'Are You In?' Netgalley review

Received free copy on netgalley for an honest review.

screenshot from my review on Litsy

Title: Are You In? (Powerhouse #1)
Author: P.W. Steele
Page Count: 63pgs
Publish Date: April 1st 2020
Rating: ★★ (out of five)

This isn't typically my genre, but I wanted something short and sweet and figured why not? The description did draw me in, the gym setting seemed interesting. I like that Andy felt he was too small, which isn't something I've seen before. Seeing him struggle with the body dysmorphia would've been a cool addition except it seemed to go away rather quickly at the hot guys' attention.

There are quite a few typos, extra words, missing punctuation... especially towards the end. This seems like it's supposed to be in Andy's POV, but there's several times that we get the inner thoughts of some other character for a paragraph or two before it jumps back to Andy, which is a little disorienting. Most of the main characters have their own little info dumps to explain how we as the reader should feel about them. I get this is a shorter story, but all that stuff could get worked in via actions and conversations. Speaking of conversations, Andy fell in love/lust with the guy pretty much on a handful of words and his chiseled physique alone.

This is definitely more erotica than romance. I wasn't getting any sweet romance-y vibes from Andy and Jack, though I think the author did try... it just didn't come off, to me, as anything besides a cheap hookup, unprotected and with the people admitting to particular fetishes much too early on in knowing a person for my taste. I mean, to each their own, just wasn't my thing.

I did like Andy's relationship with his friend, Emily. I liked that 4 gay men jointly owned the gym and would've liked more interaction with and about them.

Ultimately though, I didn't feel drawn in enough by the characters to want to continue reading the series.

(note: this is the same review I posted on Goodreads and Netgalley)