Review: Bad Company by KA Mitchell

This review can also be found at Three Dollar Bill Reviews.

I'm a huge fan of K.A. Mitchell's books and so when I saw this new one out at Samhain, I jumped at the chance to read and review. Whilst, overall, the reading experience was enjoyable, I wasn't engaged with this book as much as some of her others.

The book is a Gay For You with a premise that may or may not appeal, depending on your feelings about revenge plots. Kellan has been thrown out by his father and cut off from the family's considerable funds when he breaks up with his third fiancée. Kellan decides that the best way to take revenge on his very conservative father is to pretend that he's gay, and so he seeks out his old friend from high school Nate, who now works as a journalist and declares that he needs Nate's help. Kellan is somewhat surprised when Nate turns him down flat, having conveniently forgotten that he abandoned Nate to homophobic bullies after accidentally outing him. However, a mix of Kellan's persuasive techniques and Nate's guilt mean that the men are soon pretending to be in love, something that has an unexpected affect on Kellan.

I'm not a big fan of revenge stories but that aspect of this book was handled quite well. The slightly unfortunate side effect being that neither hero really comes out of the whole thing looking that good. The plot hinges on how much of an ogre Kellan's father really is, and I liked that actually that part wasn't as cut and dried as it could have been. He's certainly controlling and very concerned about his own business interests, but it's credit to the author that she didn't wholly make him out to be a monster. As a result of this, both Nate and Kellan come across as a little immature. Nate's hurt over Kellan's actions in high school was realistic, but not the way that he constantly let it dictate his reactions to Kellan. Nate's overly dramatic way of thinking and some of his actions made him more like an eighteen year old than a man in his late 20's and I found that a little off-putting at times. One of the best parts of the book were the times when Kellan would point out how much of a drama-queen Nate was being, and I had to agree.

Kellan is deliberately shown as thoughtless and immature, and as a result I warmed to him more than Nate. He's a big personality who shows the typical characteristics of a privileged upbringing whilst also being clueless about the effect he has on people. I liked the way that he had such a force of personality that people warm to him almost immediately. I also liked that, unlike Nate, he isn't a moper. He shrugs off any problems and picks himself up. This was especially true when it came to getting himself a job as well as undermining all that his father tried to do to control him. His approach to the growing feelings he has for Nate were done in such a lighthearted way, with a sense of wonder and growing anticipation, that the Gay For You plot worked as a whole, and I liked the twist that it is the gay man, Nate, who has more reservations than the seemingly straight man, Kellan.

However, by far the best character in the book was Eli, Nate's former lover and now friend. He basically stole every scene he was in and I'm so pleased that he's going to get a book of his own.

So whilst I wasn't keen on Nate as a character and yet liked Kellan, the reason that this book gets 'Good' and not 'Very Good' is that it didn't shine for me. The writing was good, the situation at times funny and other times serious, and the plot engaging whilst I was reading it. However, even after two reads of this book I can feel the characters and their story slipping away from me. It's not going to be a book I remember clearly in a couple of months time, unlike the previous book I read by this author, Life, Over Easy which I can still remember very well. For me, this is a book which was fun to read and an enjoyable way to pass the time, which is a good recommendation for any book, but it's not outstanding.

Buy this book HERE.