray, an actor, presumably straight. At night, Ashley spends his time running a bunch of social media sites for his crush, with help from a couple of online friends. When he is contacted by someone claiming to be Sebastian, he first thinks he's being pranked, but soon learns that this is the real deal. Sebastian then asks Ashley to officially run the sites for him, to which Ashley agrees. Soon, they chat via FB Messenger daily.
However, during the course of their early conversations, Sebastian assumes Ashley is female, and says so. Ashley allows him to believe this, and this starts a long deception that culminates in an event in NYC where Ashley overhears a conversation Sebastian has on the phone while hiding in the bathroom.
While I usually like this particular trope, I didn't like so much how it was executed here. It felt as if the author didn't dive deeply enough into this deception and the ensuing feelings this caused. Additionally, as the whole story is told from Ashley's POV, I didn't really get a good feel for Sebastian and his thoughts and emotions. The whole thing felt a little too shallow for me.
We see Ashley struggle with keeping the truth from Sebastian, but I didn't feel that his excuses were valid for not telling the truth. Their conversations were private, so I didn't quite understand why Ashley thought he had to keep up the lie. Perhaps that's because I'm such a truthful person myself, and abhor lies in general. His reasoning, that Sebastian would drop their budding relationship if he were to find out Ashley is male and gay, wasn't good enough for me.
Once the deception comes to light, of course things go south very quickly. Sebastian is justifiably angry with Ashley, and won't listen to any excuses. And it was during this scene where something really niggled at me - Sebastian is portrayed as not having a good understanding of how social media works, or how FB and Twitter work in general, but he was familiar with the term "catfishing". That particular part didn't ring true for me, either. It was like he pulled that term out of thin air, and it didn't fit with how his character had been portrayed up to that point.
But this is a romance, after all, so we do get the HFN after the two have a serious and honest conversation after the blow-up.
For me, the book was too short, and the ending felt too rushed for the characters, especially since we didn't get to see into Sebastian's head at all. I also felt that the excuse "well, you lied to me, too" wasn't working in Ashley's favor. The deception was a huge breach of trust for me, and I was having a really difficult time forgiving Ashley for keeping the lie alive for so long, when he had multiple opportunities to clear things up.
Other readers may feel differently.
** I received a free copy of this book from its publisher. A positive review was not promised in return. **
However, during the course of their early conversations, Sebastian assumes Ashley is female, and says so. Ashley allows him to believe this, and this starts a long deception that culminates in an event in NYC where Ashley overhears a conversation Sebastian has on the phone while hiding in the bathroom.
While I usually like this particular trope, I didn't like so much how it was executed here. It felt as if the author didn't dive deeply enough into this deception and the ensuing feelings this caused. Additionally, as the whole story is told from Ashley's POV, I didn't really get a good feel for Sebastian and his thoughts and emotions. The whole thing felt a little too shallow for me.
We see Ashley struggle with keeping the truth from Sebastian, but I didn't feel that his excuses were valid for not telling the truth. Their conversations were private, so I didn't quite understand why Ashley thought he had to keep up the lie. Perhaps that's because I'm such a truthful person myself, and abhor lies in general. His reasoning, that Sebastian would drop their budding relationship if he were to find out Ashley is male and gay, wasn't good enough for me.
Once the deception comes to light, of course things go south very quickly. Sebastian is justifiably angry with Ashley, and won't listen to any excuses. And it was during this scene where something really niggled at me - Sebastian is portrayed as not having a good understanding of how social media works, or how FB and Twitter work in general, but he was familiar with the term "catfishing". That particular part didn't ring true for me, either. It was like he pulled that term out of thin air, and it didn't fit with how his character had been portrayed up to that point.
But this is a romance, after all, so we do get the HFN after the two have a serious and honest conversation after the blow-up.
For me, the book was too short, and the ending felt too rushed for the characters, especially since we didn't get to see into Sebastian's head at all. I also felt that the excuse "well, you lied to me, too" wasn't working in Ashley's favor. The deception was a huge breach of trust for me, and I was having a really difficult time forgiving Ashley for keeping the lie alive for so long, when he had multiple opportunities to clear things up.
