Benny DeMarco is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. He works hard, takes care of his little sister, and pays the bills. Childhood bullies and an abusive stepfather invade his dreams, and at times he wishes life would grant him a do-over. Would he like a boyfriend? You bet. But Benny knows love isn’t for him. He’s been looked over, looked through, and looked past all his life. Even worse, the one … guy he’s been in love with for almost two years is the biggest flirt who will sleep with anyone. Anyone except Benny.
Gino Acosta smiles to keep from crying. Everyone he meets tells him he’s beautiful and sexy, but Gino knows the truth. His outside may be perfect, but inside he feels dirty and unworthy. Bounced around as a child, he yearns for someone to love and a family to call his own. He hops from man to man, desperate to belong, believing the lies he’s told, but all he finds is a body for an hour or two. Things would be so different if only he knew—the man he’s searching for is waiting for him, right under his nose.
Benny starts dating the “perfect guy”and it’s okay if there’s no spark—that’ll happen eventually. Won’t it? Gino’s fast-paced modeling career has taken off, but once again, he’s trading his body for a dream. When Gino’s world explodes, Benny must fight for what and who he really wants. Gino must learn to trust what people tell him—that he’s got so much more to offer than a pretty face and a moment of pleasure.
If all your life you believe you’re nothing, how do you move past heartbreak and hardship to reach for everything?
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PAST INSULTS SHOULDN’T FORM THE PERSON
Benny is a troubled young man who is in love with Gino, who Benny thinks acts as if he doesn’t exist. Gino is an abused young man who believes that he isn’t worthy of anything other than Benny’s friendship. Between Gino’s self-loathing issues and Benny’s belief that he’s invisible to everyone, they somehow get together and learn about each other’s troubled pasts. This story will make you cry and cheer for a HEA.
“There’s a reason we have a past tense, to show the difference between what was and what is.”
Benny has been in love with the unattainable (to him at least) Gino for years. His lousy past has him convinced he’s just not good enough for Gino to want him other than as a friend. Every time Gino flirts with another guy or brags about one of his many hookups, Benny gets a little sadder.
Gino has it all, charm, looks, and a burgeoning career in modeling. He’s beautiful and can have any man he wants for a good time. He’s desperately unhappy but puts on a good act to the world. He wants someone who wants him for more than just a good time. His need to be loved causes bad decisions and implodes his life.
Both men will have to put their past behind them to get the future they deserve.
I liked that Benny and Gino were equal parts sweet, unsure, damaged, and clueless. Their pasts made for some sad reading. Their issues, brought about by abuse, aren’t glossed over. But that same abuse made the characters so much stronger than they believed they were.
Which shows what a skillful writer this author is. The ability to bring the readers into her story and give us believable, engaging characters is an art. She does it realistically and with heart.
“I love you for the life you bring everywhere you go”.
This book just grabbed me by my heart, and wouldn’t let go until the last pages. I had so many emotions for Gino and Benny. Gino just made me want to wrap him in a warm blanket and give him all the hugs. These two men had gone through SO much in their respective childhoods and young adult lives. Benny provided such a necessary lifeline to Gino to help him understand he was a worthy person and that he deserved love and to BE loved. I loved that Gino showed Benny that the world isn’t full of darkness, and it’s ok to lean on each other and not take on life’s burdens alone. I love that they found each other and could work on finding their HEA together. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention being able to visit with some of my favorite characters from books past. Being able to hear just a little more from Noah and Oren was wonderful, and Jeremy and Blake have always held a soft spot in my heart. I couldn’t recommend Gino and Benny’s story more, and I know this is one I will pick up to read again.
Wow!! Oh Wow!! I do believe this is one of the most powerful books that Felice Stevens has written. I have to say this book took me all the way back to when I first read A Walk Through Fire, my very first Felice Stevens’ book, and that was an extremely powerful and emotionally gripping book, as was the rest of that series. Benny and Gino’s story was such an emotional read. These two were absolutely made for each other. They were basically different sides of the same coin, but yet, each believed that the other lived a much better and more enjoyable life than he really did. Truly, they were both living imitations of life. My heart broke for these guys and their back stories, even their present day living was heartbreaking to an extent. The title for this book could not have been more apropos. I laughed. I cried. I cheered, and boy oh boy did I cheer for these guys. I loved their happily ever after. I absolutely loved watching Benny and Gino realize that family is not always the one that you are born into, but that it is those who love you and are willing to support you through it all, as well as let you know when you are not living up to your potential. Yes, you can choose to make your family and surround yourself with positivity, and that your past does not always define your present or your future. You have the power to go beyond what your past is or what people see on the surface. You determine your own fate.
