Disclaimer: I do not own this book.
On to the review!
Hello, I'm Morey Bibliophage. Deep in the darkest pits of our souls, we have our dark fetishes that would be considered taboo. One of those fetishes would be incest with twins. Normally, one would think that such a thing would be interesting to read in a psychological sense. Unfortunately, this book is not one of those books. Instead, this book is so bland and plot-less that twig cereal tastes better than this. This book is Texan Summer by William Cooper.
First, let us look at the cover. It is a picture of two guys sitting
under a tree. It is just another bland picture being used as a cover.
It tells us nothing about the story or the characters. It is just
there.Next, this book is short. It cannot be more than a hundred pages long. There are no chapters either, so it is simply a long short story. I am not saying that such stories are bad. I have read plenty of short stories that are just as good. It is just how short this story is hinders it badly. The story is too rushed to enjoy it completely. It reads as if you're being pushed forward by a cop through a crowded room.
Another problem with the story is that it is shallow. There is no plot and no antagonist. There are no layers to the story. I can summarize the entire book in just two sentences:
'Twins run away. They come back, and lived happily ever after.'
See? There is no filling to it. There is no conflict to the story. It is like the author wanted to write a story, but couldn't bear to harm one of his precious characters. You need conflict to further the story.
I think the biggest problem with this book is that it has a plot that would be about three hundred or so pages, and it is compacted to one hundred pages. Things that should be explained are not explained, and things that should have taken time were rushed. It is like taking a plane from Nixa to Springfield: too short to experience, and a waste of money.
Another problem with the book is that it suffers from telling instead of showing. What that means is instead of showing how the character is through actions and emotions shown, the writer tells their audience what the character is like. The problem with this is that what the author tells us is not always like what is shown. For instance, Collin; the narrator, tells us that he's an artist and he loves to draw his brother, but the only time we see him draw is when the author tells him to draw. There is no sketchbook always at his side or him always making small doodles. Hell, he does not itch to draw or get that distant glazed look an artist gets when they are figuring out how to draw something. It is just him telling us he likes drawing.
All of the characters are bland. They have no quirks or anything that makes them unique. The author tells us things about them (like Collin being overprotective with his brother), but (as mentioned before) the audience does not see it that way. We see a forgettable main character loving his forgettable brother while talking to his forgettable mother. These characters should not be bland or forgettable. They make the story interesting. It's the reason why stories like James Bond and Indiana Jones are a part of our film culture while Twilight is already dying. The first two have quirky characters with interesting stories while the last one had boring characters and a dull story.
As mentioned before, one would think that a story about gay twins who are in love with each other would be interesting, especially if the setting is in Texas. There are homophobic in today's world, and people that are grossed out by incest. A competent writer could take that subject matter, focus on the psychology of it, and challenge the audience's thought of morality. Instead, Cooper turned into a giggling 15 year old girl writing her first fanfiction about her favorite story, and not want anything bad happen to her favorite character. He treats the subject matter as a gay relationship in an area that is more understanding of gay people. That will not work with incest. I mean, when the brothers go back to Texas, they expect to be attacked by people. Instead, everyone in the town ignores the incest, and are cool with them being gay. No one confronts the twins about their relationship. No one has a serious talk about it. It is like the whole town forgot the fact that the twins are brothers.
Next thing to talk about is the amount of research Cooper did for the book. He did not do any
research. It is obvious he lacked research. The twins' father is in the hospital for a heart attack. When they ask their mom what was going on, she pretty much gave the excuse that she did not understand the doctor mumbo jumbo. This is the man's (who is having a heart attack) wife. It's sort of human nature that people will pay attention to what the doctor says when a loved one is in the hospital. Also with the whole doctor talk, doctors tend to translate what they said into English. What this means is Cooper was too lazy to go onto Google and search for information about heart attacks.
Well, if the story sucks, the characters are dull, the conflict lacking, and the lessons unlearned, then it must be a porno book. Unfortunately, it is not even that. There isn't a single sex scene in the entire book. The narrator just skips over the sex. He just says, “We made love” and blacks out to the next day.
In the end, Texan Summer was a badly written book. The only possible reason the Cooper even wrote it is to make a little bit of money off it. There is nothing in there that shows us he is a good and competent writer. It was not worth the money, battery, and time reading it. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless they want to lose brain cells by hitting their head against the wall repeatedly. For those who want to read a gay romance story where there is conflict, sex, and people actually being mean to the main characters, then just head on over to The Tin Star by J. L. Langley. You will lose less brain cells through her. This is Morey Bibliophage: remembering it for your entertainment.
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