Other readers may feel differently.
** I received a free copy of this book from its publisher. A positive review was not promised in return. **
May 19, 2016
Reviewed for Just Love Romance
Straight up, this is a story about catfishing with some potential stalking thrown in for a little extra added crazy. If you’re not familiar with catfishing, it means to “lure (someone) into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona.” In the case of Tangled Web, it’s about how Ashley lies about who he really is in order to win the affections of Sebastian, his celebrity crush. I totally get that romance is supposed to be fantasy but good writing should also have some kind of moral that the reader can take away from it – something that this story is lacking. For as much as I feel the truth evasion theme is overdone, I especially don’t like when it’s used in romance because it’s a terrible foundation to build a relationship upon. But all of this isn’t my biggest issue with the book.
Lying about your identity is not the same as keeping your sexual orientation private. These are two completely separate things. As Seb and Ash start getting to know each other, at no point does Seb lead Ash to believe they are anything more than friends and I stand firm behind the belief that LGBTQ+ people can come out to whoever they want, whenever they want. They are under no obligation to reveal this information about themselves when making new friends. Outing oneself is a very personal decision because it could be detrimental to their livelihood or even their well being. Yet, when Ash finds out that Seb is gay, he uses it to justify that he isn’t the only liar in their friendship and continues to make excuses for his actions rather than seriously considering his wrongdoings. Then, to add insult to injury, we have Seb questioning his sexuality and it’s never even mentioned that, hey, dude might be bi. There would be nothing wrong with that if he was, but instead it’s handled as though discovering that he might not be 100% all about the D would be a bad thing. So when they finally talk after the conflict and the first thing Ash does is lie to Seb again, I had had enough.
By the midway point I was merely feeding my curiosity to see how Ozment would right Ash’s wrongs but when I realized that wasn’t going to happen I wanted to shut it down with a DNF on the spot. It just ended up being another case of someone writing words in a sequence that suits them whether or not they have any basis on reality, fact, or what is morally the right thing to do. This is fanfic at best and not even a very good one at that. I do not recommend it.
I received an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Straight up, this is a story about catfishing with some potential stalking thrown in for a little extra added crazy. If you’re not familiar with catfishing, it means to “lure (someone) into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona.” In the case of Tangled Web, it’s about how Ashley lies about who he really is in order to win the affections of Sebastian, his celebrity crush. I totally get that romance is supposed to be fantasy but good writing should also have some kind of moral that the reader can take away from it – something that this story is lacking. For as much as I feel the truth evasion theme is overdone, I especially don’t like when it’s used in romance because it’s a terrible foundation to build a relationship upon. But all of this isn’t my biggest issue with the book.
Lying about your identity is not the same as keeping your sexual orientation private. These are two completely separate things. As Seb and Ash start getting to know each other, at no point does Seb lead Ash to believe they are anything more than friends and I stand firm behind the belief that LGBTQ+ people can come out to whoever they want, whenever they want. They are under no obligation to reveal this information about themselves when making new friends. Outing oneself is a very personal decision because it could be detrimental to their livelihood or even their well being. Yet, when Ash finds out that Seb is gay, he uses it to justify that he isn’t the only liar in their friendship and continues to make excuses for his actions rather than seriously considering his wrongdoings. Then, to add insult to injury, we have Seb questioning his sexuality and it’s never even mentioned that, hey, dude might be bi. There would be nothing wrong with that if he was, but instead it’s handled as though discovering that he might not be 100% all about the D would be a bad thing. So when they finally talk after the conflict and the first thing Ash does is lie to Seb again, I had had enough.
By the midway point I was merely feeding my curiosity to see how Ozment would right Ash’s wrongs but when I realized that wasn’t going to happen I wanted to shut it down with a DNF on the spot. It just ended up being another case of someone writing words in a sequence that suits them whether or not they have any basis on reality, fact, or what is morally the right thing to do. This is fanfic at best and not even a very good one at that. I do not recommend it.
I received an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.
