On paper, he was annoyingly perfect and aesthetically everything aligned pretty well. Another date looked imminent. And then… I thought of Romeo, and started looking for problems. [loc. 914]
Justin Myers writes the Guyliner blog, and The Last Romeo feels like the novelisation of that blog: gossip journalist James, newly-single after six years of a toxic relationship and disillusioned with his job, decides to throw himself into the gay dating scene and blog every date. He's encouraged by his friends -- Bella, who's just moved to Russia; Nicole and Richie, whose sons he's godfather to; Curtis, gay man-about-town; Seonaid and Carrie, friends of his ex -- but gradually the notoriety and the pressure begin to warp his life. Will he ever find 'the one', or even 'the next one', if he's treating every date as blog-fodder?
The blog entries', bitchy and amusing and not always fair to their subjects, were much less interesting to me -- as was the blogging 'Romeo' persona -- than the scenes with James and his friends and dates, such as the closetted Olympian he thinks he might have a chance with, or the guy who's in a relationship but hits it off with James over a bottle of gin at a party. (There is a great deal of drinking herein.) There are Twitter storms, crises of confidence, and a mystery fan of 'Romeo' who may not be a complete stranger. The ending was cheerful, but inconclusive: I felt it fizzled out a bit. But I was entertained and emotionally engaged, and it was fun to read about the London dating scene, a distant memory.
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