Straight Boy: A Short Story (Straight Guys Book 0.5) Kindle Edition

This series is a guilty pleasure for me. The tales are just so wrong, unhealthy, twisted… But, they’re irresistible, too. Each of the stories features a guy who doesn’t quite know what he’s getting himself into, a manipulative guy, and an awkward, but totally hot relationship. There’s always a power play, emotional sabotage, kinkiness, and it’s always a blast! Tons of humor, some I shouldn’t-be-laughing kind, some straight-out funny kind, some serious themes, tons of tension, some angst, and downright dirty m/m sex, as well as tenderness and love–it’s all there. Each has a straight guy–some who have questioned before, some who have never, not once–and a gay/bi-sexual guy. Each of the stories is linked with the others, but mostly tangentially, and it’s definitely not required that you read any of them in order to enjoy another, but you should, because each is worth the read. Each book has an HEA.The first two books, Straight Boy and Just a Bit Twisted, are literal power plays. In the first, Xavier is in a position to offer Sage safety while they are roommates in prison. Xavier is smoking hot and Sage is sweet (he’s in for DUI). I wanted the relationship. I thought it was wrong. I wanted the relationship… In the second, Derek is Shawn’s professor. Oh, that is so wrong on so many levels. Derek is dark, kinky, and condescending, but he actually means well. Shawn is smart, but overburdened, and just needs to be cut a break. Trading sex for tutoring… UGH! But, this is a book, so I’ll tell you, you can love it even if in real life you’d be heading to report Derek to the dean. Shawn and Sage are cousins, so there’s the connection.Shawn has a classmate, Christian, who becomes one of the MCs in this third book, Just a Bit Obsessed. Christian is asked by a classmate, Mila, to be a third with her boyfriend, Alexander, for a one time experience. Christian is bi, Mila is straight, and so, presumably, is Alexander. Their one time ends up being more than once, clearly. This is the only book in the series where there is m/f/m and m/m/f, as well as m/m. It is a gay for you tale where the angst comes from Alexander’s own internal struggle with what’s right, and what’s right for him.Alexander is cousins with Jared, who is one of the MCs in the fourth story, Just a Bit Unhealthy. Gabe is in a relationship with Claire, who is quite manipulative even though she originally comes off as understanding. Gabe is a soccer star (sorry, English footballer), with a tragic past. A severe injury that almost left him a paraplegic sent him to Jared, the doctor who healed him. Gabe grows terribly dependent on Jared, manipulates him to keep him around, even knowing that Jared has fallen in love, unrequited, with him. Their friendship is unhealthy for both of them, so it really has to end, but how will that work out? And Gabe is married to Claire, with a baby, so that’s a major complication, too. But the draw, the co-dependency, the love…Gabe’s manipulative brother is Tristan, who is also an English footballer, and who is one of the MCs in this fifth book, Just a Bit Wrong. Tristan finds himself injured and has to see Zach, Jared’s friend, for therapy. Zach is engaged to be married to a woman, and he’s the head of a large family of brothers. For some reason, Gabe gets under Zach’s skin, but as his doctor, what is he to do? He handles Gabe in totally unethical, but really hot, ways. How he can find Gabe attractive, emotionally, is beyond me in some ways, because he’s really awful, but as the reader, we hear his internal dialog and we understand. Maybe Zach gets the same insight in some way?Zach has a younger brother, Ryan, who is, honestly, totally straight. But his best friend, James/Jamie, is not, and he’s loved Ryan forever. In this sixth book, Just a Bit Confusing, there’s another connection here from a previous book, but I don’t want to be a spoiler. James tries to be happy for Ryan and his relationship with Hannah, but it’s hard. He tries to find interest with someone else, but those attempts fail. He can’t be friends anymore because it hurts too much. But Ryan can’t not be friends with Jamie. So, he tries to give Jamie a bit of what he needs. But, he’s straight. It’s soooo awkward. One thing does occur in this book that I find troubling and that is the guys thinking that if a guy stays hard, he wants sex, and it can’t be rape, or taking advantage of him to have sex with him. That’s just wrong–a physical reaction is not indicative of wanting. I worry about the message here, and it’s the only time, in all of the books, that I do. Anyway, of course there’s an HEA, as in all the stories, but it take a lot to get there.It looks like the seventh book will feature Luke, a close friend of Jamie, acquaintance of Ryan, with his Russian mobster lover. Can’t wait!There’s lots of emotional manipulation here. Humor. Angst. M/M graphic sex, some of it D/s kinky, but not to an extreme. The characters have major depth. The secondary characters do, too, enough to carry them into the next book. It’s really a fine series that I’m always wanting to read the next installment of, and can’t put down once I get it. A five out of five stars for the series.Original review can be found at: https://whateverthewomanwantstoread.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/straight-guys-series-straight-boy-just-a-bit-twisted-just-a-bit-obsessed-just-a-bit-unhealthy-just-a-bit-wrong-just-a-bit-confusing/

I enjoyed this one. It was short and to the point. I love smutty short novellas. Nothing else to say here but it was a good read.Why only 4.5 stars? It wasn’t the best ever read. I don’t know what it was missing, but I feel like it was missing something…. Well then, 4.5 star rating.

This is the 2nd book I’ve read from this author, I started first with Book 11.It shares very, very similar situations & responses...I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t read both books back to back, literally in 30 min from finishing the last.I will say, that though typically it would’ve turned me off due to the repetitiveness, I was engaged with the writing & the characters, so I didn’t let it faze me like usual.These things happen when authors have long series....overlap. I only took off 1 star due to that. Hopefully in the other books, that doesn’t happen, or this nice feeling with deteriorate.Other than that, I liked the prose of Xavier and his cat & mouse game with Sage. I wish there was more interaction in jail with other inmates, where Xavier had to show his alpha-ness because someone tried it with his “property”. But it went all smoothly, which was kind of boring. I would’ve liked to see Sage realize the value of Sage being his partner versus some ugly gross slime ball.I’m also glad it showed the girlfriend not being an bigot to the fact that he has trauma in jail, and she was understanding. It annoys me sometimes when authors have readers hate the gf when it’s the guy that’s creeping.Okay, Book 1, here I come!

