Prove It by Chris Owen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Prove It is a sweet tale, filled with a lot of humor and background. It’s short and easy to read in one sitting, but the romantic connection never really worked for me. I like the slow build up and the extensive background information on all the characters. I like the use of the third best friend and his gf quite a bit but overall the main romantic connection felt more like an afterthought and awkward than real and important. I still enjoyed reading this story for a number of reasons but never really bought into the late added romance.
The story starts with how the three boys became best friends. It shows how Warren and Silas competed, annoyed, and flattered each other before finally bonding when Tal shows up on the scene. The three boys become inseparable as well as having relationships and interests that are unique to them. Their individual personalities emerge, as well as various relationships and hookups, but the three friends seem to navigate this with ease. Until the day Tal and Silas decide to force Warren out of the closet and Silas realizes he’s been in love with Warren all along.
The friends to lovers theme is very familiar and popular for good reasons. In this case, the story does an excellent job of showing the friends aspect. We see incredibly adorable scenes of the boys when they’re young, exploring the world and wanting adventures. These continue into high school and college as the three men find their places while still maintaining their close friendship. In fact this is more a story about friendship than anything else. Best friends Tal, Silas, and Warren understand each other, respect each other, and ultimately love each for the people they are.
In just about every way this is a very accepting story. There is zero angst from parents or friends about Silas and Warren being gay. In fact Silas comes out in high school and becomes a local hero/spokesperson. There is in fact very little tension anywhere in the story. That’s ok because the slow pace of the story fits with the evolution of the three men’s lives. Where the story definitely starts to stumble is pairing Warren and Silas up so late in the story. By then, most of the story had been told and the remaining tension keeping these two apart feels silly and manufactured.
Warren especially left me cold with his focused attention on his studies and assuming that Silas will wait for him and eventually they’ll be together. On the one hand, this fits with Warren’s very cold and rational intellect. Yet on the other it makes no sense to assume that Silas wouldn’t find someone else in the meantime (a very real possibility). I thought the whole romance was awkward, forced, and very slow. It just didn’t fit the story in my opinion. Although I was definitely charmed by the various characters and wanted them to find happiness, I just couldn’t really see Warren and Silas together as the main romance.
Other than that, the story is pretty enjoyable to read. It has a slower pace with numerous obvious editing mistakes (if that kind of thing annoys you). Yet watching these three boys and their friendship develop is lovely. As a novella about the strength and power of friendship, this story definitely wins. The romance aspect didn’t work at all for me but I’m still glad I read this.
three am 
I felt the same about the waiting thing. I know studying is important, but so is having a job. So when would he have enough time to have a relationship? People in school and with jobs do have husbands/wives/kids/lovers. It was kind of overkill on the I must study 24/7 in order to be successful. The friendship part was great though and I loved Tal’s girlfriend. Finally a chick who wasn’t all freaked out because the guy had gay friends.
Having been in a -very- demanding college and grad school, I know the importance of studying yet the book definitely took it too far in search of tension. Just wasn’t believable after a while.
I do agree on the chick. It’s SO nice to see a normal chick who isn’t offended nor is too involved in the gay guys’ lives. I’m so sick of those chicks that are really aggressive and basically run the gay guy’s life in the guise of being a bff.