Dilly and Boz

John Inman wrote a little jewel ...again.
Dilly and Boz are adorable, sweet, kind with big hearts. They're also broken in their own way and suffer of social anxiety among other things...both of them. How they can be together, when they almost have the inability to talk to stranger.... read the book and you'll find out how Dilly and Boz seduced each other, how they became one.
I adored this book, It was so sweet and tender but also dark and heartbreaking.
John Inman gives us, not only Dilly and Boz point of view, but also the ones from the secondary characters. It was interesting, funny and heartbreaking. It did it brillantly with talent. The plot is about Dilly and Boz's journey, how they became friends and lovers, but with Boz's crazy ex-boyfriend in the background trying to have Boz back. It was a funny read sometimes, most of the times it was sweet with a little touch of poetry, but it was also an emotional read and I cried, I admit!
Like I said earlier, John Inman gave us a little jewel..again

Dilly and Boz are both a cute and yet dark at times story. The romance part between Dilly and Boz is sugary sweet. The part with Bobby Boz’s ex is dark. Where Dilly and Boz are meeting and falling in love, both are cute and clutzy and pet lovers, Bobby is a dope addict and getting meaner and more violent by the second which leads to Angel, the man Bobby is using to take out his frustrations on. Angel loves Bobby and takes what is given especially since he is an illegal. So we have one sweet romance going on and one dark one.
If you don’t like violence this story is not for you.
Puffer, Dilly’s boss is an old man that runs a 50’s record shop and smokes lots of weed. He is absolutely hilarious.
There are lots of fun characters here. The story has cute animals, sweet romance and angst. My only issue and the reason it didn’t get 5 stars is that Dilly and Boz were a bit too sweet and immature for there ages. To me, they came across as teenagers and not adults in their mid-twenties. Having said that I loved them.

This author writes unique, quirky characters so well, managing to provide depth and perspective that allows readers to connect with these unconventional personalities in a way I don’t often see elsewhere in this genre. Typically, the humor he writes into these books has me laughing out loud and smiling enough to make my cheeks hurt, so that’s precisely what I expected when I picked up Dilly and Boz. While I did get awkward but likable characters, the humor and characters’ eccentricities didn’t quite resonate with me this time.

I loved the idea of two fumbling men finding love and happiness together. I also really liked the plot setup of Dilly and Boz. The writing was smooth and the story intriguing and different, but I couldn’t help but feel something was missing. The heroes get together rather early on and their relationship is very low angst and full of sweetness. That in and of itself isn’t bad considering there was plenty of suspense and conflict thanks to the jealous ex-boyfriend. Unfortunately, despite that element holding my attention, I never really fell for this couple, felt their chemistry, or found the humor in Dilly and Boz, so this ended up being a bit of a one note book for me. That said, I think those looking for an original storyline and characters that don’t fit the typical contemporary romance mold may very well enjoy Dilly and Boz.

*Trigger warning: This book does include depictions of violence, physical abuse to partners, rough and nonconsensual sex*
**Reviewed for Alpha Book Club*

Reviewed by Michael for Diverse Reader

Dilly and Boz are incredibly similar people. They’re both broke. They’re both socially awkward. And they’re both rather klutzy. They also happen to be neighbors, living across the street from each other.

Boz has had his eye on Dilly for quite some time. Almost literally. He knows where Dilly works. He watches his neighbor’s comings and goings, and even witnesses Dilly trip over a piece of broken sidewalk. Kind of border-line stalker. Even going so far as to repair the broken piece of sidewalk in the middle of the night, just so Dilly doesn’t suffer another accident. He’s also incredibly insecure, with good reason. His abusive, drugged out ex, Bobby, just can’t seem to let Boz go, even though he’s seeing someone new. Obsessed with “the one that got away”, he materializes out of nowhere at the most inopportune moments, simply to harass Boz. Yeah, he’s a stalker too.

Dilly works at a used record store, run by an old man named Puffer who has a serious love for weed. Interestingly, Puffer is instrumental in Dilly and Boz getting together, even as he provides some much-needed comedy relief.

But as the relationship progresses, Boz’s insecurities become more evident. He constantly need validation, which is somewhat understandable given his previous relationship.

The writing was very straight forward. No flowery phrases, no grand proclamations. Which is very fitting for the MCs. But it also lent itself to a certain amount of predictability. You know something bad is going to happen and can pretty much guess who those bad things are going to happen to, but just aren’t sure when, or how disturbing it’s going to be. Some of the stuff that Bobby does is truly cringeworthy. But that also means that Dilly and Boz’s HEA is well earned.

I hope I never meet someone like Bobby.

Dilly and Boz is a standalone book by John Inman. This is the first book that I’ve read by this author, but it won’t be the last. I read the blurb and knew that I had to read it. And I’m so glad that I did because I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Dilly and Boz. I loved the author’s writing style and how he developed his characters. His characters were real to life and had everyday issues and relationship problems that were very relatable. My emotions were on a rollercoaster as I read through the book, and I love it when the author can get me that invested in their books. I started reading this book early in the morning and couldn’t put it down until I’d finished it. I especially liked how the book was told from so many points of view, not just the points of view from the two main characters.

Dilbert “Dilly” Jones has pretty much given up on romance ever finding him. He has a job at a Retro Record Shoppe owned by his aging hippy boss, Puffer Moran. His boss got his nickname because he always had a joint in his mouth, puffing away. Dilly has a great relationship with his boss. Dilly doesn’t make a lot of money, just enough to pay for groceries and the rent on his dump of a studio apartment. He would like to find a guy to have a relationship with and come home to besides his cat, Grace. Dilly is a bit of a loner, and besides his love for his cat, he also loves books. He’s short, slim built, nerdy, wears glasses, and is incredibly klutzy. I loved that he puts his cat in a harness and takes her for walks.

Bosley “Boz” Jenkins is recently out of a bad relationship, but he’s definitely noticed the cutie across the street. Boz is incredibly shy though, and he hasn’t worked up the courage to talk to Dilly. He’s been halfheartedly stalking him trying to build up his courage, though. Dilly is the complete opposite of his ex. Dilly and Boz have a lot in common. They are both poor, both animal owners (Boz has a Yorkie named Leon), both short and slim built, and both nerds and loners. Boz thinks that with so many things in common between them that they would be a great match. One of my favorite scenes is when Boz is out at three in the morning, fixing the uneven concrete that Dilly has tripped over more than once.

But Boz’s ex, Bobby, is still hanging around, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get Boz back. I liked getting to see inside of Bobby’s mind and why he did the things that he did. How he treated Angel (the guy Bobby’s sleeping with while trying to get Boz back) broke my heart. And getting to see how Angel felt about him broke it even further.

This book had a lot of twists and turns, some I saw coming and some that I didn’t. I was also surprised that there weren’t any detailed sex scenes. They would start making out, and then it would fade to black and come back after they had climaxed and were at the cuddling stage. So if you are looking for a book that isn’t all about the sex, then this book is for you.

I can’t wait to read more books by John Inman.