Review: Crush by Caitlin Ricci

Crush by Caitlin Ricci
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really adored this one.

Crush is about a shy Alabama boy going to college. Trey arrives to find there was a mishap and his dorm room was assigned to someone else. Lost on campus and trying to make it to a mandatory orientation, he is panicking a bit and worried he will have to return home to his overbearing parents. Instead he meets a strange and amazing person, Co-Co.

C0-Co is quite fabulous and a bit of a steamroller. He reminds me a bit of The Kinks' 'Lola'. While quite upfront about being a gay man and not in drag, he isn't shy about wearing makeup and tall heels. His outgoing personality is a bit overmuch for the shy guy away from home for the first time, but even while trying to decide if he should escape their clutches, Trey is very curious about his new friend who is like no one he has ever met. Luckily for Trey, Co-Co thinks he is adorable and saves him by leading Trey to the orientation which is being run by Co-Co's boyfriend, Bryce.

Bryce is intelligent, taciturn, and a boxer. He is in love with Co-Co and often sits back and lets him manage things, acting like an anchor when Co-Co gets a bit too out-of-hand. He is from Maine and his mother died while he was young, so he was raised by his father, a lobster fisherman. Though his skin color is mentioned, there are no racial overtones, just a love of how different the three look from one another and a pointed avoidance of calling Bryce's skin the overused chocolate.

Once the couple find out Trey is staying in a motel Co-Co offers up Bryce's spare room until everything is worked out with his dorm room. Despite never having met any gay people before, Trey treats Co-Co and Bryce politely and works on learning to get along with the strange new world that seems so far from Alabama.

Co-Co has their own secrets, which causes issues in their relationship with Bryce.

Like any new freshman away from home for the first time, Trey must learn to do things on his own. Everything from getting a job and going to a college party is a bit confusing, but luckily Co-Co and Bryce take care of him. And when Trey starts questioning his sexuality, the couple is there to hold his hand, even when the results are shocking to them all.

“So, darling, tell us everything. Was it a magical, wonderful, beautiful first date?” Co-Co asked as they took my hands between theirs.

I laughed and shook my hand. “It wasn’t any of those. Instead it was awkward and weird, and I think I did something to make her believe I wanted more than I did. It was just… I dunno. Like she wanted stuff and I didn’t.”

The trio are just figuring things out when Trey's overly-religious parents visit from Alabama to see how he is doing and whether his roommates are the type of people they want their little boy around.

Trey is often timid and confused, but he is willing to fight what he sees as injustice. Crush is told from his point of view, so we primarily see the story through the eyes of someone just finding themselves and finding love.

Crush is a sweet romance without too much sex, featuring gay men, polyamory, bisexual or biromantic asexuality, and someone coming out as gender fluid. It finishes nicely with no cliffhangers and a happily-ever-after (HEA). There's no cheating, and the only trigger is coming out to parents as well as some minor mentions of things in the past.

I loved the coming-of-age, finding-out-who-you-are aspects of this book.

Get the book from Amazon.