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Tigers and Devils Sean Kennedy Books

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Football, friends, and film are the most important parts of Simon Murray's life, likely in that order. Despite being lonely, Simon is cautious about looking for more, and his best friends despair of him ever finding that special someone to share his life. Against his will, they drag him to a party, where Simon barges into a football conversation and ends up defending the honour of star forward Declan Tyler -- unaware that the athlete is present and listening. Like his entire family, Simon revels in living in Melbourne, Victoria, the home of Australian Rules football and mecca for serious fans. There, players are deemed gods and treated as such - until they do something to cause them to fall out of public favour. Declan is suffering a horrendous year of injuries, and the public is taking him to task for it, so Simon's support is a bright spot in his struggles. In that first awkward meeting, neither man has any idea they will change each other's lives forever. As Simon and Declan fumble toward building a relationship together, there is yet another obstacle in their way keeping Declan's homosexuality a secret amidst the intrusion of well-meaning friends and an increasingly suspicious media. They realise that nothing remains hidden forever... and they know the situation will only become more complicated when Declan's private life is revealed. Declan will be forced to make some tough choices that may result in losing either the career he loves or the man he wants. And Simon has never been known to make things easy - for himself or for others.

Tigers and Devils Sean Kennedy Books

This is my second read of Tigers and Devils and I would be happy to immediately read it again. I LOVE this book. I LOVE Simon and all his snarky smart-assery (yes, that's not a word but it fits Simon). I love his best friends, Fran & Roger; who wouldn't want them as best friends? I love Declan for being so much more than a jock. Abe & Lisa, Declan's closest friends, are fantastic as well. Finally I love Simon & Declan together because while they don't always make the best decisions, in the end they recognize what they have is more important than all the outside forces that affect them. These are characters that I would love to be friends with if they were real people; they remind me of people that I know and love now.

The story starts with Simon and Declan meeting at a party when Simon simultaneously defends and insults Declan, setting the tone for their relationship. These are two very different men from very divergent backgrounds that manage to come together partially because of those differences and sometimes in spite of them. Neither of them has very good communication skills which cause some of their problems and exacerbate others. Simon's response to stress is to internalize it; Dec's response it to run away from it. Both of these responses are common in real life and I think that is what I truly love about this book. It is about real life. Declan is an extremely famous sports figure but what we see of him is more about what he is like off the Football ground (yes, I had to look that up) than what he is on it. The outside forces that affect them often come from Dec's celebrity but they are realistic.

I have to admit I didn't even notice the lack of sex in the book. When I read some of the other reviews that pointed this out I was surprised at first. There may not be a lot of sex but there is a lot of intimacy. I found their love and concern for each other more enjoyable than most sex scenes manage to convey anyhow.

I am not a sports fan and had avoided reading this initially because I knew there would be sports, probably a lot of sports, involved. After this reading I actually kind of want to look into Footy just to be able to understand some of the stuff that didn't translate that well for me. Not that you can't read and enjoy this book without having that knowledge but I enjoyed it enough that I actually want to understand all of it instead of just accepting the parts I didn't quite get. I think that pretty much makes it clear how much I enjoyed this book; a non-sports obsessed person being willing to look into a sport simply so I can more fully enjoy the story.


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Tigers and Devils Sean Kennedy Books Reviews

What do I say about this book? I would really like to meet the author. My favorite M/M books are full of angst and hot steamy sex. But the main criteria is the struggle to be able to be with the one you love regardless of the horrendous constraints of society. That is what draws me to these stories. This book is completely different from what I usually read in the fact that it is completely realistic. The love scenes are all of the "fade to black" variety. But the sex is not missed at all. The writing is so superb you don't even need it to feel the love between the characters. Two guys meet, fall in love and have to deal with reality. Especially since Declan is a sports star. At times I got very sad and depressed. Neither guy is perfect and nobody makes a spectacular romance novel grand gesture. But there is so much love throughout. Including all of their awesome supporting friends. The writing is witty, clever and humorous. It took me a while to love Simon and I am writing this review after reading book 2. Believe me Simon will get under your skin and grow in your heart. Fabulous!
I had heard so many good things about this book, but after the first chapter I was a bit worried, because the beginning felt rambling and unpolished. Thankfully the writing quality picked up (although the odd grammatically incorrect sentence kept popping up throughout the book) and in the end I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

I liked a lot of aspects of Tigers and Devils. There was the contrast between Simon the self-professed 'arty w*nker' who was stubborn and snarky (and rather irritating sometimes) and Declan the 'god of football' who was in fact a real sweetheart (although not without some failings of his own to keep it real). There was the Melbourne setting and the authentic Australian voice (although since I live in New South Wales, the Victorian obsession with AFL is almost as alien to me as if I lived in Timbuktu). I loved the humour in this book; both Simon's narration and the dialogue made me laugh out loud many times. His friends Roger and Fran were often scene-stealers.

I also really enjoyed the way that the book took its time to show a long period (nearly two years) of their relationship and how Simon and Declan dealt with the external pressures created by celebrity and the world of professional sport. After becoming a couple fairly quickly they eventually had to examine their own behaviour and they both learned to change aspects of themselves that could otherwise have torn them apart. The book is structured into four 'quarters' like an Aussie Rules match, with important events in their professional lives (the Brownlow Medal ceremony and the Triple F film festival) highlighting the progression of their relationship.

This book doesn't include any explicit sex, and it didn't feel like the story was incomplete in any way. I'd rather there be no sex scenes than the overly detailed and usually unnecessary encounters that often feel jarringly out of place in other gay romances.

Tigers and Devils is a very entertaining read and I thoroughly recommend it.
This is my second read of Tigers and Devils and I would be happy to immediately read it again. I LOVE this book. I LOVE Simon and all his snarky smart-assery (yes, that's not a word but it fits Simon). I love his best friends, Fran & Roger; who wouldn't want them as best friends? I love Declan for being so much more than a jock. Abe & Lisa, Declan's closest friends, are fantastic as well. Finally I love Simon & Declan together because while they don't always make the best decisions, in the end they recognize what they have is more important than all the outside forces that affect them. These are characters that I would love to be friends with if they were real people; they remind me of people that I know and love now.

The story starts with Simon and Declan meeting at a party when Simon simultaneously defends and insults Declan, setting the tone for their relationship. These are two very different men from very divergent backgrounds that manage to come together partially because of those differences and sometimes in spite of them. Neither of them has very good communication skills which cause some of their problems and exacerbate others. Simon's response to stress is to internalize it; Dec's response it to run away from it. Both of these responses are common in real life and I think that is what I truly love about this book. It is about real life. Declan is an extremely famous sports figure but what we see of him is more about what he is like off the Football ground (yes, I had to look that up) than what he is on it. The outside forces that affect them often come from Dec's celebrity but they are realistic.

I have to admit I didn't even notice the lack of sex in the book. When I read some of the other reviews that pointed this out I was surprised at first. There may not be a lot of sex but there is a lot of intimacy. I found their love and concern for each other more enjoyable than most sex scenes manage to convey anyhow.

I am not a sports fan and had avoided reading this initially because I knew there would be sports, probably a lot of sports, involved. After this reading I actually kind of want to look into Footy just to be able to understand some of the stuff that didn't translate that well for me. Not that you can't read and enjoy this book without having that knowledge but I enjoyed it enough that I actually want to understand all of it instead of just accepting the parts I didn't quite get. I think that pretty much makes it clear how much I enjoyed this book; a non-sports obsessed person being willing to look into a sport simply so I can more fully enjoy the story.