Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion

Welcome to our January 2021 discussion thread! We will be reading and discussing Honeytrap this month. Feel free to start discussing it whenever you're ready, but be prepared for spoilers in the thread.

Happy Reading!

I just started this one last night and so far I'm really liking it. The two MCs are sorta laughing at mini golf as an American sport right now. lol. So, yeah, there's a bit of humor already and I like how it's written.

I finished last night. I enjoyed Part I the most. Part 2 made me sad. Part 3 gave me hope.

oh, interesting! I'm still in part one and having a great time with it.

I found it had ups and downs and change ups from one part to the next. I really enjoyed this book, but it such an alt.spy book. About connection and romance for people who happened to be spies. And I think it gives a somewhat delicate sense of time with placement during cold war.

This is def not your regular spy book. I admit, I was expecting something more like Eleventh Hour. It's still very good though. I just started part 2, which was so not what I was expecting. lol.

So far I really appreciate the realness of it. In part 2 everything is awkward, but not so awkward as to ruin things. And earlier, with Arkady, it's a touch of evil, without going overboard, but not washing it out either or being too light, if that makes sense.

Just finished this! No, it wasn’t what I was expecting, but I think it was realistically handled, which gives it a lot of different emotions, and a lot of ideas to explore. Towards the end, the idea of loving someone and yet knowing there’s so much to them you may never know, many family members, other people that person loves, really came out. Most people don’t have relationships like that, so it can be hard to know what that’s like, but I think the author did a great job portraying it here.

The beginning g was a lot of fun, then it became a bit sad, and then there is hope in the end for a better future. A good ending for a story like this one.

I think the ups and downs are part of why some reviewers on Amaz grumbled it wasn't a romance, more of a novel. It had momentso of laughs and a few poetical lyrical moments, and a romance that I rooted for. I wonderedvif the author wrote it over decades so their perspective was changing too

I could see that. I was sorta grumbly in the middle, but that turned around by the end. It is more of a general fiction novel than a romance even if the romance is a central theme. Almost like Voinov’s Special Forces.

That’s a good question about how long it took to write it!

I know from reading the author's blog that it was written relatively quickly, within a year.

The fact that it's not a boilerplate genre romance is for me its greatest virtue.

I had issues, more with their jobs than the romance, such as it was. It was a very ambitious book, and I loved Arkady. I think he stole the show though. The other MC wasn't as vividly written for me.

That is a fast project! And I liked that it was a combination general doc and romance. That was a nice change of pace I wasn’t expecting.

Arkady was the not nice Russian guy. Gennedy and Daniel were the two MCs. Yeah, Gennedy did steal the show a bit. Kind of like Vadim did for me in Voinov’s Special Forces. In the end, he was my favorite character there, even though he certainly wasn’t in the beginning.

What about their jobs didn’t you like?

Oh, yes, Arkady was the one we hate. Gennady was the cinnamon roll. 😁

What about their jobs didn’t you like?

Mostly that it wasn't really that important after Part 1 except when needed for drama. I could say they were also incredibly reckless, but that ended up being the point.

Keeping my eyes closed to the other comments, since I haven't finished yet: I'm at about 80%.

Just writing in to say that the author just ticked me off mightily with an anachronism: Gennady hops on the Washington Metrorail a year before the first trains started running.

Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ wrote: "Oh, yes, Arkady was the one we hate. Gennady was the cinnamon roll. 😁

What about their jobs didn’t you like?

Mostly that it wasn't really that important after Part 1 except when needed for drama...."

YES! He is a cinnamon roll. lol. :-D

And, I agree a bit with the job. Even in the beginning, it was almost a side plot. But, it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I still enjoyed the book, though maybe not quite as much. lol.

SamSpayedPI wrote: "Keeping my eyes closed to the other comments, since I haven't finished yet: I'm at about 80%.

Just writing in to say that the author just ticked me off mightily with an anachronism: Gennady hops ..."

oooohhhhhhhhh.... that's bad. That would have ticked me off if I'd known that fact. oops. Well, I hope the rest of the book is still a good read for you!

I just read a book in which a by-the- book agent was eating on D.C. metro and blocked the door to hold it open. The first is illegal in DC and the second is not really possible as described, the doors on DC metro trains' don't reopen like elevator doors.

DC metro trains: prone to literary errors :)

Lol. I discovered that the trains in Toronto, at least the one going to the airport, don’t work like the ones in Boston. I’m used to stick your hand in and they will reopen, but they don’t do that in Toronto, you have to press a button on the side to open them, which seems counter intuitive to me and is really scary when your arm gets stuck!

Mymymble wrote: "I've just finished and totally loved it, especially Gennady and the whole road trip vibe. I also liked that both mcs were bi. It would have been a lot more conventional if one or both had been gay ..."

The road trip was a lot of fun! And yes, I think their unconventionalness worked well here. I think it made it feel more realistic in a way.