Title and Link: Waiting for Ty
Author: Samantha Ann King
Cover Artist: N/A
Publisher: Carina Press
Amazon Buy Link Waiting for Ty (Lovers and Friends)
Publisher Buy Link
Genre: Contemporary M/M
Length: Novella/36 K words
Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5
Review Summary: A funny and believable romance between two long time friends who took their friendship to an entirely new level.
The Blurb
Book two of Lovers and Friends
Tyler Coil doesn’t do men. But it’s harder to remember that each time he visits his best friend, gorgeous Landon Burke. As a political reporter, Ty is good at reading people, and he can tell the lust is mutual. But giving in to it could mean alienating his ultra-conservative family.
Landon never desired a man badly enough to explore that side of his sexuality — until he met Ty. He’s waited four long years for a sign that Ty wants him too, and he can’t deny his needs much longer. So when a career opportunity arises out-of-state, Landon wonders if maybe it’s time to move on.
Then Ty crashes at Landon’s while working on a story — and a searing kiss ignites a night of mind-blowing sex that’s better than their most erotic fantasies. Forced to face his feelings, Ty must decide if love is worth the risk after all — before he loses Landon forever.
The Review
I pre-ordered Waiting for Ty three weeks ago and completely forgot about it until it showed up on my Kindle a couple nights ago. I had no idea what the story was about so I started reading it late that evening and didn’t put it down until “The End” because I became so engrossed in the characters and their story.
Samantha Ann King is a new author and her first book in this Lovers and Friends series is a ménage so I haven’t read it, but Waiting for Ty was really well written and engrossing. Ty is a political reporter based in Austin, Texas and he visits Landon, his best friend of four years, whenever he is in Houston. They both love sports and their time together is usually spent watching their favourite Texas teams in action on television. This time when he was in town Ty had a big problem: he was concerned about the advisability of staying at London’s apartment overnight because of the burgeoning attraction he felt for his BFF, which was getting stronger every day. Ty didn’t do men although he admitted to himself that he was bi, but he had never acted on his bisexuality and he felt that the highly charged emotions and atmosphere every time Landon and he were together could spell trouble, and it did on this visit.
Landon, also bisexual, was in love with Ty and had been for some time but he never let on because he didn’t want to scare him off because he knew Ty was skittish about relationships, plus he had never given any indication of being attracted to men in general, or Landon in particular. This time when Ty showed up things were different as they couldn’t and didn’t resist their attraction any more and ended up in bed. What was surprising was that shy, quiet Landon was the aggressor in bed and Ty, who was always in charge in his job, welcomed Landon’s dominance and lead in bed. After the first haze of sex had worn off the guys were acutely aware of the problems they would face if they were going to have a relationship and come out. Their concerns related mostly to the reaction of Ty’s ultra conservative family whom he loved very much, and the impact of his sexuality on his job as a political reporter in good ole’ boy Texas. How would all of this play out? Landon’s situation was more fluid as his family was different and quite open, as demonstrated by their support for his sister whose relationship situation was even stranger, and as a cancer researcher the impact of his sexuality on his job didn’t appear to be career ending.
This couple was well matched in and out of bed. Ty’s job as a political reporter made him acutely aware of other people’s emotions and the vibes they were sending out, so he knew exactly how Landon felt about him. Landon found Ty a little more difficult to read, especially as he always seemed to be dating women during the time that Landon was lusting after him. Did Ty want a relationship or just a weekend of hot sex? As Landon feared, Ty was running scared, and as soon as Landon used the L word Ty left, perhaps for good.
I really liked this story because of the characterizations, especially Landon who was an optimist about their relationship and seemed initially to be more in love with Ty than the reverse. They had been avoiding their feelings for years until they knew it was a losing fight.The difficulties they faced were not minimized as Ty’s family was very conservative and religious, and working in Texas in the political arena would not be easy as a gay or bi man. When Landon first met Ty he couldn’t understand why hottie Ty who had so many friends, was bent on being friends with him – he was the most unlikely person to be his friend since he was a geek, and although a brilliant scientist, his job as a cancer researcher was not glamorous. But over the months they became fast friends which morphed into attraction and now for Landon , love. Ty was a little slower to come to the “love” conclusion although he admitted to softer feelings for Landon, certainly a lot more than he had ever felt for any of the women he had dated previously.
I was on the way to rating this book much higher until Ty’s family (especially his father and his brother) were portrayed as unrelenting religious zealots. Maybe this was true to life but I prefer characters who are more nuanced. His mother was a little more sympathetically drawn but in the end she was just as horrible to Ty as the males in the family. To compensate, his sister–in-law and niece were the only characters in his family who had any redeeming qualities. I also noticed that for two men who had never done this before, Landon and Ty were very skilled at every aspect of gay sex – maybe they did a lot of research on the topic. 
. On the plus side, Samantha Ann King is a very good writer especially for someone who has only published two books, and I look forward to reading any new M/M romances she releases because her characters are well drawn (other than Ty’s family that I thought was a bit overdone in a negative way), the prose was well written and fresh, and the dialogue was funny in all the right places. The rest of the supporting female characters, including Landon’s neighbour Yvonne and his two sisters, especially Nikki, were great. His brother-in-law was funny but not in the way he intended. 
If you’re looking for a fun, sexy read with well drawn characters with whom you’ll fall in love, terrific dialogue and a believable plot I would recommend that you get Waiting for Ty You will love the ending!