Grey's The Best Worse Honeymoon Ever was one of the first male/male romances I read, and I enjoyed it.
However, Grey's writing is an interesting example of how a writer can do a decent job in one area but not in another. Grey's books always have a plot, always, which I much appreciate since romances can sometimes feel like a bunch of "meet-cutes" tacked together with some random alarming revelation tacked on at the end. One of my favorite Greys involve an art/coin legal case; the other a mystery/corrupt judge case. Both books pay off their conflicts!
That is, in a number of books, at about the point where a character is supposed to have an epiphany, one character explains to the other the purpose and meaning of life. I suspect Grey was told that exposition is better delivered as dialog. I still sigh.
Interestingly enough, one of the best Grey books that doesn't speechify is Organic Chemistry in which one character has a form of Asperger's. Since the characters have to stay in character, the resolution cannot resort to "it is now time for you to understand your life--here is the requisite monologue by me" lecture. In fact, I think the book ends too soon!
Grey's writing proves a general point about authors. I excel at dialog (and considered becoming a scriptwriter at one point) but struggle with description/setting. One of the writers I edit for delivers description/setting as easily as breathing--but struggles with plot. Still another captures individuality with characters--and remembers each character's individuality but doesn't always pay off those characters.
We admire our greats for a reason. Which doesn't stop the rest of us from giving another story a go!
