Out of Bounds

February 1, 2016
Barley (Too Hot to Handle), who writes heterosexual romance as Aleah Barley, ventures into male-male romance with this sweet but uneven tale of two college roommates falling for each other. Jesse, a sophomore at Halston University, N.Y., was beaten up by his previous roommate for acting on his crush, and he arrives in his new room traumatized. He finds it hard to hide his instantaneous attraction to Nick, a muscular, sexy senior, but he fears “putting clumsy moves on another straight roommate.” Nick recognizes Jesse’s vulnerability and feels attracted to him, even though “Nick didn’t do twinks.” To allay Jesse’s instinctive fears, Nick divides their room with a line of tape, promising, “I will never go out of bounds.” After Jesse learns Nick is gay and his trust develops, the boundary allows for safe exploration of their growing attraction. The early violence is handled lightly, and Nick’s insecurities are overdone, but sympathetic protagonists, entertaining supporting characters, and numerous playful sex scenes make this an entertaining read.