May 5, 2016
3 stars
I have to be honest, this story is getting a generous 3 stars from me. I read the story. This is the story of a male with a female name, Ashley, who devotes his time to promoting an actor, Sebastian Gray, he has had a crush on for years. Then one day out do the blue the actor contacts him and they begin a relationship as friends with a little more feeling, over the Internet, and under the assumption that neither are gay and one is male ....one is female. The story's goes, "I have let him think I am a female so long, now I don't know how to tell him-- so I don't." We read that same problem over and over in this short story. Then, the Sebastian wants to meet Ashley. At first Ashley puts him off, but then agrees to meet up at a convention in NY. Upon arrival to the convention Ashley goes to the restroom to get his bearings, when low and behold Sebastian walks in having a private conversation ... Doesn't see Ashley and let's the cat out of the bag that he is gay.
Needless to say their meeting doesn't go over well, Sebastian feels betrayed...even though he is hiding something as well. So is that the end for these two? You will have to check it out and see...
I really wanted to enjoy this story more, but it was so one-sided, shallow characters, a plot line that was emails and messenger interactions and no hot as hell chemistry or even a make out session. So yeah, 3 generous stars is all I can do with a heat rating of nada.
❥❥**´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•`*ARC provided by Author in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Jaime from Alpha Book Club
I have to be honest, this story is getting a generous 3 stars from me. I read the story. This is the story of a male with a female name, Ashley, who devotes his time to promoting an actor, Sebastian Gray, he has had a crush on for years. Then one day out do the blue the actor contacts him and they begin a relationship as friends with a little more feeling, over the Internet, and under the assumption that neither are gay and one is male ....one is female. The story's goes, "I have let him think I am a female so long, now I don't know how to tell him-- so I don't." We read that same problem over and over in this short story. Then, the Sebastian wants to meet Ashley. At first Ashley puts him off, but then agrees to meet up at a convention in NY. Upon arrival to the convention Ashley goes to the restroom to get his bearings, when low and behold Sebastian walks in having a private conversation ... Doesn't see Ashley and let's the cat out of the bag that he is gay.
Needless to say their meeting doesn't go over well, Sebastian feels betrayed...even though he is hiding something as well. So is that the end for these two? You will have to check it out and see...
I really wanted to enjoy this story more, but it was so one-sided, shallow characters, a plot line that was emails and messenger interactions and no hot as hell chemistry or even a make out session. So yeah, 3 generous stars is all I can do with a heat rating of nada.
❥❥**´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•`*ARC provided by Author in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Jaime from Alpha Book Club
May 6, 2016
Cute short story about Ashley, an ER nurse who's fan-girling all over Sebastian Gray, an up and coming actor. Ashley's very dedicated and has started a few fan pages for Sebastian in order to help him become more famous. When Ashley and Sebastian start talking over Facebook messenger, Ahsley is on cloud nine; even though he's disappointed that Sebastian thinks he's a woman, he doesn't bother to correct him and plays along, because this contact with Sebastian is too important to risk by telling the truth.
Ashley and Sebastian become very close; they become friends who confide in each other, who trust each other and develop feelings for each other. When Sebastian wants to meet Ashley in person, Ashley knows his time is up and the truth is about to be revealed. I won't go into further detail because I don't want to spoil the story, but lets just say that this would've been perfect as a full length novel. I loved the chats between them and there was real potential to this story if only it wasn't so short.
Regardless, this was a nice short story with no steam at all, but the cuteness factor is very high.
Ashley and Sebastian become very close; they become friends who confide in each other, who trust each other and develop feelings for each other. When Sebastian wants to meet Ashley in person, Ashley knows his time is up and the truth is about to be revealed. I won't go into further detail because I don't want to spoil the story, but lets just say that this would've been perfect as a full length novel. I loved the chats between them and there was real potential to this story if only it wasn't so short.
Regardless, this was a nice short story with no steam at all, but the cuteness factor is very high.
May 18, 2016
A Joyfully Jay review.
