The Difference Between by Leta Blake/Blake Moreno

The Difference Between is a dark as hell story. I picked it because I needed something to balance out all the sugar I’ve consumed lately, and also, it came highly recommended.

However, I didn’t finish it. At 60% in, I gave up. I won’t waste my time reading stuff I don’t enjoy.

Synopsis: The story is about Wade, a young, gay man, who’s kidnapped, tortured and sexually abused by an ex lover. After his rescue, the story goes on describing how a deeply traumatized Wade is trying to take back control of his life. By his side is his boyfriend/partner, Russ, who’s willing to do anything to help the man he loves. And what the book focus on is some kind of sex-therapy where Wade and Russ are slowly trying to overcome Wade’s newly instilled fear of intimacy and physical pleasure.

In theory, this is a viable plotline. And Blake can no doubt write. So the problem isn’t the execution as such, it’s the extreme focus on sex that bored me to death.

The story started with Wade’s kidnapping and the horrific events that followed. It was nauseating, but absolutely sucked me in. I wanted to keep reading and was eager to get to know about Wade’s rescue. But the details about that were few and the overall description vague.

Yet, I still wanted to keep reading to learn how Wade coped, and finally emerged stronger in the end. And that’s when the sex-therapy began.

I like reading smut. And there is no such thing as too much good smut. But this isn’t good. The never-ending, detailed, descriptions of Wade’s and Russ’ therapy-sexing was extremely off-putting and also boring to boot because of the sheer amount.

I’m sure some readers view this story as a beautiful description of two lovers working together through sexual healing (Yup, Marvin Gaye must have influenced Blake somehow) to overcome the fear caused by abuse. But to me it just seemed so clinical and felt mostly like mechanics; A tongue here, a hand there, suck, lick, nibble and rub.

This story could have been great if it hadn’t been focused only on the sexual aspect of Wade’s and Russ’ relationship. If that had been the case, I probably would have finished the book. But as it is, this story is only a 2-star to me. The writing is excellent though, so the overall grade will still have to be a 3.