I have to say thank you to Felice Stevens for writing this story and show that other side of the so-called glamorous life, and not all that looks wonderful actually is. Let me not be remiss in forgetting to mention that some of my absolute favorite characters, and one in particular, made appearances in this one. I love the way Felice Stevens creates these wonderful characters who all are connected to each other or at least find their way to each other. Bravo, Felice Stevens, on yet another masterpiece.
Gino and Benny’s story is heart wrenching—some of the most beautiful ones are though. If I had to pick certain sections or quotes throughout their story, I’d be highlighting the whole book. It’s just THAT good.
After being bounced around the foster system as a kid, Gino does whatever he needs to make his way in life. Gino is stunningly gorgeous but constantly makes the wrong choices when it comes to trusting the right people. Gino has love and sex completely confused. This poor guy thinks by screwing around with so many guys, hopefully one of them will like him and want to stick around. He acts like he’s the happiest guy on earth when inside he’s dying.
~ I ended the call, Benny pleading with me to talk to him. With the pillow rolled under my head, I closed my eyes, hoping I wouldn’t wake up. ~ Gino
My heart completely shattered and it was torture to watch Gino’s path of self-destruction.
Benny is the sweetest and kindest man, but life has also been cruel to him. He takes care of his sister to make sure she’s safe from their wretched stepfather while Benny’s at work. His lack of confidence and self-esteem casts shadows over him every day, but after being bullied, abused, and knocked down his whole life, how could it not?
Benny loves Gino. It physically hurt my heart to feel his love for Gino and how he simply couldn’t express himself. The two of them are so beat up and damaged by their past that they still carry it on their shoulders every day. No one should have to take on such despair.
Felice Stevens is the queen of angst and hopelessness and the power of love. Her readers can’t help but to fall madly in love with her characters as we watch them through voyeur’s eyes suffer, flounder, or are completely at sea when it comes to helping
themselves. The best part, though, every single time, is not only how they navigate their way to a better life, one they truly deserve, but who helps them get there.
Fortunately for Benny and Gino, some of Felice’s intelligent and caring and persuasive characters have thrown them their life preservers to save them and help them find their way.
Jeremy Strauss (Perfect) is the owner of Hard Core Fitness and their boss. He is the most vital influence and support system for Benny and Gino. Jeremy is selfless in his daily attempts to mentor and make the two believe that they matter and they’re so much more if they’d just believe in themselves. He’s also smart enough to know when professional help is needed and suggests they seek out his brother’s help.
Noah Strauss (One Call Away) is Jeremy’s brother, a former model, and a psychologist with his own radio talk show who understands first hand what Gino is going through having been a victim while in the modeling business himself. He’s kind, approachable, and never fails the two with the words of advice he offers. When Benny needs legal counsel, Noah offers the law practice of his husband, Oren.
Oren Leavitt (One Call Away) and Ash Davis (A Walk Through Fire) omg … yes, Ash people—take on Benny’s custody case involving his sister. When Ash opens up about his brutal past in the foster care system, it knocks the wind out of Gino.
My point here is that these men and their experiences throughout each of their lives have several common denominators in some way with Gino or Benny. They have helped Gino and Benny find their happily ever after because they all know themselves the hell they went through to get to heaven. This is magnificent world building within Felice Stevens’ books.
I swear that every new release is better than the last, but in reality, that’s just not true. All of them are equal treasures. Grab a box of tissues and a bottle of wine, then treat yourself to another Felice Stevens’ masterpiece. Five stars aren’t enough.
I must admit that I’m a sucker for Felice’s happily ever afters, and she never disappoint me so far. Even I always have to get through tears and pain.
Imitation of Life was one of the hardest to read book from Felice. I didn’t know that the happy Gino can made me cry and wanted to give him a big momma bear hug.
I read this book with a knot in my stomach, I hated it, yet I loved it how Felice knew how to twist our heart, and love her stories even more.
Read this book with a box of tissues, but prepare also for a satisfying HEA
RECOMMENDED!
Story was disappointing and really went no place
The first few chapters were difficult to read, and I almost stopped altogether. I didn’t feel comfortable how the story developed. How some people can do that to others, I can’t imagine. I wanted to smother Gino in my arms but at the same time give him an earful for being so stupid. That’s what Felice Stevens does so well; she evokes emotions in you, whether the good or the bad ones. She makes me angry, sad, happy, and back again.
Not that the rest of the book was an easy read. Gino and Benny have a lot of hurdles to take before they finally have faith in themselves and the other to take that plunge to be together. Both men have a similar, problematic background, but they cope with it in different ways. Gino hooks up with every man he sees, but he’s not happy about it, and it doesn’t help build up his self-esteem. Benny, on the other hand, is a shy, hard-working man who takes care of his fourteen-year-old sister, Chloe, and hasn’t even had a date in years.
