Do you hate your costar because of how awful he is? Or because of how happy he could make you?
After listening to You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian, I had decided her books weren’t for me. But the characters stayed with me, as did some of the better bits of banter.
Eventually I realized I liked the book, I just hated the audiobook narrator.
So when this book by Sebastian came out earlier this year and people started raving about it I decided to read it rather than listen to it.
I’m so glad I did!
This book is delightful, and it was the perfect antidote to Whidbey, which was so depressing and hopeless.
The book is told from the POV of Simon, an actor on a successful sci-fi show similar to Star Trek or Stargate. Simon plays the doctor, a main character, but not the lead.
The captain is the lead, and he is played by Charlie, a prettyboy who made a name for himself in reality TV and managed to leverage that into an acting career.
Unfortunately, Charlie did not deal with success well. He had some substance abuse issues the first season of the show, which resulted in some bad behavior.
He has since cleaned up his act, but Simon never really forgave him for that first year.
I should point out that all this is revealed to the reader slowly. Simon talks about Charlie as if he’s still that fuckboy and it takes the two of them sitting down and having real conversations before Charlie’s side of the story is revealed.
Simon’s contract is up and he’s getting ready to move to NYC for a theater gig.
But everyone knows he and Charlie have been feuding since Day 1, and Simon is afraid it will look like he got pushed off the set for being difficult to work with.
Simon’s reputation for being “difficult” stems from an incident on a previous project. The director was a nightmare and Simon wasn’t sure how to deal with it, and the fact that he failed to handle it as gracefully as he could have has haunted him ever since.
Meanwhile, Charlie has managed to charm everyone (except Simon) into forgiving him for his previous bad behavior. If Simon were being honest with himself, I think he would admit he’s jealous that Charlie is more charming than he is and that has a tendency to work in his favor both personally and professionally.
Simon isn’t just awkward. He suffers from anxiety and OCD to the point of needing medication just to be as functional as he is.
He also suffers from migraines and sometimes his migraine medication and anxiety medication interact badly. At the time the book takes place, he’s dealing with a new migraine medication that doesn’t work as well as his previous medication, but also doesn’t interfere with his other meds.
Not helping matters is the fact that his ex just moved in and Simon is both more aware of his crazy and trying extra hard not to let his ex-boyfriend/roommate know just how crazy he is.
For example, he needs the handles of all the mugs to face 4 o’clock, and as soon as I saw that, I was like, “That’s brilliant! Of course they should all face 4 o’clock!”
Then I checked my cupboard and realized the handles of all my mugs already face 4 o’clock. The only difference between me and Simon is that my brain won’t scream at me if something is out of place.
Despite how much Simon hates Charlie, it’s clear from the beginning that Charlie likes Simon. I don’t mean it’s clear from the beginning that he has a crush on Simon, just that he’s constantly offering to do things like give him a ride home and inviting him over to his place for a cast party.
So when it’s suggested the two stage a very public friendship before announcing Simon is leaving the show, Charlie readily agrees, whereas Simon is more grudging in his acceptance.
Simon gets to see a different side of Charlie pretty early into their “fake” friendship when Charlie has a family crisis Simon ends up tagging along for.
Once Charlie opens up about his less-than-savory past, it’s easier for Simon to open up about his anxiety and migraines and the ways in which they tend to make his life more difficult than it needs to be.
The two grow close pretty quick, and I loved pretty much everything about it. I love that Charlie starts reading romantasy as a way to try to get close to Simon.
I love Simon’s bossy little dachshund because every book needs a sassy little bitch.
And I love the banter and the fact that these two lovebirds just want to take care of each other.
I also love that we get to see some of the online discourse around their relationship as it’s going public. The book gets its title from the fact that, in addition to playing characters on a spaceship, there’s a devoted fandom of the show that has been shipping Charlie and Simon’s characters as gay lovers from the jump. Clearly they were seeing on screen what Simon and Charlie couldn’t admit to in real life … until now.
If you’re wondering about the sex, it’s not quite fade-to-black, but I’d say it’s just one notch above it. It’s kind of like a network-TV-level sexy montage where you get vibes of what the sex is like rather than explicit descriptions.