Blank Spaces

So sweet. These people feel *so young* to me, and they both mean so well, that I spent a lot of the book desperately wanted to hug them both & am so pleased that they finally figure out how to hug each other.

Besides the super cute developing romance, the virtues of Blank Spaces include its thoughtful treatment of enthusiastic consent and total rejection of slut-shaming, its diversity of queer rep, its Toronto setting (I can't think of many -- any? -- other Canada-set romances I've read), a conflict and resolution that have a lot to do with the characters' own ability to understand and articulate their own identities/experiences/desires (including, for one character, the realization that asexuality "is a thing," and indeed is his thing), show more a focus on intimacy and risking vulnerability, actual jobs that take up time and stuff, and believable friend characters. The ending feels more HFN than HEA to me but is optimistic and works well. show less

This is a challenging book for a reader raised on the belief that a HEA requires a monogamous couple who pledge absolute fidelity to each other. But in our brave new world of the 21st century, who can say that there's only one type of happy ending? Cass Lennox does a great job of bringing the two MCs together and gradually showing how they fill in each other's "blank spaces," but given that Vaughan is just realizing he is asexual and Jonah needs to have lots of sex, their idea of happy couplehood is a little different from the fairy tales we were raised on. I'm still not sure it works for me as a romance, but it sure is a well-written love story, if the difference makes any sense. Plus the secondary characters are lively, the Toronto show more setting feels authentic and an important part of the story, and Vaughan's explanation of abstract art made more sense than anything else I've ever read. I can see how this book won't work for everyone, but it will stay with me for a while, and that's more than I can say about most of the books I read with traditional HEAs. show less

I seldom pick books for the cover but I love this one and the book is just as good. Vaughn works at an art gallery that keeps getting robbed and Jonah is the insurance investigator on the claim. Vaughn is an asexual gay and Jonah is promiscuous and into hookups. Vaughn comes from money and is an artist while Jonah went through the foster system and is making it on his own.
So, opposites attract, as they say. And these two are just lovely together as they learn about each other. Oh, they have to investigate the art thieves also, but that's more of a side story. The two men learn to compromise while also admitting their very different attractions to each other. Vaughn wants romance and Jonah wants sex.
They're both lovely characters, Vaughn show more especially, but I grew to like Jonah a lot too as I learned more of his backstory. The Toronto setting is nice. The romance is tender and sweet.
What else do you want from a romance book? show less

So, I love any book that has good LGBT rep (and set in Toronto, no less!). But there's something that doesn't sit right with me about a book which sets up the asexual character as innocent and oblivious and all of the non-ace gay men as horndogs. Surely there's a way to write characters without a) simplifying the vast variation of sexuality and b) resorting to harmful stereotypes.

I wanted to like this more than I did. It's an interesting set up, with lots of possibilities. The characters are just such stereotypes, and the attraction between them feels unbelievable given how different they are. I wound up feeling sorry for them both by the end, although the ending is supposed to be a happy compromise, I think.

nothing makes me quit reading faster than a reference to Supernatural fan fiction.

ugh.

nothing makes me quit reading faster than a reference to Supernatural fan fiction.

ugh.