Genre: Contemporary
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Lucy
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About The Book
Just because you’re alone, doesn’t mean someone doesn’t know your business…
Lucas, the closeted son of a preacher who just graduated from Florida Atlantic University, returns home and is forced to make a life-changing decision–can he live a lie and marry his lifelong BFF, who his overbearing parents have been plotting to matchmake him with for years? Or, will he stay in Florida and start a new, more open life that he knows they will never approve of?
Tyler, a talented artist on the edge of seventeen, is about to finish high school, and is looking forward to becoming a proper adult and fully exploring his sexuality. However, he soon discovers there’s a kink in his plans–his father has decided to rent out the studio apartment he’s been living in, putting an end to the independence he’s enjoyed until now.
Lucas answers an advertisement for the apartment, and sparks fly from the very first moment the boys meet–though both are reluctant to explore things further, since it wasn’t what either of them had planned for their futures.
But sometimes life isn’t that simple, and doesn’t always go exactly as planned…
The Review
The Curious Thing About the Apartment Vent by RD Noland is a sweet, low-angst romance between Lucas, who escapes before committing to a potentially disastrous marriage and Tyler, who until recently was living in his father’s basement apartment while finishing his senior year in high school.
This was a darling, well-written story that brings Lucas back to Florida, where he had recently attended college. After pulling a run-away-groom and leaving his best female friend behind at the church where his father is the conservative pastor, Lucas stays with his college roommate while he finds a job and apartment in the Sunshine State. He rents the basement apartment from Tyler’s dad, throwing a wrench in Tyler’s plans. The studio apartment had been Tyler’s refuge and chance to transition from high school student to young adult. Shortly after Lucas moves in, Tyler inadvertently eavesdrops on Lucas through the air vent that leads from the apartment into Tyler’s bedroom.
There were so many things to enjoy about this story, from the meet-cute of the eavesdropping via air vent, to the fun side characters, to the developing relationship between Tyler and Lucas. I even, possibly weirdly, enjoyed the references to Covid-19 and the recent hurricanes in Florida. For me, those real events deserve some acknowledgement in the ways they affect everyday lives. The author, RD Noland, did a great job using those things as cultural reference points for the story.
This story had great, well-developed characters, a fun meet-cute and plot, and ended with a sweet HEA. The writing was great, with good timing and flow. It was hard to put this one down.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Curious Thing About the Apartment Vent, a wonderful introduction to Noland’s writing. I look forward to reading other works by this author.
The Reviewer
I’m an avid reader who loves pretty much all genres except math textbooks. As a kid, my parents exposed me to everything from fairies, hobbits, and dragons to the biographies of interesting people around the world, interspersed with poetry, plays, and music. Into adulthood, I spent a lot of years with my nose buried in various textbooks. Now, I read whatever grabs my fancy.
