The Boy Toy

The characters are human. In other words, you like them in one chapter and not so much in the next chapter. If you enjoyed the drama of Indian Matchmaking on Netflix, you will want to read this story. First time, I’ve read this author but I will be reading more.

Nicola March always delivers and this one is no exception. Fall in love with this older woman and younger man romance. Maybe you’ll even want your own boy toy!

The Boy Toy by Nicola Marsh was a fun and steamy read about a woman who is ready to give up on love when the unexpected happened. When Samira was younger, she married the man that was expected of her and that just blew up. Not divorced and in her late thirties, the last thing she wants is to have her mother meddling in her love life again. When Samira has a one-night stand with a younger man, it seemed like just what she needed.

Now she finds herself working with Rory, her one-night stand who needs her help. There are so many reasons she needs to stay away from Rory in anything but a professional relationship, but the attraction is still there. Does she follow her family’s expectations or her own needs and wants? The Boy Toy by Nicola Marsh was fun, quick and charming read.

Happy reading!

Samira is returning to her childhood home in Australia after being away for five years. She’s already preparing for the barrage of questions from her mother about her relationship status. She’ll be surprised if her mother hasn’t already been matchmaking in anticipation of Samira’s return.

It’s one of the reasons, after her failed marriage twelve years prior, that Samira left Australia for LA to start her own physical therapy practice. Samira has grown used to living her life on her own terms, her own timeline. But she has agreed to help her cousin, Pia, with her startup clinic. So Samira is back for six months and already dreading the confrontation with her mother that she knows is coming.

Pia suggests a casual fling will ease her stress. Samira is fully against it, until she meets Rory.

Rory has been working as a stuntman as a way to make money, but also as a way to keep from having to reveal his stutter. It’s something he’s had to work around his entire life, and also something that holds an immense amount of shame for him. But when the opportunity to audition as the host of a new reality show is given to him, he’s nervous that someone will finally catch on about his stutter, but he could also use the money to help others that are dealing with the same thing. The night he meets Samira he’s just trying to work off the nerves he’s built up over his audition.

Neither Samira or Rory are thinking of starting anything serious. But they’ll both learn that sometimes the best things aren’t the things you plan.

I’ll admit I was initially drawn into this story about an older woman and a younger love interest. I thought that would be the main focus of the book. I wasn’t prepared for everything else that Nicola Marsh throws into the story, but it was a lovely surprise. There’s a lot packed in here, but I think that Nicola Marsh handles everything really well. It doesn’t feel too packed. I think of it along the lines of, people do not just deal with one thing at a time, we’re multi-taskers if nothing else, contending with different things from all aspects of our lives. Sometimes those aspects intersect as is the case with Samira’s relationship status being connected with her failed marriage which crosses with her overall relationship with her mother and the connections to what is traditional in the Indian community.

And sometimes are issues run parallel with each other such as with Rory’s lifelong struggle with his stutter, but also the fact that he doesn’t have a great relationship with his father since his mother left them when Rory was really young. The point being, we’re always dealing with something, even the small things. It’s part of what makes us who we are, part of what informs our lives.

I really liked the comparison between Rory and Samira’s different (yet very similar) relationships with their parents. Both have single parents, both have trouble communicating with that parent. This was a very singular journey for each of the characters. I loved when they separately cleared the air with their respective parent, when they saw things from the other perspective.

If anything I thought there could have been just a bit more focus placed on Rory and Samira together. I felt like it was more of an individual journey they each had to complete in order to come together, which was great, but didn’t leave as much time to focus on what makes their relationship click.

Although maybe that, in itself, is the answer, non-answer. When someone’s right for you they’re just right. There’s very little explanation needed.

Overall, an impressive read that shines the light on many topics. I know there will be another book featuring a secondary character (as told to us in the sneak peek at the end), there are definitely a couple of characters that a I feel deserve their own HEA so I hope Nicola Marsh gets around to everyone in due time.

*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent Case Study In Storytelling. Over the last month, I’ve read all three of the books Marsh is releasing (from three different publishers) over the course of six weeks from early October 2020 through mid November 2020 (when this, the last of the books in this “series”, releases). And each has been dramatically different from the last, which speaks to Marsh’s true skill as a storyteller. Second Chance Lane, the first of the series, was a Hallmarkie romance. My Sister’s Keeper, the second, was a weaving, winding, soap opera of a tale that my wife says would work well as a Lifetime Movie.

And here, with The Boy Toy, we get arguably the most cinematic of the three books, in the vein of a multicultural Knocked Up / Hundred Foot Journey. We get an older lead female. We get a look at various facets of Indian culture (that as my friend Ritu says in her own review, many of Western cultures won’t be as familiar with – more on that momentarily). We get a more-balanced-than-usual look at the struggles of infertility as it relates to those who actually want children. (Vs childfree people like me that *don’t* want children and thus infertility is actually a blessing of sorts.) We get an age-gap *ish* romance with the *female* being the older person in the couple.

And yes, we get sex. A lot of it. And all over the place, beginning as little as 10% into the book. If you’re looking for a “clean” / “sweet” romance… you’re not gonna want this one. 😉 Similarly, getting back to the cultural issues… Marsh does a good job of not hiding at least one Indian equivalent of what I call “Talibaptists” in the US. She does a great job of showing the pressure they can wield socially and the damage it can wreak, and she doesn’t shy away from this aspect at all – instead giving a solid example of how to overcome it. Every culture has these types, sadly, but Marsh shows them in depths not often explored, particularly in a romantic comedy, and again – shows her strength as a storyteller in doing so.

Ultimately though, this is a fun and funny romantic comedy that hits all the right notes, discusses some heavy topics, but leaves you satisfied in every way text on some surface can. Very much recommended.