Review: Two Lips, Indifferent Red by Tinnean

Reviewed by Fehu
Two Lips, Indifferent Red by Tinnean
Dreamspinner Press
Novel: 326pgs
4 Pants Off

Blurb:
Kipp Llewellyn would rather follow his dreams than toe the family line, so instead of the support of his wealthy family, he has estrangement and a part-time job with Hunter, an in-demand interior designer. Hunter opens a new world for Kipp to explore—and not just for his career. It’s through Hunter that Kipp meets and begins what he thinks is a one-sided flirtation with Ham, one of Hunter’s customers.

To Kipp’s astonishment, Ham asks him for a date. Unfortunately for Kipp, a mysterious phone call summons him home, where his father gives him an ultimatum: save the family company by marrying billionaire Hyde Wyndham, in which case all will be overlooked, or never set foot in his home again. But meeting Hyde leaves Kipp stunned and betrayed, because Hyde is actually Ham.

A guarantee of marriage is no excuse for making Kipp feel foolish, and Kipp had enough of the gilded cage in the first twenty-one years of his life. He turns Hyde down, stating that marriage should be about love rather than convenience. If Hyde wants him, he’ll have to court him the old-fashioned way.

Review:
One thing first, this has a lot of sweetness, which one might like or dislike according to one's mood. The good thing - the book has enough family drama, secrets and homophobia, so that the story is not sugar only. Actually after all that poor Kipp went through, I at least felt, that he deserved all the saccharine happy ending. As the cherry on the icing, I would have loved a confrontation with the stupid ex of his, but one cannot have everything. Second there are flashbacks and it's usually bothers me, here they were minimal and mostly to explain something from the past, like Kipp's date with Daniel (the stupid, asshat ex), who only asked him out to win a bet. The dreams annoyed me, since they were not necessary for the advancement of the plot and they were quite long, thankfully there were not many and mostly at the end.

Kipp is a shy young man, who comes from a wealthy family, but his father hates him, his brother doesn't really care and his grandfather hasn't spoken to him after Kipp told him of his wish to study design. In school he wasn't very popular, always compared to his older brother, who was a sports star and his only date with a guy in school was a disaster. The distance to his father is made visible by how Kipp thinks of him, not father but "Sir", even when he speaks to others about him it's the word he uses. Kipp's mother died at his birth and he thinks that this might have something to do with his father’s distance, but we find out later in the book, that it's not true.

In college Kipp has mostly to take care of himself and doesn't really develop any close friendships or relationships at school, but he is on very good terms with his boss in the in design shop he works, it's also the place where he meets his second crush  - Ham.

Ham and his relationship with Kipp is a bit of problematic topic, since we don't see a lot of it. Mostly we are told they've met, they've kissed but there were more interactions, they've known each other for over a year and we don't see them. It's problematic since they budding relationship ends with a marriage proposition, after Kipp is ordered home by his father and again ordered to marry the guy who he never met - Hyde, to close a business deal. As it turns out Hyde is Ham and he knew about the marriage deal, for the purpose of him gaining shares in Kipp's father's companies. Hyde is a self-made Millionaire and he has come back to the town for revenge, families who nearly destroyed him, now are struggling financially and hoping for his financial support of their businesses.

So Hyde wants Kipp, Kipp wants Hyde, because he apparently did fall in love with him and his father and grandfather, who have cancer, are both urging Kipp to marry. At the same time Kipp’s brother is planning his wedding, no one has told Kipp anything about their engagement or even sent him an invitation, but of course he is invited now, that he is supposed to marry a wealthy businessmen. The only person who cares about Kipp seems to be his grandfather, who is very ill and has come to regret his decision to distance himself from his grandson. There are lot of things going on in the small town where both marriages are about to take place and I think the whole marriage is happening too fast - in a week! After Hyde has officially met Kipp together they uncover some of the towns and of Kip's family secrets, which make Kipp reconsider decision to go through with the marriage.

So I'm not telling on the intrigues or secrets but let's just say that Kipp's father is a jerk and while his brother has redeemed himself a bit I still didn’t come to like him, since he always followed their father's wishes and didn't give Kipp the time of the day when he grew up. The story is well written and very detailed, but I missed the developments in Kipp and Hyde's relationship which would explain why they wanted to get married so quickly.

Should you read it? I liked it and if one likes a well written Cinderfella story set in a modern time, with a lot of twists, then this is the perfect story. Not everything is well and Kipp and his father don't suddenly become friends at the end, so don't worry about the story being too sweet, but it has some soap opera character that may not appeal to all readers, again I think that it depends on the mood, this is more of a light read and a pick you up/feel good story

4 Pants Off