3 stars
I really enjoy these kinds of stories and this one, although not phenomenal, hit the right spots. We start with unsuspecting Ashley getting blindsided by the very man he lusts after. Once Sebastian initiates contact, Ashley’s knee-jerk reaction is to try conforming to what it is he thinks Sebastian wants. Ashley’s lie-by-omission tactic starts off as a way to just keep that chat window with Sebastian open. One thing leads to another and so, the gender thing was on the back burner because the two of them were hitting it off. In that regard, I felt like I could certainly relate to Ashley. Who hasn’t pushed the envelope when acting behind the safety of a computer screen?
Sebastian, on the other hand, is less relatable. Understandably, most of the reader’s interaction with him is via Ashley’s chats with the actor. We don’t actually get to meet Sebastian in the flesh until late in the game, when Ashley’s about to reveal the truth about who he is. That is to say, without the benefit of first-person or omniscient narration, as a reader, I wasn’t sure what exactly I should have inferred from Sebastian’s typed messages (which, again, is pretty true to life). By this point, it’s clear that Sebastian has some trust issues that up the ante as we countdown to Ashley coming clean. But again, given how remote Sebastian is for most of the story, when the big reveal ultimately happens, found I had little sympathy for Sebastian’s side of things.
Read Camille’s review in its entirety here.
3 stars
I really enjoy these kinds of stories and this one, although not phenomenal, hit the right spots. We start with unsuspecting Ashley getting blindsided by the very man he lusts after. Once Sebastian initiates contact, Ashley’s knee-jerk reaction is to try conforming to what it is he thinks Sebastian wants. Ashley’s lie-by-omission tactic starts off as a way to just keep that chat window with Sebastian open. One thing leads to another and so, the gender thing was on the back burner because the two of them were hitting it off. In that regard, I felt like I could certainly relate to Ashley. Who hasn’t pushed the envelope when acting behind the safety of a computer screen?
Sebastian, on the other hand, is less relatable. Understandably, most of the reader’s interaction with him is via Ashley’s chats with the actor. We don’t actually get to meet Sebastian in the flesh until late in the game, when Ashley’s about to reveal the truth about who he is. That is to say, without the benefit of first-person or omniscient narration, as a reader, I wasn’t sure what exactly I should have inferred from Sebastian’s typed messages (which, again, is pretty true to life). By this point, it’s clear that Sebastian has some trust issues that up the ante as we countdown to Ashley coming clean. But again, given how remote Sebastian is for most of the story, when the big reveal ultimately happens, found I had little sympathy for Sebastian’s side of things.
Read Camille’s review in its entirety here.
May 25, 2016
2.5 stars
Sweet short story about "catfishing".
Sweet short story about "catfishing".
March 6, 2018
Ended very abruptly leaving too many unanswered questions. Shame it was so short.
July 1, 2016
Ashley is a hard-core fan of an up and coming tv/movie star – Sebastian - who doesn’t do much (if anything) on social media so Ashley sets up an “unofficial” site and Face Book page. Though Ashley has contacted Sebastian’s manager, nobody has given him the “go” to make his site the “official” site. So Ashley is at first in total disbelief when out of the blue someone claiming to be Sebastian contacts him via Face Book telling him to go ahead and make the sites “official”. (Ashley’s a little tipsy that night and that doesn’t help anything either.) Finally, Sebastian convinces Ashley that he’s the real Sebastian and Ashley is overjoyed but… when Sebastian thinks that Ashley is a girl, he doesn’t correct the star for fear of losing what contact he’s gotten.
At first it’s no big deal. When will Ashley ever really get to meet Sebastian anyway and he’s a big star so he’s not ever going to really be part of Ashley’s life…right?
Well… they end up really clicking, and end up chatting – a lot – and becoming friends. By now it’s way too weird for Ashley to come clean but… suddenly Sebastian wants to meet Ashley and how is that going to go over?
**
I had mixed feelings about this. I wanted to suspend my disbelief and let go my doubts that Sebastian would become so buddy-buddy with just some “person” on the internet that he’d go so far as to send Ashley a plane ticket so they could meet in person… it could happen… right?
I also thought it was a bit strange how blasé Ashley was about having this “star” that he’s been crushing on forever as a BFF – even only on the internet – I think he’d be more freaked out about that.
I also feel that if they were so “close” a phone call would have been a far more likely scenario before a plane ticket…But… those are really details.
