This piece of candy is anything but sweet.Levi Candy, the poster boy for selfish brats, is on a twisted mission to seduce his straight best friend Josh Stephenson; a handsome, honest and all-round nice guy—unlike Levi who has plenty of dark secrets lurking in his closet.One of Levi’s secrets is his alter ego Candy Boy, a pseudonym he uses online to post raunchy pictures and dish the dirty details about all his steamy encounters. He cannot wait to give Josh the dubious honour of being the star of his next sexy story. But Levi has forgotten one thing… he isn’t the only person who knows how to play dirty. Gay fiction / erotica~ 50,000 words. Curious Candy explores dark and taboo themes that some readers may be uncomfortable with. It is NOT a romance.
Zane lives way down under on the west coast of New Zealand; the wet side. He is a fan of ghost stories, sport, ducklings and nights out that usually lead to his head hanging in a bucket the next morning.
He enjoys creating characters who have flaws, crazy thoughts and a tendency to make bad decisions. Zane’s stories are emotionally-charged and don’t shy away from darker themes. After all, they do say there is no light without the dark.
Please read the blurb carefully, and if you're still inclined to read this book, then read the sample, and if you still want to go with it, then kudos to you! And I guess to me too, cuz I managed to finish it. That's the good news. The bad news is, I didn't really like it.
I didn't like the story, and I didn't like the characters, which is fine, cuz the author warned us, that this isn't a fluffy and sweet story with equally fluffy and sweet characters. My fault for not listening.
The MC, Levi Candy is a rich, spoiled, ungrateful and disrespectful little brat, which you'll immediately find out, if you read the sample, and don't even expect him to change. He's an asshole. Come to think of it, that is actually how I imagine a 20-year old rich kid in real life. He was only missing a fire-red Porsche from under his ass.
But I liked that the characters were very strong in their opinion, and I liked the dialogues too. There were some characters however, who's appearance didn't really add to the story, they didn't have a purpose. I wonder if they show up in the second book, and Levi somehow deceives them too.
The weird thing about this book is, that it has dark themes, but the writing style makes the mood/the atmosphere of the story lighter. And also, with each chapter the direction of the story changed, it was unpredictable, which I liked.
To sum it up, I'm clearly not the target audience for this book, and that is exactly why I don't want to rate it. And I probably won't read Book 2. Sorry!
Do I recommend it? I guess if you like to read about very, very, very flawed and unlikable characters and their fucked-up mind and less than acceptable behavior, then yeah, go for it.
DNF at 14%. I should have read more reviews before I started this book. The characters in this book are very unlikable and selfish. I was thinking it was a nice fluffy book just because of the cover. (shame on me for judging a book on the cover) Completely my fault sorry.
Levi Candy has set his plan into motion - during his fishing trip with his best friend Josh he plans to finally seduce the man. Of course he then plans to post all about their sexual encounter on his anonymous blog "Candy Boy." But despite going in with all this intentions, Levi doesn't anticipate all the obstacles in his way. Will he be able to make Josh his or is it just wishful thinking?
Disclaimer: This book is not what you would expect. There is no HEA and this is absolutely not a best-friends-to-lovers novel. This is a story about a depraved young 20 year old who is more or less looking to get his friend drunk and then have sex with him. Levi is extremely unlikeable and frankly there are absolutely no redeeming qualities about him. He is a spoiled man-child who thinks that just because he has money he can have everything he wants. Now with some surprise twists Levi wil find out this is NOT true, but how we get there is unexpected, more or less unconsensual and disturbing. I would not recommend this book.
Despite this book not being for me, I would direct you to Game Night and Power Play by Zane Menzy. These novels are a bit more ranchy but I found myself liking the characters and the plot a lot more.
MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW.
The fact that Levi ends with having sex with Dwight has me twitching in disgust. The whole encounter with his best friend's father felt slimy and yucky. I get that this novel was not a romance but I just felt really mislead by the premise of the book. It seemed that the whole set-up was going to be Levi with his friend, Josh. Frankly, I thought that it was going to be Josh that had sex with Levi and showed him who was boss. But the fact that it was Josh's father. Ughh. I was so unimpressed and did not like this erotic one bit.
A nice piece of erotica just bordering on rape. Intense characters written well to fit the plot. I was glad that Levi got his blog post and his just desserts!
Well. When the author warns that this is NOT a romance, they're not fucking kidding around. Not badly written, but I pretty much hated all the characters in this except for Josh (and probably Jenny and Jessica, although there's not much of either of them here). Levi, Mark, Lucas, and Dwight are all grade-A assholes of one kind or another. I wish I didn't need to read stories by authors with letter Z initials....my own damn fault for doing reading challenges.
Dark themes but well written. Not a single character here is likable, but who cares? Doesn't mean they're not interesting. I'll be reading the rest in this series.
