Review: Tigerland by Sean Kennedy

Reviewed by Fehu
Tigerland (Tigers & Devils #2) by Sean Kennedy
Dreamspinner Press
Novel: 306pgs
4.5 Pants Off

Blurb:
After an eventful and sometimes uncomfortably public courtship, Simon Murray and Declan Tyler settled into a comfortable life together. Now retired from the AFL, Declan works as a football commentator; Simon develops programs with queer content for a community television station. 

Despite their public professional lives, Simon and Declan manage to keep their private life out of the spotlight. Their major concerns revolve around supporting their friends through infertility and relationship problems—until Greg Heyward, Declan’s ex-partner, outs himself in a transparent bid for attention. 

Though Simon and Declan are furious with Greg and his media antics, they can’t agree on what to do about it. Declan insists they should maintain a dignified silence, but both he and Simon keep getting drawn into Heyward’s games. Simon and Declan will once again have to ride out the media storm before they can return their attention to what really matters: each other.

Review:

While this is a great book, one should definitely read the previous book, to be able to follow.

Declan and Simon are back! I loved the first book Tigers and Devils and these two unlikely characters, who after some ordeals did manage to stay together. In this sequel they have been together for some years and changed jobs. Declan is no longer a famous football player and neither is his best friend Abe. Not all ended up being that great for Simon's friends: his two best friends and loyal sidekicks have trouble starting a family, and are too proud to accept help. Lisa and Abe fought and ended up splitting up. Only Simon and Declan stayed together but Declan's ex, Heyward, another football player, tries to change the couple’s bliss.

I loved book 1 and so I started reading this one with mixed feelings, hoping that it would not ruin the previous book for me. I loved Simon and wished to see him unchanged with the same sense of humor and his crazy schemes.  It was a relief to see that the writing didn't disappoint, there are some great one liners in this book, which made me laugh, right from the beginning. Simon is still Simon and his mother is the same as ever. Fran and Roger are also still Simon's loyal friends and he relies on their support, when the media circus begins.

Heyward is not a sympathetic character, he is retiring and announcing that he is gay to get more publicity for his book, he loves being in the spotlight and doesn't mind ruining other people’s lives(namely Declan and Simons) to get his 5 minutes of stardom. Still the whole drama annoyed me and I didn't understand why Declan took a long time to contradict all of Heyward's lies. I thought the whole issue was blown out of proportion. I mean Dec was afraid that Heyward would announce to the world their relationship and still didn't do anything to prevent the anticipated trouble.

The whole drama of Heyward's coming out and Declan's reaction had a bit too much drama for me and mostly about nothing, considering the problems their friends faced.

Still it was nice to catch up to all my favorite characters and I would recommend the book for all everyone who liked Tigers and Devils!

4.5 Pants Off

Review: Book #1 Tigers & Devils