Nice, quick read. Always interesting to read about "straight" or normal orientation or preference struggles. Identity, in any fashion, evolves.

“There’s no such thing as normal. There is no definition of normal. Normal is subjective. You can’t—and shouldn’t—force yourself to want something ‘normal’ and stop wanting what you truly want. It’s a sure way to make your life miserable.”Behind bars for the next 12 months after a horrible DUI accident has left Sage a little fearful, especially after getting an eyeful of his new cellmate, Xavier, who has an offer to help his prison stay a little safer.Xavier offer is simple. Sage’s willing body for his protection.Xavier has sworn not to force himself on Sage more than publicly necessary, convinced that Sage will come to him.Sage makes it crystal clear that he is straight on a number of times, swearing that he is only doing what he must to survive in prison. But when Xavier starts laying his claims in the shower and their cell, pushing him from his comfort zone and bringing him to a sense of pleasure he hasn’t known, Sage’s insistent chants of heterosexuality seem very far from the truth.12 months is up and Sage is ready to get on with his life, his straight “normal” life with his girlfriend and putting Xavier out of mind. But no matter how hard he tries, something has changed. He has changed.He is not the same man as he was when he walked into the prison. He finds his mind and body wanting and missing his cellmate and when Xavier is thrust back into his life he is faced with the realization that what he believed to be normal once no longer applied to him.As Always, Carpe Librum <3

Bad situations and the person that helps you cope and looks out for you. Well written short story that does feel like it ended too soon.

Sage has been sentenced to 1 year in prison for injuring a pedestrian while driving under the influence. He’s 24, blond, blue eyed, and very “pretty”. His girlfriend of 2 years said she’ll wait for him.When the cell door clangs shut behind him he sees his cell mate sleeping on bunk. A huge muscled, broad shouldered giant. Introducing himself as Xavier, he tells Sage what he is going to do to him, and that Sage will be his B——h. Xavier laughs when Sage tells him he is straight and has a girlfriend.Trying to have a shower has become a nightmare with everyone watching what’s going to happen between the new guy and Xavier.Xavier didn’t appear to me to be a very considerate sexual partner to Sage and some people maybe put off by that.Definitely the setting for this very short MM story is unusual, and the characters appear briefly in another Straight Guy Book.

What happens in Prison is Sage meeting and getting the protection of his cellmate Xavier, but this comes as a price. To prevent 'petty boy' Sage from being gang raped or generally molested, Xavier has said that he will protect him. However in payment for this protection Sage has to become Xavier 's bitch, something straight guy Sage is loathe to do.Sage finally relents when he notices that the other inmates seem to avoid Xavier, leaving him alone.So, for the duration of his prison sentence he becomes Xavier's bitch beholden to perform sexual favours on demand.Once Sage is free he gets a job and a place of his own. Now he is able to get his life back to normal. His girlfriend Laura waited for him, and at her suggestion he get therapy. He can finally live the life he was supposed to before prison and Xavier.That is until he meets Xavier in the local park as he takes a shortcut on his way home.This story is witty and definitely read worthy. Alessandra writes extremely well and her characters are full of depth. I really enjoyed reading this and cannot wait to move into the next book in the series: "Just a bit Twisted".Finally, I would like to thank Alessandra for her great imagination and for putting it into words for us to read and enjoy 😊

this novella is a companion to the straight guys series although it could be read as a stand alone. Everyone has heard about what goes on in prisons but I wasn't expecting the guards to just stand there and let it happen. I was also expecting things to happen much faster and rougher to Sage. I know Xavier is a criminal and a tough guy but he was surprisingly gentle with Sage even as he was forceful and manipulative. I also liked the way that Sage struggled with what happened after he got out from prison, and struggled with his girlfriend. That seemed more true to life, as did the fact that his saw a councillor. Cue chance meeting with his former cell mate, and a relationship is born on the outside. Although this is a novella, and fast paced at that, I like the way it was done. It would of been great as a longer book so that we could see more depth and detail in the issues and characters. I think a novella is successful if you wanted it to be longer after reading it, so mission accomplished.

Having just finished 'Just a bit Twisted' by this author I went in search of other books by her and it turns out I downloaded 'Straight Boy' last year I just never got round to actually reading it.'Straight Boy' is a hot little read, little being the operative word since it's only 48 pages long.Sage, who we met briefly in 'Twisted' finds himself doing twelve months in prison for drunk driving, he shares a cell with Xavier who offers him protection, at a price of course. But what happens when the thing you told yourself you did just to survive becomes the very thing you need to really live and feel alive.The 3 stars I gave this book is not a negative it's more a reflection on the length, I do struggle with the rating of very short books, do they deserve the same rating as longer ones?

This was a freebie, but I'd have happily paid for it. While its only a short novella, you get a lot of bang for your buck (no pun intended, although yes its beyond HOT!). This story may only be a short one but it doesn't read that way, there's surprisingly a lot of emotional content in it and the MCs just really gel and it all seems really quite believable - which is rare for short stories and esp in the GFY genre. I thoroughly recommend this story, it's a definite reread for me. There is also Books 2 and 3 of this series which I've just read and they are just as wonderful, if not more so. Seriously, I'd give 10* for the whole series if I could. This writer is very talented. I cannot wait for Jareds story (I'm surmising that's next?).