The feelings and doubts of the two men were well described and heart-breaking. It was realistic that they could see the flaws in the other and boost them up, but that they couldn’t see the same traits in themselves. A real Imitation of Life. However, I felt it went on a bit too long and became repetitive.
Also, at times, I thought the men were younger than in the midtwenties they are. I suppose that might happen when your self-esteem is so low and you’re questioning everything about yourself, but it didn’t always felt right.
It was nice seeing Noah and Oren, and Ash making a guest appearance in this book.
I love MM books but this one was not for me. I struggled to get through with this one. I really hoped this one was going to be better than the first book, because I did not like that one at all. But that was not the case this one fell flat for me too. I am just not a fan of the writing and could not connect with the characters, I felt they were very whiney. I hate saying it but this book just bored me.
Emotional. Amazing. Full of hope. Benny and Gino are similar in some ways yet complete opposites in others. Their journey to coupledom is hard and painful. Their pasts haunt them. Bad decisions effect their present and possibly the future. But they don’t let it steal their HEA. Imitation of Life is beautifully written. The author as always handles sensitive subjects with intelligence, care, and respect. I love that we got to see old friends as well. Highly recommend!
5 Heartbreak and Redemption Stars
I have been impatiently waiting on Benny and Gino’s story and I quickly devoured it! Felice Stevens poured a lot of angst and heartache into this story, mixed it up full of emotion, but the intense love that Gino and Benny had for each other in the end was everything! A couple memorable quotes
Gino
One to one. Heart to heart. I was where I belonged. Finally home.
Benny
“You’re wanted. I want you. More than I did yesterday but not as much as I will tomorrow.”
This is one of my favorite stories by Felice Stevens! 1-click now so that it can be yours too!
I was thrilled when I found out that Felice Stevens was writing an angstier book than usual. There is always plenty of drama in her books, but the angst is usually minimal. Here she has brought it all back.
While we’ve met Gino and Benny before, this is their fully contained love story. We know that Benny has been crushing hard on his co-worker Gino, while Gino has been busy sleeping with every man in the gym except Benny, but the reasons why are about to come clear.
The book is part of the Rock Bottom series and Gino is going to define it here. Watching Gino’s downward spiral was painful and upsetting. It was sometimes difficult to read with my heart in my throat more than once. Benny seems to have it all together, but he is also plagued by fears, insecurities and the pain of old wounds. Both are faking it through life, trying to hide the pain inside and hide their truth from everyone around them.
Going into the book I thought Benny would be the one to really get to me, but it was Gino. He’s been so beaten down, he can’t see beyond what others have labelled him and is full of self-doubt and no self-esteem no matter how beautiful he may be. He can’t even believe it when Benny, the person he respects more than anyone, tells him he is worthy of so much more than he thinks. Benny isn’t so different from Gino and is bearing so much responsibility. The two make a great support system for each other as friends, before things turn romantic. Once the two get together, it’s very clear that nobody will be able to get between them and the only real potential problem is them not getting their heads on straight.
I loved that we get to follow Gino and Benny on a journey not only to finding love with each other, but also to them accepting themselves, dealing with their pasts and getting the help they need to make sure their future is on the right track. There are plenty of old friends along to help these two, and if you’ve read her other books, you’ll recognize them all. I’ll say it again that the way Felice Stevens creates families of friends is always a touching part of any of her stories.
The only issue I had with the story is that there were a few times I felt that certain conversations and thoughts became repetitive. Besides that slight niggle, this is an uplifting, friends to lovers story. While there is plenty of angst in the first half (again I love angst so yay!) there is a wonderful payoff in the end.
Well, Felice Stevens has done it again. She has given us two amazing, beautifully written characters that will break your heart and then put it back together in the most emotional, honest, loving way.
How can you not love Benny and Gino? Two men whose broken pieces fit together like a puzzle made just for them.
One of my favorite quotes in this book is, “His hand reached for mine, and we sat with our fingers laced tightly together, two lost kids who’d found a home in each other.” So perfectly said.
This is first and foremost a story about loving and caring for yourself. “Let’s find your joy and get you to start living your real life”. Until that is achieved you aren’t really available to love others. Both Benny and Gino have survived trauma at a most vulnerable time in their lives. Each has dealt with it differently but equally as damaging to themselves.
With each other they finally see hope, faith and trust. They open up to each other and this allows them to open up to a greater support system. I loved all the men who make up this family, both blood and found. The unconditional love they give each other is the greatest gift.
This is a gorgeously written love story of survival, strength, healing, hope and growing into who you are meant to be.
An emotional journey
Book 2 in the Rock Bottom series, this works well as a standalone. Characters do carry over from book to book, though, and having the background from book 1 would add to the experience here.