I loved the idea of these guys becoming fast friends and the whole “Cinderella” feel of two good guys finding love via the internet – I just felt cheated that we NEVER got to see them as a couple. NEVER.
Maybe this will have a sequel?
It just seemed so implausible and then, just when things are getting interesting, the story ends!
The writing was good, as was the editing and it had a ton of potential – it just didn’t pay out.
3 of 5 stars
At first it’s no big deal. When will Ashley ever really get to meet Sebastian anyway and he’s a big star so he’s not ever going to really be part of Ashley’s life…right?
Well… they end up really clicking, and end up chatting – a lot – and becoming friends. By now it’s way too weird for Ashley to come clean but… suddenly Sebastian wants to meet Ashley and how is that going to go over?
**
I had mixed feelings about this. I wanted to suspend my disbelief and let go my doubts that Sebastian would become so buddy-buddy with just some “person” on the internet that he’d go so far as to send Ashley a plane ticket so they could meet in person… it could happen… right?
I also thought it was a bit strange how blasé Ashley was about having this “star” that he’s been crushing on forever as a BFF – even only on the internet – I think he’d be more freaked out about that.
I also feel that if they were so “close” a phone call would have been a far more likely scenario before a plane ticket…But… those are really details.
I loved the idea of these guys becoming fast friends and the whole “Cinderella” feel of two good guys finding love via the internet – I just felt cheated that we NEVER got to see them as a couple. NEVER.
Maybe this will have a sequel?
It just seemed so implausible and then, just when things are getting interesting, the story ends!
The writing was good, as was the editing and it had a ton of potential – it just didn’t pay out.
3 of 5 stars
May 20, 2016
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive.” ~ Sir Walter Scott
When Ashley Stephens, of 'Tangled Web' by S. A. Ozment, begins an online chat with Sebastian Gray - his favorite actor and subject of many blogs Ashley facilitates with him as the subject of discussion - he's so overwhelmed and so desperate to stay in contact with Sebastian that he lies by omission, letting Sebastian think Ashley is a girl. In essence, he weaves a tangled web of lies while communicating on the web. Ashley reasons that no harm can come from the deception because they will never meet. He relies on the Internet's anonymity to guard his white lies.
What he doesn't count on is the growing affection and intimacy that develops between him and Sebastian over time. Ashley has to be careful to remember his previous lies and it wears on him. They truly enjoy each other's chats, sharing, support, and affection. The closer they get, the more guilty Ashley feels. When Sebastian wants to meet Ashley in person, he avoids the subject as long as he can. But then Sebastian comes to Ashley's city to film a movie, and Ashley knows he can't avoid the truth any longer. Ashley accepts Sebastian's invitation to a party where he knows he will have to confront Sebastian and tell him the truth, expecting the worst and hoping for the best.
This short story makes me think of the saying “Honesty is the best policy”. No matter what your reasons for lying, no lie is completely harmless. There are always consequences to lying, some can be overcome and some can't. In this case, Sebastian and Ashley were both able to admit their part in the deception, but that doesn't always happen. Thanks, S.A., for reminding me that telling the truth is easier than lying, if for no other reason than you don't constantly have to remember what you said before.
NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
When Ashley Stephens, of 'Tangled Web' by S. A. Ozment, begins an online chat with Sebastian Gray - his favorite actor and subject of many blogs Ashley facilitates with him as the subject of discussion - he's so overwhelmed and so desperate to stay in contact with Sebastian that he lies by omission, letting Sebastian think Ashley is a girl. In essence, he weaves a tangled web of lies while communicating on the web. Ashley reasons that no harm can come from the deception because they will never meet. He relies on the Internet's anonymity to guard his white lies.
What he doesn't count on is the growing affection and intimacy that develops between him and Sebastian over time. Ashley has to be careful to remember his previous lies and it wears on him. They truly enjoy each other's chats, sharing, support, and affection. The closer they get, the more guilty Ashley feels. When Sebastian wants to meet Ashley in person, he avoids the subject as long as he can. But then Sebastian comes to Ashley's city to film a movie, and Ashley knows he can't avoid the truth any longer. Ashley accepts Sebastian's invitation to a party where he knows he will have to confront Sebastian and tell him the truth, expecting the worst and hoping for the best.
