Hmm, this book flatlined for me 30% into the story and I don’t think I will be finishing it. The ratings are decent on this, so I’m surprised no one else is bothered by what to me is a very irritating flaw. This book suffers from multiple POV disorder! The book starts with a decent premise and interesting characters; we’re introduced to Ben aka ‘red’ (in the first person) and he seems a decent enough guy. He’s tall, redheaded, hardworking yet with a fun side. The writing was entertaining and I liked where the story was going. We cover a span of several months, where we learn about Ben’s job, his work friend with benefits and his developing crush on his boss. Then about 60 pages in (on my ereader, different per device I know) we now switch and go back to the starting line where we meet ‘blue’ who is Aiden, Ben’s boss. We then go back and COVER THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME WE JUST COVERED WITH BEN, this time from Aiden’s viewpoint. His past is brought to light so we can get a better understanding of his choices, though it actually made me like him less, and then we begin to see his side of some of the moments happening between Aiden and Ben. Why not read both events at the same time I wonder? Can we not do a ‘camera 1, camera 2’ sort of scene where we get both characters views at the same time, in the same scene?!? Then we catch up to ‘now’ in the book, and we begin to get a third person narrative. …WHAT???Ok, I think I’m done. Sure, I’m quitting when I should, in theory, be getting to the ‘good stuff’ but I don’t like being jerked around. Thanks but no thanks. I like this author, her book Leather + Lace was truly enjoyable and captivating, and I will absolutely be reading more of her work. But this one…not so much. A free copy of this book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest reviewI generally enjoy "opposites attract" stories, so Red+Blue was right up my ally. A.B. Gayle's writing was effective and fun to read; the format of the novel was different than any I have read before, but it worked. The beginning portion was told from first person POV - first Red (Ben) and then Blue (Adrian), with a short intro for each character and then their version of a series of events during the same time period. The rest of the novel is then told in third person, but does switch perspectives frequently. I enjoyed getting to know the characters during the first portion of novel - reading Ben's version of events and then Adrian's version. I especially liked Ben's character - he was confident, upbeat, friendly - his personality filled a room. Ben is someone I would like to have as a friend. Adrian was in the closet most of the story, which was frustrating, but the interesting twist was that he had been out and was "forced" back in by his father and his own need to do what he thought was right. I also liked that A.B. Gayle took an industry (life insurance) that is generally considered pretty dry and portrayed the human side of it. The idea of providing life insurance to high risk people and how devoted Adrian is to helping those people gave the story another dimension. I found this description of Adrian's moving: "Everyone deserved to know that their life was valuable, that they mattered, and that they should not give up."The build up between Ben and Adrian was pretty slow through the first half of the book, but once the two MCs get together, it burned the pages (or rather screens) up for me. The canoe trip and descriptions of the scenery were wonderful - felt like I took a little vacation as well.One nitpick - I thought that Ben barebacking so casually seemed out of character, but I suppose we all do things out of character at times. I also wish there had been an epilogue. I really wanted to know how they worked out all the loose ends. The ending was a bit abrupt.Overall, enjoyed Red + Blue a lot. Even though it is a fairly long book, it went by quickly. This was my second read by A.B Gayle and won't be my last.
