Christina

This book was a fail. Both the characters and the plot are weak. Kellan is spoiled and selfish and Nate is a know-it-all with no personality. There was absolutely no chemistry and zero build-up to their relationship. Their actions and reasons for being together made no sense and this is where all the holes in the plot began. To get back at his bigoted father for cutting him off from the family money, Kellan devises a plan to pretend he's gay. He then decides to ask his ex-friend Nate (who he hasn't seen in years) to help him with his little scam by posing as his boyfriend.

What didn't make sense to me was why Nate would even agree to Kellan's plan without first hashing out what happened in their past. Also, Kellan's reasons to go to Nate after all these years of being apart fell short. They were friends and Nate is gay but they never went into their history until later in the book. So after all this time Kellan decides to look up Nate just so he can piss off his father. Plus, he needed a place to stay and of course there are no other friends that he can stay with or that can help him out. It all felt forced.

Another thing that bothered me was that Kellan kept looking to go further in the relationship for what felt like no other reason than to experiment. They're thrown together and fake a relationship but they really never had to go any further than a few pecks in public. Plus, it felt like Kellan only wanted to be with Nate for the experience not for the intimacy. All Kellan wanted was to show up his father. Oh, and then all of a sudden he wants to have sex with Nate? It was all very clinical and detached. Then there's Nate. He was attracted to Kellan but you never felt it. We're told this but unfortunately his actions, words, and thoughts do not support it. I got sick of his attitude real quick especially when he knew his actions were messed up and went along with everything anyway.

You get the idea that these two men were close as kids but you never feel them become anything more throughout the story, except when it pertains to "the plan".

There were glimpses of Mitchell's writing that I liked but basically there was no depth to the characters or the story.

Oh and as Kate reminded me, Eli gets his own star!