Hollywood Wives

EDIT 5/14/20 AFTER FINISHING THE WHOLE SERIESWhile I stand by my review, it's what I thought/felt after reading this first book, I'd encourage anyone who felt so-so to go on. You won't regret it.************3.5This was a weird book and one I only went into because I wanted an AB for “busy-hands” chores and this is part of Audible Escape package so kind of free? The AB itself by [a:Noah Michael Levine 7056713 Noah Michael Levine https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] is serviceable. The story by [a:Tibby Armstrong 4141522 Tibby Armstrong https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1532577446p2/4141522.jpg] held potential but the execution didn't quite work for me.I was intrigued by the way this story started. After 10 years together a couple has come to an impasse. One, Aaron, is a movie producer and the other, Greg, a screenwriter. Aaron is tired of Greg hiding their relationship, by Greg being in the closet. Greg has been working on a film, that is closely based on how they came to be together as 18 & 19 y.o. The bulk of the book is them watching the movie about fictional Aaron & Greg in a military school. Greg is bullied, mostly because he has a more than prickly personality, for reasons, but he's also just annoying. Movie Aaron ends up becoming Greg's protector and inexplicably falls for him. It's a fairly standard NA with explicit sex, which I'm not knocking, but I found it hard to believe that Aaron who's had sex with like two girls is suddenly and unerringly not only leading the way in gay sex but also exhibiting traits of being a sexual Dominant without ever having contemplated gay sex or questioned his sexuality. And Greg pretty much submits to him. I'm sure every person who ends up in some kind of kink relationship starts somewhere but I'm pretty sure too that they don't pop out of the box knowing stuff perfectly. I mean Aaron hasn't even heard of Nirvana, doesn't know what a twink is or anything much at all because his parents are strict Southern Baptists! Everything else about the fictional couple is OTT: everyone in school is horrible, from teachers to every classmate, their individual families, save for a grandmother and an uncle, are crap, and Greg's post graduation adventure is pretty ludicrous in the details. All of the above is sort of shrug worthy but the bigger problem is that the ‘movie' is 80% or more of the book. We get to know fictional Aaron & Greg maybe more than we wish but know very little about RL Aaron & Greg as most everything in the movie is fiction. I found myself zero invested in them and their HEA. The other thing is that Greg has made the movie as a mea culpa to Aaron and IMO it's too little too late and sort of a crappy way to make amends. It turns out RL Aaron is a pushover and not a Dominant at all! See what I mean. We know almost nothing about the supposed MCs of this book. Anyway ... the rest of the series is on AE so I may listen to it while I walk or do dishes. Apparently I'm like Aaron.