My Recommendation: This was a delightfully hilarious book that made me laugh throughout and then gaze wistfully into the distance as the book ended. O'Connell takes his protagonist, Eliot on a journey through substance abuse and sex addiction, to one of loving exploration with someone who will hopefully provide the perfect equal partnership he craves forever. There were definitely some darker points in the novel emotionally and some characters grated, but that was O'Connell's intention. I can't wait to see what he writes next.

My Response: If I'm 100% honest I first was drawn to this book because of the cover art, a cropped version of Henry Scott Tuke's The Critics (Wikiart). Tuke does water like no one else and they pumped up the blues and greens on the cover.

Then when you add the title of the painting to what the main character does for a living: mind blown. So THEN I realized this was the same Ryan O'Connell who created, wrote, and starred in Special on Netflix, and of course, I requested a copy.*

Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.

*I received a copy of Just by Looking at Him via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.