Matt Tompkins, a reserved gay man, has always played by the rules and has created a comfortable but unfulfilling life for himself. When his bold best friend Greg reaps unexpected rewards for standing up for himself in a very public display, Matt’s jealousy leads him to risk everything when he’s confronted by two attackers. Determined to be more like Greg, a split-second reaction brings astonishing changes to Matt’s life–for better and for worse.

Set in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, Gaybash explores the boundaries of love and friendship and the unintended consequences of wanting to be somebody else.

I’m a big fan of M/M, especially M/M Romance.  This is not a romance, although there are a few hopeful elements of love scattered throughout the story. Only a few, but they kept me going.  Despite it not being a romance, I did enjoy it.

It was  hard to get into in the beginning.  Some of the descriptions seemed two dimensional.  But as I read through it, I cried with sorrow at times, and was amused at a few places when humor happened.  There was a lot of pain to be had, so be warned if you are the faint of heart.  I did skim through some of the build-up for Matt’s character.  Then I slowed down and re-read parts so I didn’t miss anything.  It’s intense, but you need read through it.  Don’t skip it because it seems like it doesn’t need to be there.  There might be some things that could have been a little less wordy but overall, all the story needed to be described as it was done.

While it’s a fictional story, it does provide a realistic approach to a young, gay man’s life as he works through his own character and personality issues along with being gay.  Ultimately, it’s so that he can be happy with himself in his own skin. It’s not your average LGBT fiction. While it’s not a Happy Ever After story, it does have somewhat of a Happy For Now.  And that makes me happy.  I’m glad I got to read it.  It was a little bit out of my comfort zone but an enjoyable read.

With this, I give Gaybash a 4 out of 5 stars.

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