Just Watch Me by Lee Blair

Release Date: January 27^th

Short, sweet and (unfortunately) surprisingly low on the steam scale. That’s my one sentence summary of Just Watch Me.

Synopsis: Jesse is a lonely guy who wants to break his ennui but doesn’t dare step out of his comfort zone. But when a hot new neighbour moves into the apartment facing Jesse’s own, he gets just the incentive he needs. After accidentally spying the neighbour railing another man – and getting caught enjoying the show – Jesse and his neighbour realizes they both like watching each other.

Now, I don’t mind sweet, not at all. But considering the title and the blurb, I’m sort of inclined to call it false advertising since the expected shenanigans were kind of *meh*.

However, I did like the premise of the story. And the nerdy, introvert programmer coming out of his shell thanks to the hot new neighbour worked for me. The read is told in first-person, and Jesse’s is the only POV. Both Jesse and Skylar were sweet, and together they were super sweet. So the side-story with Jesse’s boss added a much needed antagonist.

But I’m thinking I’m not the target reader here. It was the implied promise of naughty nookie that got me interested, and when the story didn’t really deliver on that promise I can’t help feeling disappointed.

It’s not that there weren’t any sexytimes at all. Because there were. But those scenes were all very technical. It was telling and describing how body parts looked and what was done with/to them. The feeling was simply missing. Blair didn’t succeed in conveying how Jesse felt during these intimate moments, she just tells the reader what happens.

I’m afraid the telling-and-not-showing thing is also true for the budding friendship between Jesse and Sky. So even if they were sweet as all get out, I think that’s the thing that hindered me from really connecting to them. To me it was surface-level cute but I wasn’t actually invested.

The writing is all good, however, and both Jesse and Sky are likable even if the shortness of the story doesn’t allow for any deeper dives into either of their personalities. But I’m sure there are masses of low-angst lovers out there who will love this book. I, however, require some salt and spice with my sugar which is why it only gets 3 stars from me.

* A free e-copy of this book was kindly provided by Gay Romance Reviews *