"Warm and welcoming, Moriarty’s debut has the effortless informality of a friend confessing his reluctant foray into an open relationship"
A coming-of-age story about a reluctant foray into an open relationship, Sounds Like Fun reads like the gentler gay younger brother of Kate Davies’ In At The Deep End (or indeed my own sillier bisexual middle sibling Double Booked!) If you enjoyed those, then this book should indeed sound like fun!
My favourite moments were when there were playfully specific details about past romances: “‘Do you think your break-up inspired any poems?’ James shook his head. ‘He’s been working on a verse novel about Epping Forest [...] Epping Forest is the protagonist, and all the trees speak together like a Greek Chorus.’”
I’m a protective sap, so I loved the moments where Eoin got to start his happy flirting with a new love interest (no spoilers!) It’s no secret that the reader doubts the relationship with Rich from the start, and an optimistic part of me would have liked to see at least a phase where their open relationship actually worked really well for both of them, but Moriarty is a natural at creating nameless tension in their interactions. And we enjoy the voyeurism of his different sexual adventures: “It was fun and familiar and playful. It was safe and it was exciting. It was in the kitchen, for God’s sake, on tiles and against the sink and by the fridge. We knocked over Colin’s copy of How to Cook and I banged my head on the recycling bin. It was great.”
| Primary Genre | Romance / Relationship Stories |
| Other Genres: |
Meet Eoin. Eoin is doing great. He’s 27, gainfully employed and in a long-term relationship with his boyfriend Rich.
Okay, so his best friend Jax is diving into yet another disastrously bad relationship and Eoin’s going to be the one dealing with the eventual fallout. And his boss at the café, Rebecca, seems to have vanished, so somehow Eoin’s left managing the place. And to be honest, he’s not got much else going on.
But still, he’s got his boyfriend Rich – steady, sensible and dependable Rich. That is, until Eoin’s world is turned upside down when Rich announces that he wants an open relationship. Terrified of losing the man he loves, Eoin reluctantly agrees to this new arrangement, and stumbles into the world of dating with no strings attached.
What could go wrong?
Sounds Like Fun features in the following genres: Romance / Relationship Stories, Sharing Diverse Voices, LGBTQ+ Fiction, Fiction, Feel-Good Fiction, Humorous Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, General Fiction
Sounds Like Fun is available in Paperback
Sounds Like Fun was written by Bryan Moriarty and published by Hodder Paperback an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton
Sounds Like Fun has 272 pages
£8.09
