Bad Idea

¿Podrían traducirlo al español? Me gustaría poderlo leer, me encanta este autor.

4.5 Stars rounded up
Trip and Silas meets at a zombie run. Under those circumstances, they have a hard time finding each other with non-zombie appearances. When they meet, things get more complicated as they work on Scratch, the graphic novel, and deal with the Unboyfriend, Trip's boss, who wants to sabotage their work.
Trip and Silas have some great discussion about art, comic, the humankind, and imaginary vs. real characters, which makes this novel a quirky, deep read that is not just about romance. It's also ironic how Trip venomously rejects he's writing a romance about a sexy demon named Scratch. That makes me think about what's romance in pop culture today.
The story also delve into an author's or storyteller's design process from Trip's point of view. That makes me wonder if this is how the author proceeds with his writing process with writing this book as well. Scratch just screams at him to finish his story. Trip also has the debate with himself if he is basing this imaginary character on somebody in real life or not. The description are vivid in this story and I love it.
The dialogue between the MCs feels natural and includes the awkwardness from real life. The length really increases the time for the couple to get to know each other and build their relationship. They both feel the chemistry between them from their first meeting but it takes some leg work to fit into each other's social circle.
Their romance is believable and their outings are adorable. The trials the couple went through, even though brutal and almost jeopardized their career and relationship, was also necessary to break away from the lull of complacency and perfect life in the middle of the book.
The pacing in the middle is slow and that really gave the secondary characters a chance to shine. I would love to read more about Kurt and his techie employee that's got a smart mouth, is shy and smart but handicapped. They have this antagonistic relationship that may be interesting to explore. This is one of those times the secondary characters are more interesting than the MCs.
The HFN ending is a little dissatisfying since it seems so easy to give the readers the HEA but didn't. It's a little disheartening that Scratch, their \"bad idea,\" is not reveal to the public at the end when the build up of the story centers on this comic creation.
This is a long, charming novel that's humorous and witty. I love the zombie run and monster references. That is a fun way to start the book with a bang. The characters are memorable with distinct personalities and history. I look forward to the next title in the series.
*review copy received in exchange for an honest review*

My review:
Prologue:
No, that’s not a typo. Yes, this may be the only review in the history of reviews that has a prologue, but I feel like a bit of backstory was needed here. You see, this story holds a HUGE spot in my heart. Ginormous. It all began when my good friend, Rina, and I went to NYC for the day and were able to spend some time with Damon. We had known him for a bit at that point and absolutely LOVE spending time with him. He’s pretty incredible. Rina and I were gearing up for a zombie run we were participating in a few weeks after being in NYC and naturally, this came up at lunch. Zombies and burgers really go well together, apparently. Anyway, here we are, chatting it up with Damon and talking about this crazy zombie run and apparently the thought of us running through the woods like loons being chased by people dressed as zombies sparked an idea. So when you read this book, and you really do need to read this book, you may notice some familiar character names, oh say like, Jillian and Rina. Yep….that’s us. There are also two guys in this story who are quite familiar to me, Ben and Max….my real life husband and son. So now you can see why this story holds such a huge spot in my heart. Damon has not only written one hell of a story, he’s given me a tremendous gift in giving me the honor of being included in his work. For that, I will be forever grateful and I have no words to describe what an honor it is.
Now, don’t worry, my review isn’t the slightest bit biased, I promise. I will admit that I was a bit nervous to read it, because what if I hated it and had to write a not-so-hot review!? Luckily, Damon is a talent beyond measure and gave me nothing but good things to write a review on……so, enjoy!

My review:
Bad Idea is the newest work from author Damon Suede and I was SO excited to be able to read an early copy. Well, the excitement only grew from there and with every page after….this book was incredible.
Trip Spector is an uber talented comic book artist with an unhealthy crush on his straight editor and the secret longing to draw something other than the comic he has been drawing for years. But Trip can’t bring himself to ditch the status quo. He really is thankful for the success he has but it seems like something’s gotta give. He’s not happy…really, truly happy. His two best friends have been trying to get him into a relationship for what seems like forever, but he just can’t bring himself to jump into that just yet. Show all his quirks and his insecurities with dating and life to a stranger? Not likely. Well, that’s until he’s dragged to a zombie run by those two best friends and meets Silas….suddenly the notion of staying single seems as ridiculous as a zombie not eating brains.
Special FX makeup artist Silas Goolsby has just about had it with his empty sex life and may be ready to look for something more. He can hardly believe it himself, if he’s being honest. But he’s had his share of meaningless fun and is ready to find someone to share his zest for life with. He knows right away when he meets the shy, sneezing, allergy-laden Trip at the zombie run that he may have met just the guy he’s been looking for. Now, he’s just gotta throw caution to the wind and make it happen.
The beautiful thing about Silas and Trip’s story is that is it just so real. The feelings, emotions and insecurities are things most of us have gone through when starting a relationship. It’s what Silas and Trip decide to do with all of that baggage that is a treat to read. There were so many parts during this book that I hurt for these two. I wanted to hug Trip and reassure him that he was so amazing and to give love a chance. I wanted to sit down with Silas and tell him to just bear with Trip and I had faith that everything would be ok. That’s just how real they were to me. I can’t think of any book couple that balances one another out more beautifully than Trip and Silas do. Where Trip is shy, Silas is outspoken. Where Trip is hesitant, Silas goes for it. The best part though was seeing Trip’s personal growth thanks to Silas and their relationship.
The rest of the cast of characters is equally as fabulous. Jillian and Rina are strong and loyal friends who love Trip like family and want only the best for him and for him to find real happiness. Even one of the love-to-hate characters turned out to be a favorite of mine in the end. So much depth was written into each personality, it played out like a movie in my head while I was reading. I could picture it all.
I also want to add that the geeky, quirky aspects of this story were like pop culture gold! So different and fun and fresh….I loved it.
In the end, this book left such a lasting impression on me. I laughed and I cried and I fell I love with Trip and Silas. Thank you, Damon….for giving us the gift of Bad Idea.

to sum it up: Quirky and fun, emotional and sexy….Bad Idea was all that and so much more. It plays out like a romantic comedy chock full of comic books, superheroes and pop culture starring colorful and charming characters with easily relatable emotional baggage and relationship hang-ups. I adored Trip and Silas. I laughed with them and cried with them and they go down as one of my favorite book couples EVER.

