After a painful breakup, Chandler Stowe leaves behind Los Angeles with all its memories and returns to his hometown to take care of his parents’ estate. Then Chandler meets Titan and his heart leaps back to life. But a relationship with a closeted gay man is risky. When the town folks turn against Chandler and want him to leave, Chandler’s not so sure his lover will get his back.

Titan must determine what his heart truly longs for — and if he willing to step out of bounds for a chance at true love.

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Review:

Out of Bounds is an ok story with some decent characters. The actual plot is pretty well used and familiar, nothing too exciting or different. The characters stay within pretty typical stereotypes with some mild sex scenes thrown in. There is nothing especially offensive about this offering, but nothing exciting either. It’s a stock contemporary story that’s been done and read before and likely to appeal to the author’s fans the most.

Chandler is an artist that moves home to a very small town after a bad breakup. He is the only openly gay man in the entire town. He becomes involved with closeted football coach, Titan, and the two begin a very quiet relationship. Of course the town bigot (well the entire town qualifies really) decides to run Chandler out of town and accuses him of molesting a young boy. Titan is too afraid to come out of his closet and support Chandler so their relationship hits predictable issues.

The story is easy going and pretty familiar. The plot of a closeted relationship followed by ignorant accusations in a small town is one that many readers have read before; no doubt several, several times before. Therefore this offering fits with those and offers the same kind of story. It’s not offensive and stays true to predictable actions but it’s also the feeling of having read the story before and easy to guess what happens. No one really steps out of their box, even at the end with the over the top gesture that doesn’t make any sense or reality, but you knew it was coming.

The characters themselves easily stay within their stereotypes. Chandler is the talented artist, just wanting to help kids and get over his bad breakup. He seems to have endless amounts of money so he doesn’t need to work, which makes the story’s focus on the relationship easier. Chandler of course wants an open relationship and tries several times to break it off with Titan due to Titan’s poor behavior. Of course Chandler loves Titan so always gives him another shot. Titan behaves as a scared closet case for most of the book and alternates between being in love with Chandler and fearful of coming out. Again these stereotypes feel real but they don’t really offer anything new.

The writing is decent with a few technical errors and mistakes and I did appreciate the variety in sex scenes offered. The characters don’t just do the same scripted events but change things up and show some nice variety. Having said that I didn’t connect with either character and felt they were too familiar as re-treads to really care. Not a bad book but it’s simply one of many contemporaries that deals with these same situations and characters. If you’re looking for a comfort read this might offer satisfaction.