Resistance by LM Turner
Loose Id
Gay Contemporary
ISBN: 978-1-60737-845-7
Reviewed by Cassie




Ryan likes his life just the way it is.  He has a job, a roommate he adores, a few good friends, and he gets plenty of no-strings sex from one night stands.  He doesn’t want or need a commitment of any kind.  Then he meets Jayden.  Jayden’s not like anyone Ryan’s met before, which isn’t a good thing.  For one, Ryan wants him way too much.  For another thing, Ryan finds himself starting to break his rules—like the one about no repeats.  By the time Ryan figures out what he wants, will it be too late?

Resistance was one of those books that kind of crept up on me and won me over before I knew it.  At first, the present tense annoyed me.  I had to force myself to keep reading, especially when Ryan was coming across as careless and not very nice.  Then, somehow, I started to like Ryan, and I stopped noticing the present tense writing style.  The scenes between Ryan and Jayden are scorching hot, and there’s a thread of sweetness to them that scared Ryan and made my inner romantic very happy.  Ryan had issues, though.  Big ones.  No matter how understanding Jayden was, and how patient, Ryan kept pushing him away.  I rode an emotional roller-coaster with Ryan, watching him allow Jayden to get a little bit closer and then start freaking out.  After a while I started to wonder if Ryan would ever see what he was doing to himself.  It was especially sad when contrasted with Ryan’s capacity for caring for his roommate and friends.  There’s an interesting subplot with Ryan’s roommate, a stripper, and Ryan’s friends make for a fascinating bunch of secondary characters.  There’s a bit of action, a ton of soul-searching, angst, and internal conflict, and some smoking hot sex.  At its heart, Resistance is more about the characters than any sort of dramatic events, and I liked that.  My only (minor) quibble was not getting to see anything through Jayden’s eyes; but that did help immerse me in Ryan’s journey toward emotional growth.  I’ve not read anything by LM Turner before, but you can bet I will be looking for her other work.  Anyone who likes angst-filled tales about gun-shy heroes will be sure to love Resistance, just as I did.