Calling Calling Calling Me by Natasha Washington (Review)

Calling Calling Calling Me

Natasha Washington

Year Published: 2018

Publisher: Natasha Washington (Self-published)

Genre: NA ~ Contemporary Romance ~ LGBT+

Stars: 4

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from A Novel Take PR in exchange for a free and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

The image header is my own. The link in the title is to the book’s Goodreads page.

There’s something about big cities that fascinate me. Maybe it’s because I live in a small town and the nearest ‘big city’ is Cape Town (which a bit confusing – we call it the ‘Mother City’ and it has ‘town’ in its name) and we don’t go down there a lot – I mean my dad does basically everyday as he works there, but we only go if we’re meeting family, or birthdays; so, like I said, they fascinate me.

I definitely loved all mentions of San Francisco. I love it when cities are added and when they play a part in the book – sort of feel like a secondary character on their own. It adds some character to the book and makes you feel like you’re there – which I think it is very pivotal for a book – it needs to be able to draw you into its pages and make you forget about the outside (unless you’re reading and walking. Which in that case, don’t read and walk, people. I’ve done it before – not fun).

Josh and Patrick are so cute! All the flirting between them and the cute little moments and then Patrick went and did research about Hanukkah for Josh?? Just made me love him more. I loved the way Washington wrote them (all the characters) – how they all welcomed Patrick in early on – which was great as it’s good to have people around you who know the area. And as he’s from a small town, it’s good for him to have people from different backgrounds around him. People who can teach him about new subjects, maybe even help with a new outlook on life.

With most books with romances the couple gets together 80 or 90% of the book and the rest of the book is them during their first two weeks to maybe a month (of their relationship). But in Calling, Josh and Patrick get together halfway through the book and then of course the rest of the book is them exploring their relationship. Which I didn’t have a problem with, of course – the more couple time I get, the happier I am!

I didn’t like how their roommates dismiss the fact that Josh is pan – if you don’t actually know what pan means, you literally have a pan roommate, go ask him! They could all just ask him but they just revert to stereotypes! The pan rep in the book is really good, it’s just that the other characters are just… terrible for relying on stereotypes.

Quotes:

‘Benny was like, Josh, all sexuality is on a spectrum. That’s what the rainbows mean. We’re all part of this rainbow, and sometimes we’re different colours depending on the day.’

‘”Then he said, I know you feel like you’re the only one because you don’t know anybody yet who feels the way you do. But you will find people like you. You’ll find them and they’ll find you, like I found my people here. You will.”

Do I recommend this book? With all the pizzas in San Francisco, I do!