Platonic Rulebook by Saxon James

Caz picked up a contemporary romance by a new-to-her author based on having one of her go-to narrators! Here is her mini review:

Griff:
Walking away from my marriage was my idea of a fresh start.
My kid is in college, my ex-wife and I are on good terms … but being single in my forties is a world different to being single in my teens.
I’m thankful for my best friend, Heath. He’s got my back like he always does and is ready to take me out and show me how the bachelor life is done.
He was never supposed to show me literally.
After we wake up in bed together, I can’t stop looking at him differently, and one thing becomes abundantly clear.
I talk a big talk about wanting to be single, but my platonic rule book has gone out the window.

Heath:
When my best friend comes to me for help post-divorce, I’m only too happy to impart my wisdom to him.
After all, Griffin isn’t my type, but even I can tell he’s a complete lumbersnack. Good with his hands, kind eyes, and a killer smile. All the guys and gals are gonna eat him alive.
But the more time we spend together, the less “not my type” he becomes. I’m the one who can’t get enough of him.
Neither of us is interested in a relationship, so what’s a little fun between friends?
We both know the score.

Platonic Rulebook is the second book in Saxon James’ Divorced Men’s Club series, but I don’t think it’s necessary to read or listen to any of the others as each book features a different couple. It’s a best-friends-to-lovers story and I liked that it features two guys in their early forties as leads, but overall, it’s bland, the protagonists have little chemistry and their relationship stays pretty much the same as it’s always been except for the addition of sex to the mix. I was pleased to find that it isn’t one of those ‘I’ve been pining for you forever’ stories; it’s clear that Griff and his soon-to-be-ex-wife had a good marriage, and there’s no sense that Griff was lusting after Heath during it, but the obstacles in their way are so obviously going to be easily surmounted, and I never felt there was much at stake for either character.

But there were, however, a few things about the story that really grated on me.

First. When Griff tells his close friendship group – the DMC (Divorced Mens Club) he and his wife have split up, they’re all about him getting out there and getting it on with someone, going out clubbing and having lots of casual sex, because it’s something he’s never done. He’s spent twenty years married to a woman, but they all think he should be hooking up with men – Griff is bisexual – because he’s never done that, either. It’s very clear that Griff isn’t comfortable with the idea of hooking up in general, and yet they still try to push him into it. I’m so over interfering friends in romances – it’s not funny, it’s not cute, it’s not kind and most of all, it’s not being a friend. When they all turn up at the shopping trip Heath has organised so Griff can get himself some trendy clothes, even though Griff had specifically told them to stay away, I wanted to push them all off a cliff.

Second. Griff and Poppy decide not to tell their son, Felix, that they’re splitting up because he’s a bit highly strung and they don’t want to put him off his stride in his final year of high-school. So they put their lives on hold for a year and outright lie to him, and still haven’t told him the truth by the time he heads off to college. Not wanting him to find out from gossip, they haven’t told anyone else they’re divorcing, either, so when Griff and Heath do get together, they have to keep things very much on the downlow so a) Felix doesn’t find out and b) everyone else doesn’t think Griff is cheating on Poppy. It’s ridiculous – they think lying to their adult kid is better than telling him the truth.

And third – Felix. What a brat.

Nick J. Russo is one of my go-to narrators, but he seems to be a bit off his game here, because there were times I couldn’t tell if I was in Griff or Heath’s PoV because they sound too similar. He does, however convey the depth of the warmth and affection that exists between the two leads, he differentiates clearly between the secondary cast, and his portrayals of Poppy and Felix are excellent (his female voices are always good). He’s great in the sex scenes, but sadly, even he can’t save them from being just ‘meh’.

This is my first book by Saxon James, and it will probably be my last. Contemporary romance, in general, has become so bland and same-y that I tend to stick to the few tried and trusted authors I know can deliver stories with nuanced, interesting plots and characters. Clearly, I should have remembered that before I picked up Platonic Rulebook.

Caz

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