This book was particularly emotional for me, as both Bennie and Gino are dealing with heavy emotional scarring. Some of the sections with Gino especially were hard to read, but my heart was breaking badly for both of them. It took them a little while to see past the surface, but once they got together, I loved how well they fit with each other, and how much they supported each other’s healing.
There are plenty of secondary characters to add to the story; besides Justin and Foster from book 1, I really loved Jeremy here as he provided so much support to both Bennie and Gino in their individual journeys. There were also several love to hate characters, and my one regret about the story is I would have liked to have seen a little more follow up (i.e., karma) for one of those characters in particular.
An emotional journey of healing lightened by some humor and heat, this was a lovely story with plenty of character growth and a feel good ending. 4.5 stars
B2B Kelly
I adore the first book in the series – one of my favorite reads in 2019 – and have been eager to get Benny and Gino’s stories. This book did not disappoint! Felice is one of my go-to authors for all the emotion and all the romance.
“Benny was the sun and I was fucking Pluto, cold and dead, a hundred million miles away.”
From page one, Benny and Gino have an established relationship. They’ve been coworkers and friends and both have unrequited feelings for the other. But this story is not your typical friends-to-lovers tale. Both men keep their real selves from each other, so they’ve essentially been kind-of friends masquerading a fake persona to hide their ugly truths. They don’t even realize that the other could be struggling; they’re too busy putting the other on an unrealistic pedestal.
“We all have stories we keep locked away in our hearts that we think are too much for anyone else to bear.”
I sympathized with both Benny and Gino throughout the entire book, but I felt SO BAD for Gino and wanted to fend off all the assholes messing with him. Nobody should feel that low, lonely and useless, and it sucks that so many people really do experience that. Thankfully he has a father figure who calls him out on his crap and gives Gino the kind of support he’s never had. Instead of Gino fixing Benny or vice versa, they have a chosen family (their work family and close friends, who are the real MVPs of this book) offering much-needed support and guidance; they just have to be open to the help and to change.
“His hand reached for mine, and we sat with our fingers laced tightly together, two lost kids who’d found a home in each other.”
If you’re a fan of an endearing contemporary romance, this is your book!
{I received an ARC for an honest review.}
Benny has been crushing on Gino from afar for years. He feels like he will never be enough for him. Gino feels like he is not enough for Benny.
Great, angsty read. Both guys are broken, yet need each other to heal. Sweet love story. Benny’s relationship with his sister is adorable. A great book about the healing power of love.
IMITATION OF LIFE is the second instalment in Felice Stevens’ contemporary, adult ROCK BOTTOM erotic, MM, romance series. This is twenty-six year old, Benny DeMarco, and twenty-seven year old, Gino Acosta’s story line. IMITATION OF LIFE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.
WARNING: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be some triggers for more sensitive readers including questionable consent, abuse, neglect, assault, power and control.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Benny and Gino) IMITATION OF LIFE follows the building relationship between co-workers Benny DeMarco, and Gino Acosta. Working side by side for close to two years at Hard Core Fitness, Benny has lusted after Gino Acosta, a man whose flirtations and reputation has cast a dark shadow both in and out of the local gym. When Gino’s lifestyle and sexual promiscuity spirals out of control, he may have destroyed any chance of a relationship with the man with whom, he too, had considered his one chance at love. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Gino and Benny, and the potential fall-out as both Gina and Benny must face their fears, and the possibility of losing it all.
Gino Acosta has never known affection or love having been bounced from foster home to foster home most of his young life, and in this he has sought a connection with a series of one-night stands, affairs that have left him empty and lost. A chance at a modelling career destroys what’s left of Gino’s self-esteem, self-esteem that has taken a hit one-too many times. Benny DeMarco knows the struggle of being a gay man in a world where discrimination starts with the family at home. Having to raise his little sister since the death of their mother, Benny struggles to make ends meet including having to withstand the emotional abuse at the hands of their drunken step-father.
The relationship between Benny and Gino is one of immediate attraction but neither one was willing to acknowledge their mutual attraction. Benny watched from the side-lines as Gino was used and abused by a series of men both in and out of the workplace, but the heart wanted more for the man that continued to break his heart. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense.
We are reintroduced to Justin Molina and Foster Harding (Broken Silence #1) as well as a crossover with Oren and Noah (One Call Away #2) and Jeremy and Blake (Perfect #3 ) from the author’s Soulmates Series.
IMITATION OF LIFE is an emotional and heart breaking look at betrayal, struggle, trust and discrimination; of one man’s search for family and love; and one man’s battle to protect the only family he has left. The premise is captivating; the romance is captivating; the characters are broken, colorful, and lost.