ARC Review: Ginger and the Wolf by Kerry McBoyd

Blurb:

Mark Cross is a junior in college working to pay his way through college while forgetting his troubles by partying and hooking up. He meets Scott and finds himself falling head over heels for a wealthy man who couldn’t be any further from his rural background. The mutual attraction is instant, but Mark, unwilling to put himself in a position where his heart is on the line, finds ways to bring up their upper-crust/working-class differences to torpedo their budding romance.

Scott Nolan feels old, even though he’s just thirty-four. Meeting Mark reinvigorates him and gives him a new sense of purpose. After a series of men who were only interested in his wealth and family background, he finally meets a man who doesn’t care about the family he comes from—in fact, Mark seems ready to blow everything up because he thinks they could never overcome their class differences. Scott must fight to show Mark that he doesn’t care about who has how much money, and what matters above all is that they could build something more together outside the bedroom.

Todd's rating:

Umm, I'm not entirely sure what I just read. Was it erotica? Was it romance?

Did I enjoy it, though? Kind of yes, kind of no... :- ?

As the story began, Scott met Mark at a dance club, where they almost immediately went to Scott's luxury apartment and had some good ole' hot, sweaty sex.

That's all fine and good, except for a couple of things.

- There was some bad, porn-style dialogue, including a lot of talk involving "loads", which I didn't find to be overly sexy. *cringes*

- Scott decided to get all "Dominatrix without mercy", giving Mark orders on what to do while naked. Sorry, I really hate that domineering shit in stories. Thankfully, he was only that level of bossy asshole during that first scene, for which I was extremely grateful.

- My face nearly fell off, when they finally got around to penetration, as they went bareback, without even asking the very important, "What's your status?" question. After meeting like AN HOUR earlier.

- But the biggest REALLY??? moment came later on in the book, after Mark was bareback-shamed by his younger brother, Mark brought up using condoms.

Say WHAT? Dude had been shooting "up there" for a month and *NOW* using a rubber was supposed to do ANYTHING at all? That felt moronic to me, like it's going to "un-Load" him now or some such stupidity. No, that's not how rubbers work, sorry.

Beyond the sex, though, I actually enjoyed the (somewhat limited) story line. Outside of bed, Scott was a nice, level-headed, responsible guy and Mark was your average college junior, about to head out into the real world. I wanted more of *this* story.

One thing I was dying for, however, were details about "The Thing" that happened in the past with Mark's ex, Lincoln. It was the reason he was hesitant to trust, but like so much mystical stardust, Lincoln was mentioned a few times, then we were never given ANY details as to what had gone down. Unresolved plot point much?

Lastly, the title seemed a bit misleading to me, mainly because the fact that Mark was a ginger was mentioned a whopping ONE time. And Scott being compared to a Wolf (at 34, too old for twink, not hairy enough to be a bear, and aggressive in bed) was also discussed only once.

So yeah, if you're looking for purely erotica, with some pretty decent filler plot, then by all means, give this one a go, without the slightest hesitation.

But if you're looking for a complete M/M contemporary romance, that's your decision to make and I'm staying out of it. ;- )

I'd rate the book at 3 stars, after taking away a star due to the "more sex, less plot" aspect of the story.

My ARC copy of the story was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair, unbiased review.

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