This short story makes me think of the saying “Honesty is the best policy”. No matter what your reasons for lying, no lie is completely harmless. There are always consequences to lying, some can be overcome and some can't. In this case, Sebastian and Ashley were both able to admit their part in the deception, but that doesn't always happen. Thanks, S.A., for reminding me that telling the truth is easier than lying, if for no other reason than you don't constantly have to remember what you said before.
NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
June 23, 2016
Review can be read at It's About The Book
This was a cute little story about a guy named Ashley who started his own online fan club of sorts for a lesser known actor, Sebastian Gray, and is successful at it to the point Sebastian finds him on FB one night and starts chatting with him about making his pages official with Ashley in charge. Ashley is a super-fan. His excitement over talking to his obsession and a bottle of wine keeps him from correcting the assumption he’s a girl.
I can see how Ashley wouldn’t want to nip in the bud his chance to become friends with Sebastian at first. I can see how it gets to the point where he can’t find an easy way to tell him. Sebastian finding out was however inevitable. Especially when they plan to meet up in person. This is where it all kind of turned a super angsty drama filled corner. A big old blow up. Ashley and Sebastian handle it poorly. Ashley was a little worse since he throws Sebastian being in the closet in his face. That’s a big no no in this situation. Not the same as pretending to be a girl at all.
For me the back and forth messaging was pretty cute. It was a good way to get to know them and see how their relationship develops. It’s hard to believe neither let anything slip in all that time but I was okay with it. I think the length of the story helped. Ashley obviously falls in love with Sebastian but thinks he’s straight. After the big blow up it’s all cleaned up nice and tidy. Tangled Web was an okay read but nothing I’d recommend reading right away. It was short, cute and angsty.
This was a cute little story about a guy named Ashley who started his own online fan club of sorts for a lesser known actor, Sebastian Gray, and is successful at it to the point Sebastian finds him on FB one night and starts chatting with him about making his pages official with Ashley in charge. Ashley is a super-fan. His excitement over talking to his obsession and a bottle of wine keeps him from correcting the assumption he’s a girl.
I can see how Ashley wouldn’t want to nip in the bud his chance to become friends with Sebastian at first. I can see how it gets to the point where he can’t find an easy way to tell him. Sebastian finding out was however inevitable. Especially when they plan to meet up in person. This is where it all kind of turned a super angsty drama filled corner. A big old blow up. Ashley and Sebastian handle it poorly. Ashley was a little worse since he throws Sebastian being in the closet in his face. That’s a big no no in this situation. Not the same as pretending to be a girl at all.
For me the back and forth messaging was pretty cute. It was a good way to get to know them and see how their relationship develops. It’s hard to believe neither let anything slip in all that time but I was okay with it. I think the length of the story helped. Ashley obviously falls in love with Sebastian but thinks he’s straight. After the big blow up it’s all cleaned up nice and tidy. Tangled Web was an okay read but nothing I’d recommend reading right away. It was short, cute and angsty.
May 14, 2016
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.
No truer words had ever been spoken when Ashley Stevens lied by omission. He only wanted to sing internet praises for his favorite movie star, Sebastian Gray. But like Jamie Fox sang, blame it on the alcohol. Getting caught up in a friendship online seemed simple enough, especially when Sebastian was turned out to be much more humble and engaging. Even if he thinks Ashley is a girl!!
Told through one person's perspective, Ashley, a Nurse by day, gets caught up in the deceit even as he is encouraged to tell the truth. By the time he gets the courage, Sebastian has invited Ashley to meet at a fan event.
What follows sets of a chain of events both men seem unable to forgive each other for. Keeping secrets gets harder by the day. Can forgiveness be right around the corner?
I enjoyed this short, sweet story.
ARC provided by Author in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Cee from Alpha Book Club
No truer words had ever been spoken when Ashley Stevens lied by omission. He only wanted to sing internet praises for his favorite movie star, Sebastian Gray. But like Jamie Fox sang, blame it on the alcohol. Getting caught up in a friendship online seemed simple enough, especially when Sebastian was turned out to be much more humble and engaging. Even if he thinks Ashley is a girl!!
