Not like Other Boys cover art

Not like Other Boys

M/M Bully Romance

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About this listen

Lose an eye. Win a boyfriend.

Ethan. Taxidermist. Goth weirdo. Can’t wait to be done with high school.

Ethan is a young artist-entrepreneur with a love for quirky taxidermy. Roadkill is so much better than people. By the end of high school, all he wants is to develop his business, yet all his parents want is for him to go to law school. That is more than enough of a problem for Ethan, so any kind of love life is out of the question. That is until Robert Hunter, the quarterback of the football team, comes crashing into him. Literally.

Robert. Quarterback. In the closet. More than meets the eye.

Robert is the popular kid, the quarterback on his way to med school. He’s gay, but not exactly coming out since he doesn’t like to stir the pot. One night, spurred on by too much booze, he ends up causing irreversible harm to Ethan, the school’s weirdo.

The aftermath.

Robert will do anything to avoid charges for what he’s done, but when Ethan makes an indecent demand in return for his silence, Robert might just be in way over his head.

For Ethan, it’s a simple act of revenge on a bully, but when Robert turns out to be not-so-straight, their arrangement gets complicated all too fast.

Possible spoilers

Themes: first love, fitting in, entrepreneurship, disability, high school, jock/goth, taxidermy, artist, coming out, becoming an adult, enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort

Genre: new-adult M/M romance

(Stand-alone novel, no cliff-hanger.)

Warning: Contains steamy, passionate scenes, violent injury, themes of bullying, and a morally ambiguous proposition.

(This book was formerly published as Diary of a Teenage Taxidermist.)

©2014, 2020 K.A. Merikan (P)2020 K.A. Merikan Literature & Fiction Romance Mind-bending Feel-Good
All stars
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Listener received this title free

I love how the minds behind K.A. Merikan work. They utterly fascinates me. I leap at the chance to read their work. They don’t shy away from weird, interesting, outrageous, and dark things. They embrace it, and I love it. I don’t read a lot of books with teenaged mcs, but these boys are both 18, so there’s that. For this author, though—I will read whatever trope, age group, or genre.

Robert and Ethan were brought together under very unique circumstances. Both events, one caused by Rob, the other by Ethan’s odd demand as payment for his silence, have lasting repercussions throughout the book. Despite this, these boys find themselves continually drawn to the other. It was not a smooth transition from bully/bullied to friends, and then, boyfriends. Despite Rob no longer participating and often preventing it, Ethan still gets bullied.

This was a brilliantly written story, with incredibly well developed characters. I loved that there’s always humor mixed in with the dark, the serious, and the sadness. There were moments that were funny for the readers, that were just not addressed in the story (by the characters). I love that stuff, and soak it up like a sponge. The characters are funny, without even meaning to be.

Tyler Kent is a new to me narrator, but I hope to hear more from him. He was perfect for these characters and their story. He did a phenomenal job with Ethan and Rob. His ability to project emotion, awkwardness, and have two very well thought out, and distinct, voices for our leads, is incredible. I can see him going far in this industry, and I’m glad Merikan utilized his talents for this story. I cannot imagine it with any other voice. Tyler Kent IS this story.

Unique and absolutely captivating

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Not Like Other Boys is a standalone contemporary romance that takes the reader on an emotional and fascinating journey. The best way I can describe this book is as a quirky, young adult romance with themes of boys being stupid, making bad decisions that have serious consequences, yet still finding a way to forgive, grow, and love each other. Ethan and Robert together just makes sense. At first, it doesn’t. Ethan is the strange kid who created taxidermy art and Robert is the popular football jock who cooks as a hobby. Their relationship is unique with a tragic start, but the love and attraction they have for each other cannot be denied.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I also recognize it is not for everyone. K.A. Merikan don’t shy away from dealing and exploring difficult themes and unhealthy behaviors. Both Robert and Ethan make really bad and poor decisions, but they also acknowledge the seriousness of those decisions and understand that their behavior was not good. But despite this acknowledgement, they can’t and won’t stay away from each other. It’s not a dark romance, but there are messed up situations that not everyone will feel comfortable reading about. Read the summary for content warnings and make your own decision on whether or not this book is for you.

The audiobook was narrated by Tyler Kent who did a good job. I wasn’t really a fan of Ethan’s voice, but I did get used to it. All the other characters had a great voices that I liked. The narrative portions were voiced smoothly and were easy to listen to. The audiobook production was well done and overall this was an enjoyable listen.

A Quircky and Unique Love Story

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Listener received this title free

I Absolutely love this story, it is quite dark in places and very deep and powerful. I went through so many emotions while listening to the story. This story is MM Young Adult but dealing with very adult issues. Tyler Kent did a brilliant job narrating this emotive story.

Misunderstood.

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I say this often about Merikan's books, when I start them I'm not sure I like either of the main characters, and that is true at the beginning here. I know, however, that as the story goes along I will come to understand the characters and sympathize with everything they have had to go through both during the story and in their backstories. Learning to see through eyes that initially seem radically different than my own and then finding commonalities (sometimes uncomfortable ones) is what I love about this author's work. Tyler Kent is a new performer for me but this one was right on the money. All the pain and emotions were spot on and not overdone.

Some very intriguing characters

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I absolutely loved Rob. Yeah, he was a bit of a bully at first, but he really came around and became a dreamy boyfriend for Ethan. I liked Ethan, but he could be very immature and I just wanted to shake some sense into him. While they were hot together, there was a bit too much sex in the book for me, so I ended up ffwding through some of it. Sorry, not sorry.

The whole taxidermy thing was intriguing, if a bit icky, especially when combined with food, but okay. And I really would've loved some kind of epilogue some months/years into the future.

Overall, I found the audiobook entertaining and I really enjoyed Tyler Kent's narration. He did a good job with both characters and with the story.

Nice YA story!

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