Nix Review – Stay the Night by Scarlett Parrish

Kit Blackman is a grumpy bastard who lives with two other men. When Ben moves out to be with his girlfriend, Kit and Gary face the ultimate challenge; to find another housemate that will put up with Kit’s horrible moods. Enter Steven Kenton. Steven seems to be the perfect match to compliment the housemates except for one fatal flaw; Kit is immediately attracted to him. It is the ultimate faux pas to sleep with a housemate; a one night stand will lead to awkwardness and a long term relationship would mean an immediate cessation of the tenancy agreement if it ends badly. Thing is, no matter how much of a bad idea Kit knows it is, he just can’t help himself. When Steven starts to come onto him, he just can’t resist. What begins as “migraine relief” starts to become something more. Problem is that no one has explained the rules of this type of relationship to Kit and his uncertainty, plus his massive amount of insecurities, means that he keeps screwing up with Steven. Will he end up destroying the perfect harmony within the house forever?

As with any of Scarlett’s books, this book has a strong author voice throughout. Written in first person, Kit Blackman is our leading man. Snarky and sarcastic, I liked the way he viewed the world. Everything is very black and white to him, and sleeping with Steven is very wrong because of the many problems it may bring.  However, when Steven shows him a VERY alternative Migraine cure, Kit starts to realise that maybe this is one attraction he can’t fight. But, he doesn’t know how to cope with these feelings, so he starts to be even more of a bitch to Steven the morning after (much to Steven’s amusement).  I identified with that awkward feeling that can happen when you aren’t sure how another person feels about you; to Kit, Steven just wanted some sex and wouldn’t welcome any romantic overtures! It made me like him even more, but I actively cringed when he became more and more snarkier to Steven. I wondered how long it would take for Steven to get bored with the constant defensiveness that he kept encountering, how long he would keep on banging his head against  the proverbial brick wall. I wanted Kit to pull down a few of those barriers and let Steven in. I shouted at the book in places, as it was clear that Steven was interested in more than just a one night stand, but no matter what he said, Kit kept pushing him away.  I could see that it would take a massive shove for Kit to accept that he wasn’t just interested in him in a purely carnal way. I did find it a little odd that Kit basically had an issue with people seeing his cum-face; yes, it underlined his fear of being vulnerable but it was just a bit darn odd….saying that, we all have our own personal bit of crazy somewhere!

I only saw Steven through the eyes of Kit so I didn’t know him quite as well. I could see why Kit fell for him, but he did seem like a little bit of a masochist.  I knew why I liked Kit, but I wasn’t really that sure why he would bother to chase after someone who he knew so little and gave so little in return. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Steven as a character (and knowing the many *cough* muses that Ms Parrish uses, I’m guessing that Steven is based on some fabulous hottie) I admired him for sticking to his guns and I admired him even more for his last stand. The ending of the book was perfect; he gave Kit the opportunity to redeem himself in style and I thought it was uber cute (yes, I am using the word cute….) and made me will for Kit to step up to the plate and stop being such a pussy.

Let’s get onto the smex. Yes there is a fair bit of the smexing time, which is to be expected from an erotica book. From awkward hand jobs to full on angry man-love, this book has a variety of different scenes to get your pulse racing. They are detailed enough to turn you on yet not graphic enough to make it porn so they worked for me!  I’ve never had a problem with M/M books, in fact I enjoy them. If this is the first M/M book you try, it’s a good one to start with! From her tweets to her books, I enjoy this author’s voice and she writes with the same humour no matter how small the format.

A sexy read featuring a bad-tempered hero and his slightly masochistic love interest. With lots of angst and sex, this checks all the boxes for a good erotica tale and I loved every second of it.