Mistaken Identity MM Romance Review:
It Started with a Text by Jax Calder
My rating: 5 of 5 stars | Goodreads | Amazon | Genres: M M Romance, Novella, Romance,
Friends To Lovers, Celebrity, Music, Contemporary Romance
Introduction
Jax Calder’s new novella, It Started with a Text, the second in the Queer Ways to Fall in Love series, is simply perfect. I loved the first installment, Moderating Love, and snatched up the opportunity to review the second book as soon as I saw it. The first novella is the introduction to the new universe, and this is the first official title of the series.
Calder’s writing is well-paced, perfectly succinct. The yearning and longing jump right off the page. I have read almost all of Jax Calder’s published works, so consider me a fan in general. But even if this were the first time reading anything by Calder, I would love this book just as much.
Blurb.
Nick:
Okay, so making a viral video mocking my celebrity crush’s pretentious apartment tour isn’t exactly a strategy for finding love.
But when some random guy slides into my DMs claiming to be Anthony Devine—Grammy Award-winning pop star, LGBTQ+ icon, and owner of cheekbones that should be illegal—I assume he’s a forty-five-year-old catfish living in his mom’s basement.
However, we start chatting, and it’s the most real conversation I’ve had in ages. One month and approximately five thousand messages later, AntD has become my favorite person to talk to. He sends me funny memes, asks about my assignments, and actually listens when I rant about my cheating ex. And him insisting he really is Anthony Devine has become our running joke.
Hilarious, right?
I need to stop catching feelings for a guy whose real name I don’t even know, but meeting AntD would mean risking everything we’ve built.
What if he’s not who he says he is?
What if he is?
It Started with a Text is a swoony MM novella about finding real connection in the digital age, featuring a broke college student with too many posters on his wall and the one catfish who might actually be the real deal.
It Started with a Text
This book has everything. Mistaken identity, text message conversations with people who just click, goofy grinning at a phone until friends complain about it, and one hell of a reveal. Massively impressive that so many plot twists and turns are all done in a novella-length story! That’s so much harder to do than non-writer people understand!
Nick, a college student and huge fan of singer Anthony Devine, satirizes a tour of Devine’s house with a quickly filmed video tour of his broke college student apartment. The video goes viral enough to hit Devine’s publicist/keeper’s feeds, and she shows the singer. Devine, lonely and isolated in his fame, reaches out to Nick using a private account .aThey hit it off in a way that is different for both of them. Anthony is easy to talk to, and he gets Nick’s humor. The two just click into each other’s lives so easily that soon enough they are trading messages until 2 in the morning and can’t stop thinking about one another.
Mistaken Identity MM Romance – Trope Perfection
One snag, though. Nick does not believe for one minute that the person who messages him is really the singer he is a massive fan of. Who would?
This “sure, Jan.” perspective is just what the two need, because it allows their relationship to grow organically. The mistaken identity trope is perfectly played here. If Nick knew it was Anthony from the start, Anthony would always wonder if Nick was just gaga over him because he was a fan before they met. And there would be a power imbalance. Nick would feel out of his depth dating a celebrity he idolizes and has the posters to prove it. Devine’s mistaken identity is needed for them to be on the same level. Because Nick thinks Anthony is just a rando, the relationship that develops between them has a solid foundation of Yoda memes and debates over the superior cake flavor.
Hey, I Didn’t Ask for a Red Velvet Cake Recipe
But you’re getting one. This is a complete aside from the book review, sure. But I cannot help myself. Red Velvet cake, Anthony Devine, is not a chocolate cake in disguise! It’s a buttermilk cake with a touch of cocoa powder. This recipe is hands down delish. Modern cheapo cakes might just be chocolate with red food color, but that’s just devil’s food cake. Real Red Velvet is a thing of absolute beauty, and I’m sorry, but Nick wins this debate hands down.
The Mask Comes Off
People are just people, and this is the theme that sticks with me from this book. Anthony has discovered that the downside of fame is that people expect him to be a celebrity all the time. His muse has disappeared because of that. Messaging Nick becomes the refreshing change he needed. He needed someone to see him without the façade of fame. The anonymous messages and a disbelieving recipient mean that Anthony can be his true self, and that’s who Nick falls for. That’s the richness in this story that its length belies. The Anthony in the final epilogue is someone who can be who he is more confidently than before, and this growth and grounding give this story more impact than a quick meet-cute story of mistaken identity.
Recommendation
This is a great series, and I can’t wait to read more. I think I’ll go reread the first book now. Read this if you’re a fan of cute stories with hidden depth, love stories about queer joy and finding one’s true self in the most unlikely of ways.
Last Thought
One last thing. This website, introduced in the spectacular Moderating Love. I want this website to be a real thing. Please!? I want to read Queer love stories and meet-cutes. I love it so much.
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I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. I write reviews on my blog, Goodreads, Bookbub, Amazon, and more. If you want me to read and review your upcoming novel read my review policy and submit a contact form.
