Reviews for By Design

Synopsis

For Nick Foster and Dina Sheridan, boy meets girl was never going to be easy.

Making a decision between who you are and what you want is never supposed to be.

  Friendship and Love. Desire and Identity. History and Family.

Six years, two people, and one last ditch plan...

Whether things come together or blow completely apart, everything happens... By Design.

Reviews

All reviews are based on a 5 star rating system.

All reviewer names are withheld.

Average Rating:   3.8/5  (August 24, 2012)

4/5: (Preview Copy)

First of all, let me say that I really enjoyed this book.  When I was first told what the story was about I was very hesitant.  I wasn’t sure the story would be believable or worse it would be chauvinistic.  My fears were proven unfounded.  What I found the most intriguing is that the author lets the reader see how the relationship between the main characters builds over time.  It made me really feel for what these people were going through.  There were a number of scenes that really got to me emotionally.  I liked the way I could really understand their passion for each other and the hurt it caused them both at the same time.  I do have to say that the book was more explicit than I normally like although I don’t think it took away from the story.  I haven’t read a book before where sex was used to tell part of the story and I think it worked out without being vulgar.  The only real weakness I found was that I wanted to see more of the secondary characters sometimes, particularly David.  He was a lot of fun to read and I wanted more.

4/5: (Preview Copy)

I have to admit that this book won me over.  I was originally horrified by what I first thought was the author's flippant handling of the female lead's sexuality.  I was about to write it off as yet another man-converts-lesbian piece of trash.  Suddenly I realized that I was sixty pages further into the book.  The author interjects enough humor and banter into conversations that they flow easily and, although a bit jarring on occasion, the flashback scenes do a great job of telling the backstory without interfering in the present.  Is the book perfect? No, but I'm giving it four stars because the author peeled the curtains back on a world I "get" and then filled it with characters that I found relatable.  I liked that the reader is given a lot of internal information about the characters.  It made them all the more real to me.  I did not give this book a five for one reason.  The emotion in the book became more and more raw as it progressed yet the ending seemed a little bit off.    I was expecting a tight close after the heavy emotional journey and I felt like it came up short.  This is a significant improvement over the author's last published work.

4/5: (Preview Copy)

When you're asked to review a book that is very contrary to your own personal beliefs, the hardest part of the task is to actually give the book a chance.  I was first told about this book several years ago.  I laughed at the idea the romance between the two protagonists then and continued to until the review copy landed in my hands.  I would love to be able to say that when I was finished reading it I retained my cynicism.  I can't.  The thing about this story is that you stop caring about the fact that Dina is gay and Nick is a man.  What you start focusing on is this amazing connection between these characters.  The author has created a relationship between them that not only feels real but the reader becomes invested in.  I found myself rooting for them and even in tears occasionally.  Definitely a recommend to anyone wanting a cathartic experience.

3/5:

I have mixed feelings.  I read the first several chapters and stopped.  The book talked about some things that I don’t agree with so I stopped reading.  I let a friend borrow it instead.  The funny thing is that when she returned it she told me how emotional the story was further in the book.  It took some convincing but I started to read it again last week.  I decided to look past the stuff I didn’t like and give it a shot.  Now that I’m finished I will say this.  While it is not my favorite book I did like how the story made you go through things with the characters.  The emotional journey, particularly Dina’s, made it worth my time.