Told through one person's perspective, Ashley, a Nurse by day, gets caught up in the deceit even as he is encouraged to tell the truth. By the time he gets the courage, Sebastian has invited Ashley to meet at a fan event.
What follows sets of a chain of events both men seem unable to forgive each other for. Keeping secrets gets harder by the day. Can forgiveness be right around the corner?
I enjoyed this short, sweet story.
ARC provided by Author in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Cee from Alpha Book Club
May 17, 2016
My description of this book is that is a short story about what lies can do to a friendship and to a possible relationship.
I found this book to be interesting. I liked the characters Ashley and Sebastian both. Their friendship started over the web and started with each misleading the other. Ashley mislead Sebastian into thinking he was a girl and Sebastian mislead Ashley into thinking he is straight. As all lies do, these lies came to a head and destroyed what they had built over the five months they had been talking.
The theory behind this story was really good but I felt there could have been so much more to this story. I enjoyed the concept of how lies will destroy relationships but I honestly felt we did not get to know the characters as well as we should have.
But with that being said. I still enjoyed this story. Like I said I really liked each of the characters. And I liked how they connected over the Internet and became friends. I just really wish we would have found out more about what happened after the lies came out and the reconnected. It ended a little quickly and has the ability to be such an amazing story.
Was given this book for free by inked rainbow reads for an honest review
I found this book to be interesting. I liked the characters Ashley and Sebastian both. Their friendship started over the web and started with each misleading the other. Ashley mislead Sebastian into thinking he was a girl and Sebastian mislead Ashley into thinking he is straight. As all lies do, these lies came to a head and destroyed what they had built over the five months they had been talking.
The theory behind this story was really good but I felt there could have been so much more to this story. I enjoyed the concept of how lies will destroy relationships but I honestly felt we did not get to know the characters as well as we should have.
But with that being said. I still enjoyed this story. Like I said I really liked each of the characters. And I liked how they connected over the Internet and became friends. I just really wish we would have found out more about what happened after the lies came out and the reconnected. It ended a little quickly and has the ability to be such an amazing story.
Was given this book for free by inked rainbow reads for an honest review
May 13, 2016
This was a cute quick read. Sometimes you want a good story but don't have time for a long novel and this book fits the bill.
Ashley, a male ER nurse spends his nights running a fan page for his favorite celebrity Sebastian Gray. Sebastian contact Ashley, thinking he is a woman to ask him to run the official fan page. Ashley never corrects Sebastian's assumption and the weeks turn to months. As the two build a close friendship online Ashley knows he needs to come clean but is afraid that the relationship will be over.
Sebastian surprises Ashley with tickets to a fan event for the two to meet. Ashley's secret goes over like a lead balloon, but he realizes that he may not be the only one keeping a secret.
Original storyline, almost all of the interaction was through social media so there was no heat, just one chaste kiss. I did like the buildup of Ashley's anxiety over telling the truth and the fallout when he dropped the bomb was believable. I could see this story being developed into a great full length novel, but you won't be disappointed with the short story either.
Ashley, a male ER nurse spends his nights running a fan page for his favorite celebrity Sebastian Gray. Sebastian contact Ashley, thinking he is a woman to ask him to run the official fan page. Ashley never corrects Sebastian's assumption and the weeks turn to months. As the two build a close friendship online Ashley knows he needs to come clean but is afraid that the relationship will be over.
Sebastian surprises Ashley with tickets to a fan event for the two to meet. Ashley's secret goes over like a lead balloon, but he realizes that he may not be the only one keeping a secret.
Original storyline, almost all of the interaction was through social media so there was no heat, just one chaste kiss. I did like the buildup of Ashley's anxiety over telling the truth and the fallout when he dropped the bomb was believable. I could see this story being developed into a great full length novel, but you won't be disappointed with the short story either.