The 1st of a great series starring Levi Candy, each book is a ‘novella’ rather than full length book which I normally prefer, however, each book left me gagging for the next ~ indeed, I can’t wait for the fifth instalment in January. The books are sexy, a little sleazy (rather like Levi) and a bit outrageous at times. This was the book that hooked me into Zane Menzy and I have since read everything he has published and never been disappointed.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Levi makes plans to Alpha dog his best Bud, Josh. But he becomes the Bottom Dog of the Family, when Josh’s Dad learns of his scheming plan to dominate his son. Now Levi’s on a road trip toward submission that he never planned to take, and his twisted lust for his lifelong friend is being dominated by a secret pleasure that is out of control. “Curious Candy” is a masterful first chapter in this series that will leave all readers eager for answers.
Format: Kindle Edition Sarcastically dark and poignant story with no very likeable MC and secondary characters.
This story isn't for everyone ; be aware of possible triggers. Story it's unapologetic raw and thought provoking. This is Not a romance and even though doesn't end in a cliffhanger , this story it's set as a diary of sort.
An interesting and taboo read. This book is a about discovering your sexuality with a same sex partner. But it also has a twistedness and darkness to the story too and an unexpected twist. There is a cliffhanger, and I don't quite understand It's meaning. This alone makes me want to read the next book.
3% fuck you too levi. Love you sophie. Sophie xeon Forever!!
4% honestly, i thought i would enjoy the no happy ever after kind of ending aspect but why is reading this only a few pages in make me so depressive and worthless and just pointlessly consumed with lust.... Maybe i should read the red and black
5% oh i hope you DO get outed bitxh
8% girl just get a glass
9% yass mark gag it
11% gurl they raise the cigarette prices FOR REASON
11% I can't believe I'm going to subject myself to another shitty reading experience similar to Caught Stealing by CE Ricci UGH
“If it wasn’t for people like me she wouldn’t have any work to do. I help keep her in employment.”
FUCK YOU
OH AND APPARENTLY THE CLEANING LADY FOUND TWO USED CONDOMS ?????? HARLOT HARLOT HARLOT FUCK YOU FUCK YOU
14% I'd rather be friends with single mother sophie than you
18% WHY IS LEVI SUCH A FUCKING ASSHOLE
19% if the intricately planned obstacle course involves leaving used condoms lying around carelessly then you really succeeded in keeping me out of your room, you worthless sexual deviant manwhore harlot
26% okaayyy we love some doc martens. Oh now look who's calling other people sleazy, yeah right you would know from experience huh
31% wow josh IS dumb
32% not saying a 12 year old deserves that but levi sure did deserve that
36% it's still almost the same of article of clothing, levi. Regardless the labels you pompous cunt
38% so fucking a guy super drunk is different from fucking a guy super high? Yeah levi real smooth you manwhore
Josh’s eyes shone back with an innocence that Levi was desperate to corrupt
Yep TOTALLY not a predator
Nov 1, 2023 dnf for now bitches................ Like the energy from this book is so evil I cannot explain it
After reading the reviews, I AM NOT GONNA FINISH THIS EVER. Like isk this book is too evil for me. I have so much gay shit on my to read, I'm safe in knowing I'll never really miss out on anything involving Levi Candy. As for you Zane Manzy, you're on thin ice cuz I'm planning to read Crashing Hearts and Jock Shot.......... Sigh whatever
It was a good read. I found it a little disturbing that a guy would treat his mate the way Levi tried to treat Joshie. But Levi got as my grandpa would say, "a hard life lesson," in the form of hoagies dad.
I am not a writer. I’ve never written a review before so bare with me. I am a straight woman with a major curiosity of gay men. I absolutely loved this series!! Omg the dirtiness of it the taboo, the danger, the dark, the breach into Non consent. Loved it!! I can not wait for Twisted Candy to come out!! While I want to slap Levi upside his head sometimes my heart breaks for him too!! Thank you Zane!!
I absolutely loved this book and was honored to have been able to read and review. It was such a phenomenal read and had amazing characters as well as an amazing story line. I just could not get enough of it and once I started reading it I could not put it down. I recommend that you read it.
Not a romance, but gay erotic fiction. Not the best not the worst. Karma teach manipulator, Levi Candy a Lesson, When his attempt to seduce his straight best friend is thwarted by the father of said best friend. Levi is a planner and manipulator, so I would have loved to see his payback.
Don't judge book by its cover itu cocok buat buku ini (tanpa baca sinopsisnya terlebih dahulu). Covernya tidak sm sekali mencerminkan isi dari bukunya.
I read Dark MM before and I make it out alive so why don't give it a try.
Isinya memang agak twisted ya secara MCnya aja begitu sikapnya, ga aneh isi buku ini menceritakan pengalaman nyeleneh yg pernah dia lakukan dan yg akan dia lakukan and that's totally fine asal atas persetujuan dari kedua belah pihak.
Seperti yg author-nya bilang, ini ga ada romantis-romantisnya tp bikin penasaran untuk baca kisahnya dia selanjutnya seperi apa.
Wow! The writing was brilliant and so was the story, it went places I never expected. I love books that don't follow the usual formula and this was one of them. Now onto book two!