Review: Closets Are for Clothes by Addison Albright

02 March of 2018 by ButtonsMom2003

Reviewer's Rating: 4

4.0Overall score

I enjoyed this book a lot.

Closets Are for Clothes By Addison Albright

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Released: February 24, 2018

Publisher: JMS Books, LLC

Series: Dream On, Book 1

Synopsis

Mike’s life is carefully compartmentalized. He’s deep in the closet to his family back in Kansas, but lives life honestly and openly in Austin. He’s unnerved when Wes, his old university crush, turns up at his door in answer to a roommate advertisement, but quickly sees the potential…benefits of the arrangement. Wes has never doubted nor denied his sexuality. With the support of his family he’s an out and proud LGBT activist.

On the scale balancing his self-esteem on one side, and the love of his family on the other, Mike has to decide which weighs more. Is Mike being fair to his parents by not giving them the chance to know his real self? When the delicate balance of his life is disrupted, he decides he’s tired of living a lie. Will Wes understand his concerns, or will their fledgling relationship crumble under the strain of Mike’s uncertainty?

NOTE: Closets Are for Clothes is a from-the-ground-up comprehensively rewritten and reedited version of A Dream Come True (published by Addison at Torquere Press in February, 2009). While the theme of the original story is the same, and many important scenes will be recognizable, the way the characters deal with important events is handled differently than in the original story and much of the story’s backdrop and side characters have changed. Beyond converting the story from an alternating 3rd-person POV to being told entirely from Mike’s 1st-person POV, this is a significantly changed retelling of the story.

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

I enjoyed this book a lot.

This is the first book I’ve actually read by Addison Albright but I’ve listened to the audio book of another title. Closets Are for Clothes is kind of a coming out story.

Mike lives his life as an openly gay man in the city where he works, but back home he isn’t out to his family. When man answering his ad for a roommate turns out to be his college crush, and they hit it off, he knows that he will eventually have to come out to his family. Part of his reluctance to come out is his fear of his father’s reaction. While he was growing up comments were made that definitely gave Mike the idea that his father doesn’t approve of gays and thinks that people choose to be gay.

Wes is a medical resident and he’s very happy as Mike’s roommate and happy about their developing relationship. He’s out and proud and he doesn’t quite understand why Mike is so reluctant to come out to his family.

Closets Are for Clothes is a fairly quick read at 136 pages. I became engrossed in the story right from the beginning. There’s a twist in the story that made for an interesting dynamic with Mike’s family. I laughed in places and shed a few tears in others; especially when Mike and his dad confront the “elephant in the room.”

While this is a complete story, with a nice epilogue and an HEA for Mike and Wes, the scene is set for the next book in the series and some people might consider the ending a cliffhanger. In the strictest sense of the word, I guess the book does have a cliffhanger as there is an unsolved mystery. I very much want to read the next story in this series.