One never sees the smashing coming!

Today we are smashing us some blue berries! I've always been more of a raspberry person myself. His story is Under Your Influence.

TLDR; A quick-paced comedy/drama that is supposedly going to have LGBT romance at some point.

Characterization: Smashing! - Easily the best thing about this book is the characters. You don't need much to understand them and there isn't much explanation given about their backstories beyond what you immediately need to know because at the end of the day it is all about chemistry. There are two main characters and when you have one guy who is rich man-child, a playboy, a trouble magnet, and over-the-top drama queen, while the other guy is poor, naive/gullible, down-to-earth, and just trying to keep up with the former you have a hilarious chemistry. I had to put it down twice because I was giggling too hard. You don't even need plot, this could easily be a slice-of-life and it would be a sitcom like Friends.

I have to be picky though. One character has a 1% hint of gary sue reality-warping. Why is he the one picked to babysit the man-child out of all of hollywood/Los-Angelis why him, because it is never explained? Why is it that he has a 5 minute encounter with a bartender of 'meh' proportions and the bartender is singing his praises to his entire family? Why is he acting, and thinking, as if he knows the man-child for years and has history to be angry with when he hasn't known the guy for 5 minutes? Why is his character-growth losing the stutter and nervousness and acting in such a manner as if he has known the man-child for years by the end of the first day? Realistically it would take months, even at an accelerated pace, to build up that unspoken chemistry of knowing someone like the back of your hand and having history. Not 5 minutes or a few hours. These things are minor and didn't retract from the story, but still bugged me and gave me the sensation that reality was being warped to the character. Its not a strong sensation, I can easily live with it, esspecially as many comedies employ reality-warping, but the first question of "why him" would be good to be explored at some point.

Side Characters: Smashing! - The side characters are used well. When you need them, they are there and they make sense. When you don't need them, then they are not there. They help the story and plot and character dynamic at the points when they need to. At no point does it feel like there are side characters being forced on us, nor missing when you need them. Side characters are like surgical tools. Used for precision at just the right points, and this author nails that, and it feels so organic and fluid you don't really even notice.

Grammar: I was distracted - Didn't notice any grammar. Was too busy giggling.

World Building: Not needed, yet - Right now we are still in the stages of getting to know the characters and their internal conflicts and interactions. There is no world building as we are (outside of the man-child's perpetually 'high' perspective) in modern reality. For now this is fine and doesn't waste our time with information we dont need. But at some point there will be a necessity for external pressure and plot and influence on them to help generate plot, conflict, and hilarious interactions. So far as the plot and pacing goes, it may be relatively soon and the author seems to have a firm grasp of knowing when that is.

Plot: Organic and Fluid - The plot is a tiny bit sacrificed. This is not a plot-driven, nor plot-heavy story. Instead it is the characters that move the plot along so far by their very nature and characteristics, and this is the very essence of a fluid, organic story. The plot comes into play when the characters are not moving it forward of their own initative at moments, like when the man-child receives a phone call to star in a certain movie, but even this feels more organic, fluid, and character driven then actually plot driven because this is a result of his own actions and the iniatives of side characters we have already been introduced to and come to understand. I love that. It makes them feel more alive and powerful in their own lives and stories. It gives the characters purpose, goals, and increased dynamic all while being comedic and fun.

I would rate this 4 smashing out of 5!

Overall this story was a blast. Simple to read, left me giggling so much I had to stop twice, and I love really good comedic character chemistry. I do not see the potential for the story being 5 out of 5, but rather falling into a 3 out of 5 because it has such a strong start and explores its own potential so well that I see this story as either waning over time or holding steady.

I'm out with a smashing! (This is also a decent represenation of how the two characters are haha)

Since one reason for my book is to spread awareness of these author's talents and books, I'm also sharing some of her art.

If you are interested in learning to write, mastering the craft, want some really good reads, or just to chat and hang out with a mature group of adults, feel free to hit me up for a smashing discord book club that has lasted years.