Warning: Serious cussing ahead. Skip this review if you can't take the salty language.

First off, this was definitely a book written by a man. Holy shitballs, the writing was freaking awesome. These are men. Real men. Okay, so they have issues and they're messy and stupid, and they're scaredy cats and suck at communicating, but that makes them men. Even the sex scenes were written like men. There was no mention of sparkling eyes or romantic notions, but it was romantic nonetheless. It was real. Messy. Hot. Sweaty and drippy and sexy. Fucking real.

The relationship between Trip and Silas is just as messy. I mean that in a good way. Trip is a neurotic fuck-up and doesn't stop to read between the lines. He's so fucking hung up on his unboyfriend Cliff, who's also his boss, that he can't see the forest for all the fucking trees in his way. He manages to fuck up the best thing that ever happened to him because he can't see past his own nose and he's too fucking scared to let the right guy in. So he blows it, and he blows it good. Dumbass. But I sort of felt sorry for him too, because he's such an idiot, and he knows it, but he's so neurotic and hung up that he just can't help being a dumbass. Until he can.

I loved Silas. He's so beautiful, inside and out, and I loved how Damon Suede created this big meaty guy and gave him such a gorgeous soul. Loved him. Adored him. Hated Trip for fucking him over. Silas is honest and he feels so deeply and he has no clue how to be in a relationship, but for Trip, he wants it. I could feel how hard he fell from the start, how he tried and tried and tried to keep it all together, only to be fucked over by Trip's neurotic stupidity.
Hated Cliff throughout the book. He reminded me of a weasely asshole who's only out for himself and fears nothing more than losing Trip's genius comic skills. He's got the boy so tightly on a leash and thinks nothing of fucking him over. He's a weasel.

There's actual character growth in this book. Trip turns himself into an actual grown-up, bit by bit, with a helping hand from his friends (who were also awesome) and their 9 year old kid (who was much wiser than his years would indicate, but in a totally cool 9 year old way), and even Silas' friend Kurt (who's also got a secret hang-up of sorts) - but boy, does he fucking grow out of his neurosis to see the light. And just in time to grovel in front of Silas and save himself with a grand gesture that wins him the guy.

The supporting cast was great. I loved how the women were portrayed as real women, not some stupid evil clowns, and that they had their own hang-ups, but also helped both Trip and Silas along the way.

Kurt's the quintessential sleazeball/hustler/shyster on the outside, with a heart that he keeps hidden deep inside. He's another one of those men who can't see the forest for the trees, and it costs him too. I wonder if there's gonna be another book that focuses on him. He's got some growing up to do as well.

This was a messy romance, for sure. And I still fucking mean that in a really good way. There's a message in this book, and with snark and sarcasm and super awesome skill, Damon Suede delivered a book that made me laugh and rage and swoon.

Y'all go get this book and read it. Because, yeah. Totally worth it.

Please note: I received a free ARC from Dreamspinner Press. A positive review was not promised in return.

I was very excited to read Bad Idea, enticed by the blurb and with high expectations based on previous reading of the author's work - specifically Hot Head which I read a while ago but just finished rereading by listening to the audio version and it was brilliant! If you get a chance, do check it out as Charlie David's narration really enhances the experience!
But back to Bad Idea....the fabulous characters totally carried this story and pulled me in to a world that sometimes doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I am not a comic fan, I didn't understand a lot of the tv show, movie or cultural references but I definitely appreciated the world's inhabited by Trip and Silas and their shared geekiness.
I loved both characters from the first moment they were introduced. They were complex and had real depth. They were real men with hopes, desires and flaws. And it was the flaws, the doubts, the uncertainly that really drew me in.
In the beginning of the story, Trip was sweet and awkward and bit bumbling in his dating encounters with Silas, so unsure of himself, whereas Silas appears relaxed. But as the story unfolds there is so much more to Silas than initially presented.
The story follows the relationship between the men as they learn to overcome the fears that have prevented them having committed relationships in the past but also deal with a myriad of issues in their careers. We learn of Silas' world of makeup artistry and get some inside view into the gaming industry through Silas' best friend Kurt. But it is Trip's graphic story Scratch that I found most interesting. Of course, I now have to read Horn Gate.
While I don't truly understand the comic scene, the fans and the conventions, it didn't distract from the story. There are references that totally went over my head but I don't think knowing the quotes and references was required, it was enough to understand the intentions. However, what I did find slightly distracting, was my inability to follow the dialogue at times. I wasn't necessarily clear on who was saying what at times. This lead to me rereading paragraphs to clarify and ultimately totally slowing my reading speed to ensure I was not losing the story. This didn't impact my overall enjoyment of the story but was something that definitely stood out.
This is a story of taking chances and overcoming fears. It is sweet and geeky and emotional. It contains some hot sex but ultimately it is about love.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher (via Netgalley) in return for an honest review.
I publish all my m/m reviews on my blog so if you want to see all my m/m reviews in one place come visit at Because Two Men Are Better Than One!