Shiny! by Amy Lane

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Will Lafferty and Kenny Scalia are both having sort of a day. Will gets fired for letting fifth graders read Harry Potter, and Kenny finds his boyfriend and his sex toys in bed with a complete stranger. When Will knocks over Kenny's trash can—and strews Kenny's personal business all over the street—it feels like the perfect craptastic climax to the sewage of suckage that has rained down on them both.

But ever-friendly, ever-kind Will asks snarky Kenny out for a beer—God knows they both need one—and two amazing things occur: Kenny discovers talking to Will might be the best form of intercourse ever, and Will discovers he's gay.

Their unlikely friendship seems like the perfect platonic match until Will reveals how very much more he’s been feeling for Kenny almost since the beginning. But Kenny’s worried. Will’s new-found sexuality is bright and glittery and shiny, but what happens when that wears off? Is Will's infatuation with Kenny strong enough to stay real?

Review:

Shiny begins with Cara and Nina’s wedding.  And Nina wants to know all about how her new nephew, Will, and his boyfriend, Kenny, met.  The two of them are only too happy to oblige. 

As stated in the synopsis above, both Kenny and Will are having terrible days.  When Kenny finds his boyfriend in bed with a stranger AND Kenny’s sex toys the only logical next step is to throw out the boyfriend.  AND the toys.  Because gross.  What Kenny never saw coming was the car that runs into his trash.  But hey, might as well try to make something good out of a crappy day.  And when you meet someone that will actually help you pick up your magic time accessories off the pavement then maybe you should hang out a bit longer. 

So they go out for drinks and quickly become fast friends.  Kenny is a graphic artist and Will is a web designer.  As they spend more and more time together, pooling their talents to create a web comic, they begin to fall in love.  Of course, neither of them realize how the other is feeling because things can never be TOO easy in a romance.  Kenny is done with pointless relationships and having a crush on a straight guy is at the top of the pointless relationship list.  And Will?  Well, he just realized he was gay after that first night he and Kenny had drinks so he has some of thinking and adjusting to do.    

When Kenny decides to join the dating pool again, Will is at his house in a heartbeat.  That date cannot happen.  After some embarrassing drama, Will is declaring himself and Kenny is both elated and scared.  Because Will was, until now, straight.  And there is no way being the straight guy’s gay experiment can turn out alright. 

Will might be slow and steady but he isn't stupid.  He finds out why Kenny is so skittish and decides to make himself indispensable.  A permanent fixture in Kenny’s life.  Proving to Kenny that Will isn't going anywhere. 

Whoever says the Queen of Angst can only do angst is wrong.  Just wrong.  Because this book is happy and lovely and squishy and…dare I say it….shiny.  Kenny is full of worldly snark and distrust.  But he’s also fun and nice so he doesn’t come across as a broken hero.  Just a fun hero that has lived a little.  And it’s hard not to love him when he says things like this: 

“I was looking for sparkly.  I should have been looking for warm and real.”

And Will?  Well, you all know how I love forever boys and Amy just added another to my list along with her Shane (Making Promises) and Quent (Gambling Men).  Will is the NICE guy.  And I loved his patient persistence when it came to convincing Kenny that their relationship was the real deal. 

Ms. Amy Lane must have been feeling mighty generous.  She didn’t make me wait to see if they get a happy ending.   We know from the first page that Kenny and Will are happily together.  And they are so excited and joyful to tell their story that you just KNOW that you can sit back and enjoy the read without any fear of the pain for which Amy Lane is so well known. 

If you are looking for a m/m romance that will make you glow from the inside out then you must read Shiny!.

Nat