Sunset Park

4.5 stars. This book is great. I read this one before Sutphin Boulevard, and I'd really recommend reading in order because now I'm re-reading it. Raymond is probably my favorite character in the series so far (on the 4th book at the moment) and I love his arc with David. Hassell does a great job of depicting the complicated - and sometimes not-so-complicated - issues around experimenting, love, and more. This book definitely feels more New Adult than Sutphin, but without pandering to common tropes.

In [b:Sutphin Boulevard 25404499 Sutphin Boulevard (Five Boroughs, #1) Santino Hassell https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1435776893s/25404499.jpg 45158379] [a:Santino Hassell 4942228 Santino Hassell https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1445991731p2/4942228.jpg] grabbed me by throat/short hairs (whichever gives you more pleasure and pain combined) and evidently has no intention of letting go.In what I'm starting to think of as one long but engrossing novel of NYC in the early XXI Century we continue with the Rodriguez boys from Queens. Meet Ray. Raymond. Michael's baby brother.Ray. What a fantastic, fascinating and endearing character. Someone you want to know now and thirty years from now. He's funny, smart, and open in a completely realistic way. And David ... such and adorable hot mess. Analyzing and thinking everything through ten times but I can't blame him. I'm the same and we have this in common:“I was basic enough to allow a mouthful of coconut-and-cherry-flavored ice to chase away my sorrows.”I hear you David. A good piragua in the summer can be a palliative to a variety of ills.I love how SH makes what in other hands would be a sappy and unrealistic FG (First Time Gay/I'm giving up the GFY tag. Too much erasure.) story of opposites attract in to a true slice of life story about a coddled, yet beset by life, young man becoming an adult. Raymond has been stunted by the overprotectiveness of his mother and subsequently his brother Michael. This means that he hasn't felt compelled to go to school or work. He's just been coasting. All this changes when Michael decides to make a new life for himself with Nunzio. This means that the chick has to leave the nest and at first he's not happy. Rescue comes in the unlikeliest of forms: David. David who we met in [b:Sutphin Boulevard 25404499 Sutphin Boulevard (Five Boroughs, #1) Santino Hassell https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1435776893s/25404499.jpg 45158379] he had a threesome with Michael & Nunzio and who by the end of that book had become friend and ally. Raymond and David end up being roommates and though no one sees it they complement each other perfectly. Ray likes to just be and David needs to question everything. They balance each other out and make one perfect whole. David by his presence and faith allows Raymond to have the confidence to go out in the world and Raymond gives David a different perspective on life from the one he's used to. Here's Raymond responding to David's questioning of why Michael isn't “openly” out:“I'm not saying it's wrong to be curious and ask questions, but you do it because you want to make everyone fit into certain boxes, and that's unnecessary. You don't have to understand why Michael is the way he is. He's never going to sit down and help you figure it out, and in the long run, how he chooses to live his life doesn't affect yours. So who gives a damn?”Turns out that Ray has always been bi-curious and let's just say that David isn't indifferent to Ray's charms. They begin a “friendly” exploration of what Ray likes or doesn't but of course they're snared by their mutual attraction which easily morphs to love. I like how Raymond is not only learning about his sexuality but also about how to be an adult, putting in the hard work which may come in the form of working for a Translation Agency (they're the worst), riding the subway or swallowing his pride and making a trip to Long Island. But he isn't the only one taking leaps of faith. David too is learning how to be comfortable in his own skin, owning to his role in the break-up with his prior boyfriend, Caleb, and not just the obvious cheating.However SH never forgets that this is a love story and he delivers the goods in spectacular fashion. David: “My hands were shaking, my heart was galloping, and I was so hard I wanted to grind against him. But I didn't. I didn't want to ruin the moment. This wasn't an impatient, tongue-dueling lead-up to a quick, dirty fuck. This was ... different. Real.”Raymond: “I could catalogue my relationship with David from the beginning and list every touch and every look that led up to our kiss. How easy it was to be close to him, because he didn't need to discuss it after. He just let it happen. Let me enjoy that closeness without assumptions and complications. I didn't want to tell Nunzio that I'd started craving those touches. Those quiet, close moments.”Raymond: “I didn't wan him–I needed him. He wasn't just one of a few options. He was a fucking necessity.”Like in the previous book the characters inhabit and live in a recognizable New York with sights and smells that give you you a palpable sense of time and place. In brief [a:Santino Hassell 4942228 Santino Hassell https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1445991731p2/4942228.jpg] gets NYC and the people who live here:David to Raymond: “You have all these different identities. Being gay or bi is just a fraction of who you are. You're primarily New Yorkers, but also Puerto Rican or Italian, lapsed Catholics, and then there's the other parts–sons and brothers, teachers, gamers, etcetera.” Exactly.If it wasn't clear, I loved this and it kind of annoys me because my heart is committed to Michael (we live in a similar head) and Nunzio. Nunzio! Nunzio! Love that man. Period. However Raymond & David have pushed themselves in and gotten comfortable. So be it. ;-)***In this installment of the Five Boroughs Series the audio is done by [a:Michael Ferraiuolo 13467952 Michael Ferraiuolo https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and it's major improvement. His choice of voices for all of the characters is an improvement by leaps and bounds. I liked him very much and would heartily recommend the audio. Too bad I'm sure there are no plans to rerecord the first book. The previous narrator made Michael, Nunzio and Raymond sound almost thuggish and though New York men from Queens, Michael and Nunzio are educated men. Teachers. And about the Spanish: thank God. The pronunciation is perhaps not perfect but good and that's all we ask.***I feel that there's a Nunzio story that we've yet to hear and I'd love to have his P.O.V. His voice is so rich and interesting. I kind of feel, perhaps erroneously so, that Nunzio is to a degree an alter ego or surrogate for the author.