Runway Runaways, Kevin Sean

Ty and Liam are both trying to avoid the issues that come with family.  For Ty, his whole identity is under attack by a circumstance of birth and he's terribly afraid that the truth will ruin his career and romantic life.  It's happened before.  And then there's Liam.  All he wants is to write something important, to make an impact, and he's stuck writing fluff pieces because his superior is bent on getting any dig he can on his "royal" employee.  Opportunity knocks on both their doors leading them both to a future in both journalism and love, but only if the cutthroat world of Runway Weekly doesn't ruin them first.

I liked Ty, even with all his panic attacks.  His vulnerability came off more sweet than paranoid, though it was definitely paranoid too.  He was earnest and invested in his love of fashion.  The surprise to him was that someone like Liam wanted him in return.  Unable to be honest he almost ended something that had the strength to support and love him through his trials.  His secret was kind of a big deal, but it was blown way out of proportion, in my opinion.  Not that it wasn't a valid concern, but it was just kind of an over-the-top preemptive strike where their relationship was concerned.

But thank goodness for Liam's roommate.  If it weren't for her there would be no Ty and Liam at either time she intruded on their relationship.  She's quirky, crazy, funny, and generally awesome.  Her character was a win for the story.

Liam was written well.  I liked him and his honesty.  Yes, his parentage is kept under wraps, but it's for a good reason and I was really glad that his name wasn't made to be the huge make-or-break moment in the story.  His earnestness toward Ty was really sweet, it was also a bit much in the beginning, but not so much that it weirded me out.  The way he handled Ty's freak-outs was really nice and I was happy to see Liam's role as the rock in their relationship.  His generosity and willingness to make Ty happy was a great quality.

The drama surrounding them at the magazine was over the top.  The culprit was one of three suspects to my mind and toward the end it was pretty predictable.  When the confrontation finally came it was a bit underwhelming.  Crazy, expected, and big-bad-villain monologue all together made the scene more campy dramatic than merely a dramatic end to their untenable workplace situation.

At the outset of the story we're led to believe something that is actually a non-issue because the synopsis is leading and the reality is different.  The photo incident?  Totally blown over.  You'd have to read it to know how NOT big of a deal it was.  And the spotlight thing?  Again, not addressed at all aside from the possibility in the beginning of the interview when he's afraid of being nominally outed.  Aside from that, the drama came from other sources and mostly within the couple's dynamic rather than outside pressure.

So overall, the story was pretty good.  There were a ton of elements that had a great start but were either blown up too big or not given enough page time to matter which left the feeling of deficiency.  Everything was wrapped up with nice pretty bows for everyone in the story except the villain and that was fine, it was just a bit unrealistic and like the author was trying too hard to give every single character a happy ending.

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