Title: Tigers and Devils
Series: Tigers and Devils #1
Author: Sean Kennedy
Genre: Romance / MM Romance
Goodreads
My Rating:
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Blurb
The most important things in Simon Murray’s life are football, friends, and film—in that order. His friends despair of him ever meeting someone, but despite his loneliness, Simon is cautious about looking for more. Then his best friends drag him to a party, where he barges into a football conversation and ends up defending the honor of star forward Declan Tyler—unaware that the athlete is present. In that first awkward meeting, neither man has any idea they will change each other’s lives forever.
Like his entire family, Simon revels in living in Melbourne, the home of Australian Rules football and mecca for serious fans. There, players are treated like gods—until they do something to fall out of public favor. This year, the public is taking Declan to task for suffering injuries outside his control, so Simon’s support is a bright spot.
But as Simon and Declan fumble toward a relationship, keeping Declan’s homosexuality a secret from well-meaning friends and an increasingly suspicious media becomes difficult. Nothing can stay hidden forever. Soon Declan will have to choose between the career he loves and the man he wants, and Simon has never been known to make things easy—for himself or for others.
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My Review
It was the second M/M romance book I read. After reading Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan, I’ve become interested in this genre. I’ve seen some movies about love between boys before, but written on paper it’s always different. So I was searching among books and ‘Tigers and Devils’ caught my eye immediately.
The Story
Initially I had a kick against the story, after all sport plays an important role in it. And I don’t keep tabs on football, especially Australian football (I don’t even know the rules of it). But I fell into its ways in time… roughly speaking… At least now I have got a faint idea about the teams and the various events.
The story has a slow-moving plot, the author isn’t in a hurry; he slowly deploys the two men’s love then deepens their emotions, meanwhile they are coping with everyday problems. Because of it ‘Tigers and Devils’ is real: it’s not just about the romance, but also the life beyond. Finally a book with a genuine story, where the characters aren’t only kissing away and yearning for each other!
I like to read about relationships starting with a situation or condition is condemned in the eyes of certain groups of the society. E.g. if one half of the couple is much older than the other, or they belong to the same sex, or they have different cultural backgrounds, etc. I think the author perfectly illustrates what kind of stereotypes the gay couples contending with, and how important the support from family and friends is to them. Just to make matters worse, one half of the couple is a famous person. So the media isn’t stay out of their relationship, and of course journalists love to munch on something like this.
Characters
I was really pulling for the guys not to break up, to stand out for each other no matter what. Of course, both of them committed errors, they took the wrong steps, but there’s always an egress from every pit, just both parties have to want it hard. And in case of hard-to-solve problems, humor is indispensable, what I really enjoyed in the story. I liked their sports-related banters (as you might guess from the book’s title, sport has a major role in the novel) and that picture with the pig… 🙂 And some extra points for Simon because he loves cats. It’s so lovely.
My Thoughts
It’s an incredibly amazing, breathtaking, gorgeous book. I can’t find the words to say how much I liked it. Simon and Declan’s story rightly runs for the title of the best romantic book in my 2013 readings. And we aren’t even halfway through the year, so it’s a great merit.
Cover
I love it! It was the first thing what caught my eye. I imagined the characters in another way during the story but however it’s a really beautiful and impressive cover. The font style of the title and the name of the author fit the story. It’s sporty to me. And the background picture reinforces the feeling. 🙂
My ratings:
Story: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
See my favorite quotes on Tumblr,
Daily Quotes by Exina, from quote 520 to 522.
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