May 18, 2016
Ashley is a nurse by day and a fan boy by night. He runs several social media accounts for his favorite actor Sebastian Gray. After sending an email to Sebastian's manager about making the accounts official. His surprised when Sebastian himself sends him a message back. Sebastian thinks Ashley’s a girl and Ashley doesn’t correct him a misunderstanding is bonded to happen. A connection is formed but keeping his gender a secret from Sebastian is hard. When Sebastian wants to meet Ashley at a fan event in New York. Ashley knows he needs to come clean about his lie. I didn't like that Ashley lied to Sebastian from the start but I understand. I loved the ending and I wished there was more to the story. I recommend this book to any fan girl or boy out there. This is the first book I read by S.A. Ozment but I know it won’t be my last.
July 8, 2016
This fast read was not one of my favorites, but it was cute and had a good moral code attached to the story. What I really didn’t care for was it was mainly told by two people writing each other back and forth through a computer chat. We did have a third person involved but also through a chat. And honestly, I’m just not a fan of that style writing.
What I did enjoy very much is that during this chat, these two gave each other time to learn. Although, as we find out pretty quickly, I small misunderstanding can lead to a huge issue.
Once these two finally do meet, and then re-meet. Those connections work. The baseline they established helped, but the fact that both could see past the small errors and understand was a big bonus.
The ending was perfect!
I was given a copy in exchange for an honest review by Crystals Many reviewers
What I did enjoy very much is that during this chat, these two gave each other time to learn. Although, as we find out pretty quickly, I small misunderstanding can lead to a huge issue.
Once these two finally do meet, and then re-meet. Those connections work. The baseline they established helped, but the fact that both could see past the small errors and understand was a big bonus.
The ending was perfect!
I was given a copy in exchange for an honest review by Crystals Many reviewers
May 2, 2016
This was a quick read for me but I did enjoy the story. The story line was original for me and writing was great. Ashley was a nurse by day and a super fan by night. He ran a website for his favorite actor Sebastian. Sebastian gets in touch with his fan and finds out Ashley the girl is a great person to talk to. They become friends on-line then Sebastian wants to meet Ashley. Ashley of course is a man and doesn't know how to tell him until it is too late. Seb is gay but doesn't want it out there so he rejects Ashley. Eventually they come together and their chemistry is good. SA is a new author for me and I will definitely read more from this author.
Received an arc for an honest review. Reviewed by Jodi Marinich for Alpha Book Club
Received an arc for an honest review. Reviewed by Jodi Marinich for Alpha Book Club
June 3, 2016
Good idea, but the story was to short and to much of that was about talking online. The actual meeting and conclusion was only in the last few pages. So this is one of those stories that should have been longer so the character development could have been more fleshed out and the conclusion and ending wouldn't have been so rushed.
May 23, 2016
not certain of the purpose of this story? make webpages for your crush- star... lie to star about being male, grow the friendship, meet get called liar, over hear secret, keep secret, tell star friend secret. months go by. make up. the end. oh wait one kiss then the end. definitely a pass on future books from writer.
May 26, 2016
2.5 stars
There was nice build up and I liked seeing Ashley and Seb start off as friends online and getting closer. The ending was a bit of a downer though. It felt like it abruptly ended and I would have liked to see where their relationship went, any trials Ashely and Seb would have been subjected to, etc. It had promise but didn't feel altogether complete.
There was nice build up and I liked seeing Ashley and Seb start off as friends online and getting closer. The ending was a bit of a downer though. It felt like it abruptly ended and I would have liked to see where their relationship went, any trials Ashely and Seb would have been subjected to, etc. It had promise but didn't feel altogether complete.
August 25, 2016
Started and finished, on the same day. Thank gawd it was a slow work day and I was able to read the entire book, in one sitting! I knew it was a good book when I couldn't put it down. AND when I said to myself, at the end, "What ... wait ... what happens to Sebastian and Ashley now? That can't be it ... I want more" So Ms Ozment ... what happens now?
June 6, 2016
I hated this for 2 reasons: 1) the lie premise and 2) the glorification of getting drunk. That said, I still read to the end. I think this is the one time the shorter format was a benefit. I hope this writer's writing will mature.
August 3, 2016
1.5 stars
May 20, 2016
3.25 stars
May 23, 2016
3.25 stars
December 26, 2016
Good for a short story.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews