The Other Guy

Hugs adorable ebook in my Kindle tightly to my chest!

OK, so this had the dreaded last 1/3 of the book a character does something that makes you go, "noooooooooooesss!" It bothered me, obviously. But, I thought on it, and as much as it hurt, I realized it felt natural for that character. I may have not liked it, but I could at least understand it.

The rest of the book though was pure joy. I had a perma-grin on my face from the first page, and literally laughed out loud throughout my reading. It was nice because the humor never tried too hard. It was just quick wit.

I fell in love with both characters. That's sometimes hard from first person, but the author truly made me see what each character found attractive in the other. I believed show more absolutely in their chemistry, and the author did it all with zero sex on page. Awesome.

Also, I want to thank the skies for how all the female characters were written. I was so prepared for them to be one dimensional, and they absolutely had mutiple sides. So, kudos.

I simply adored this book. show less

Again, thank you so much friends lists for letting me find this book, otherwise I would never have known it existed.


Basic Plot:
The voice is just Emory's a speech pathologist who just got left at the alter. He goes ahead and takes the honeymoon alone to Thailand and finds a new friend/lover in Nate. But they part ways at the end of the vacation never to see each other again. When they meet up back home, will their friendship turn to love?

Some Questions:

1. I really dislike the "fade to black" romance stories. I am not asking for explicit sex scenes all throughout the book. It bothers me when we get close to any type of physical affection more than a peck on the cheek, and we get the end of the chapter. I feel like I miss something show more important to the story. I wonder if it is that the authors are not comfortable with writing about sex when they do this? Are they against writing about sex?

2. I got confused on his sexual orientation. I get from reading later in the book that he has always suppressed his orientation and went with the "safe" straight answer. Sure, being closeted is a real thing, and men have married a woman as a cover, but that didn't really seem like what happened here. Emory almost feels asexual to me, that his orientation really had little to do with his life until he met Nate. Which, I suppose makes Nate worth the risk to come out.

3. Is there to be a second book? The ending seemed very abrupt and I wonder what happens with Emory's parents.

What I loved:

Dear God did I laugh! Emory's sense of humor so matched mine and I spent a good deal of this book really appreciating it. I loved how Nate helped Emory grow and how they fit together. It was well paced and I loved the secondary characters.

Overall, a very good book, I jus wish we could have had more physical affection.

Great read! show less

I LOVE THIS BOOK - it goes directly to the favourites folder.
It is wonderfully written, the story line with the protagonist being "the other guy", left at his own wedding, is hilarious, but in a guilty pleasure way, as the guy in question is such a good guy. Emory (1st person narrator) is very lovable and has a wonderful and ironic voice. His love interest is Nate, a great guy and the perfect person to fall in love with. There is nothing not great about this book! I enjoyed it so very much.
It doesn't have much sex and only some sensuality in it, but the story and the writing are so good, I don't miss it much. Can't wait for the next book by the author.

We’ve all seen the movies and read the books where Mr. Right sweeps the bride off right before she says “I do.” But what happens to the hapless groom, aka the “other” guy? Attwell uses this classic image of the forgotten groom as the springboard for an unusual and entertaining romance.

Good, solid, well-meaning Emory James is the guy left behind after his fiancée embarrasses him at their wedding by running away with her former lover (whom Emory refers to as “The Good Looking Bastard”). Emory weathers shutting down the festivities and cancelling everything except the honeymoon. He figures as long as he paid for a vacation, he might as well use it. Who needs time away more than he does?

But Emory isn’t a bold and wild guy, show more but rather Mr. Steady and Even, the nice guy, if you will. So when he gets to the beach resort in Thailand that was his fiancée’s fairytale destination, he doesn’t quite know what to do with himself.

Fortunately, he runs into photographer Nate, who lures him on outings, walks on the beach, and trips Emory wouldn’t ordinarily take. After they kiss, Nate also sparks a hint of romance in Emory that he never felt with his manipulative fiancée, which thoroughly confuses Emory.

Back home, Emory misses Nate but has realized all along that there never was a future for them. They only knew each other as ships passing in the night at a romantic vacation resort. While that saddens him, real life is even less appealing: he must return the wedding presents and write notes to people who traveled a long way for the wedding.

Read the rest of my review at AAR: http://www.likesbooks.com/cgi-bin/bookReview.pl?BookReviewId=9423 show less

As others have noted The Other Guy is a “sweet” romance, where sweet has the classic romance rule meaning, i.e. the even if the two guys are having a physical relationship, the reader is not apart of that side of the story, you only know they are intimate by sentence like “and that night they didn’t part ways”, or “his toothbrush was in the bathroom”. This allows the author to focus more on the personal conflicts Emory, the Other Guy, is having in admitting he is in love with another guy.

At first I thought this was a gay for you romance, meaning that Emory was at the second bad break-up with a woman, this second even left him at the altar, and when he met Nate, I was thinking this was Emory realizing he could be in love show more with a man. But little by little, we find out that Emory was having trouble with his sexuality for a long time, and maybe the reason why he has never been able to really bond with a woman is that he is not in love with them. Nate I think is Emory’s first real love, and the one for whom he will really hurt. Indeed when his fiancé leaves him at the altar, I didn’t think Emory was really hurt if not for a question of appearance: being left all alone in front of his parents and relatives and friends was not nice, but it was not really the end of the world.

I really liked Nate’s character; apparently the stronger between the two, the one who seemed more self-conscious and comfortable with himself, he is the one who really stakes with his heart, the one who un-shields his feelings, risking to be hurt. And indeed, unwillingly, Emory will hurt him. That is the risk when you relate with someone who is not yet sure of who he is and what he wants.

The Other Guy is, somehow, an unassuming romance, that will insinuate in your heart, little by little, step by step, until the end, when you realize you are completely caught.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/148023964X/?tag=elimyrevandra-20 show less

Okay I really liked this book. It's has great inner dialogue and some great snarkiness. I like both main character. My complaint is that it was predictable. The moment the runaway bride make an appearance it became way to familiar. 3.75 stars.

This was sweet. And then meh.
Let me elaborate.

The Good:
-The writing. My English if far from perfect but I think I only found few mistakes.
-I liked the narrator.
-Great banter.
-Sweet stuff. Friends become lovers is great.
-Now I want to go to Thailand.

The Bad:

-Hmm there needed to be sex somewhere here. It felt anti-climatic to skip it.
-I knew the bitch was coming. I would have kicked her or something. So predictable.
-The funeral. How original. Not.
-All the problems seemed to be on Em's head. Everyone's like "oh yeah, I got that before you told me"

I'd probably read something else by this author. If it had some sex. It's not like all stories need it, but this one does.

ETA: Goodreads, you suck at html. No bullets? Seriously?