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Review

Username 7mark8 by Moe Takahashi, from Dreamspinner Press, is a coming out story dressed up as a romance. Oh sure, it has elements of m/m romance in it, but that isn't the novel's focus. Our hero, Mark, is a middle-aged father of four newly separated from a wife who takes shrewishness to impressive levels. Freed from matrimony, Mark sets loose the gay man he has kept closeted for two decades. He tells his story in the form of an online "blogumentary" under the username 7mark8, which has to do with the size of his you-know-what. This is an interesting and practical format. As Mark blogs about his frequent exploits with men, and his tug-of-war with his wife over their children, his online followers help him make sense of himself and the new life he is entering.

He eventually becomes involved with one of those online followers, and romance does ensue. To me, however, the author seems more interested in Mark's growth as an out gay man (he spends a good half of the novel sowing homo oats) and his struggle to maintain a relationship with his kids. That can certainly make for an engrossing read, but in a romance novel, I have the perhaps odd expectation that romance will be front and center. There is occasional poor editing (a bespectacled character is described as "bespeckled"), which usually punches my eye like a fist. However, in a "blogumentary," such typos could very well be an intentional part of the characterization. Usename 7mark8 is a three-star read. It would have earned a fourth star if it had woven romance more fully into Mark's journey as an out gay father.

 -- Gilbert Williams