Blank Spaces is definitely not your typical romance novel. That said, it is still the story of a romance between two people, in this case, two men, but that is not what make is different. You are going to love the main characters, maybe one more than the other, maybe not.
Central to the story is an art gallery where paintings have begun to disappear. After the third insurance-covered theft, the insurance company sends an investigator, to look into what is going on. The questions to be looked into are is it an inside job, has someone compromised the security system, why are these particularly paintings being stolen, and especially, how are the thefts being carried out. All of these questions presumably will lead to discovering who the thief is. The mystery of the painting thefts is not the main plot, though, because Blank Spaces is a love story, not a mystery novel.
Vaughn is a man who never leaves his apartment without ironing his clothes and otherwise making sure he is perfectly groomed. His job title is gallery assistant but he longs for more. The other aspect of Vaughn that is beautifully developed in this story is the fact that Vaughn is asexual. He needs romance in his life far more than he needs sex. In fact, he isn’t interested in sex at all. He is indeed gay, in that he is attracted to men, but he wants to love and be loved. As we begin this story he has plenty of friends but no one person with whom he is in love. He also has a job he treasures but that may be at stake if these thefts continue, imperiling the gallery’s continued existence.
Jonah is the investigator sent by the insurance company to make sense of these continuing thefts and hopefully, either solve the mystery or aid the police in finding the culprit. Jonah is gay but his sexual identity is about as opposite of Vaughn’s as it is possible to be. Jonah needs sex, lots of it with many partners and a variety of kinds of sexual experiences. Yet, he is drawn to Vaughn, even after he discovers what makes Vaughn tick and realizes he can’t give Vaughn the romance he craves. Jonah’s lifestyle is on the edge of dangerous and maybe even a bit over that line.
Following Vaughn and Jonah grow and learn how to respect and fulfill the needs of each other was undeniably the most enchanting part of this story. How is it possible for a man who craves romance but not sex to become the boyfriend of a man who needs a variety of sex outside of their relationship and doesn’t have any idea how to love someone else?
There are several secondary characters who are important to Vaughn and Jonah, and all are well developed. To call this book character-driven is spot on in categorizing it. Cass Lennox is a master at giving us three dimensional characters and also describing the environment that accommodates them.
Is the mystery solved? Do Vaughn and Jonah become a couple? I’ll leave the answers to these questions to you, the reader, to find out and thoroughly enjoy. This is a book to experience and appreciate on all levels but I will tell you that the ending is highly satisfying.

This book took me so long to get into, and quite frankly, I’m not sure why I stuck with it. But I am really glad I did, as I ended up enjoying it. I adored Vaughn and his easygoing, and at times, boyish nature. He was so honest and kind, just the sort of guy you’d want in your circle of friends. I love that he was so willing to just go with the flow. He wasn’t one to question why life was the way it was. It just was, and he was going with it. Jonah, on the other hand, was Vaughn’s complete opposite. I felt like he went with the flow, but it was a deliberate choice instead of being part of his nature. Jonah spent his life trying to appear normal, but I get the feeling that he was really looking for love...in all the wrong places, as they say. This book gives a new meaning to slow build, and I’m sure that was intentional and directly related to Vaughn’s indifference (or possibly aversion) to sex.

Now, I loved the friendship portion of this story. I like that Jonah found Vaughn intriguing enough that he was willing to stop bringing sex into their relationship and try to be buddies. But the part where they actually do decide to delve into relationship territory and make the choices that would work best for them was a bit dicey for me. I didn’t understand the haste behind their decisions, and why there weren’t different things they could try. But I’m going to be honest - after this book, I don’t think I have a grasp on what asexuality is at all, and while I don’t understand their choices, I don’t think the credibility of them depends on me ‘getting it.’ So while I’m not totally sold on the way things ended up, I did appreciate this story.

The ‘mystery’ behind the missing paintings was predictable, but that was fine with me, because that was just the catalyst for what brought Jonah and Vaughn together. I don’t think it was really meant to be suspenseful or a whodunnit. I think the pacing of this one was OK; if it had been a bit tighter, maybe the story would have gripped me from the beginning. The highlight of this book for me was ‘the drunk scene.’ It was quite possibly the best drunk scene I have ever read, and it left me in stitches. Just when I thought Vaughn couldn’t get any more adorable, he goes and turns into the giddiest drunk ever and proved me wrong!

When Blank Spaces finally pulled me in, it pulled me all the way in, and I ended up loving this story. If you’re a fan of quirky characters and hard won relationships, this book is right up your alley.

I don’t know if I could have loved this book more. This is my first Cass Lennox read and I can guarantee that it will not be my last. And can we all take a second to just appreciate that cover? I will be shameless and admit that I picked this one up solely based on the cover. And I’m really glad I did.

First off, I need to just give a round of applause for writing a character like Vaughn. And I don’t mean in his asexuality, I mean in his complexity. Vaughn was a character that was creative and affectionate with a just a touch of entitlement and I absolutely loved him. Just when I thought I had him figured out he would do something that left me puzzled and questioning whether I really knew him.

And Jonah, wow. Where do I start? Jonah’s complete and utter respect for Vaughns’s boundaries despite not fully understanding them made Blank Spaces really stand out in a genre of books that parade around as featuring an “asexual” MC that is later forced to give in or walk away. Vaughn did neither. Although their solution wasn’t ideal, things rarely are in relationships like this. A compromise had to be made and I am really proud that Lennox wrote this in a way that didn’t require either of our MC’s to give up their fundamental needs or values OR completely sweep the elephant under the rug and let it fester.

Vaughn wasn’t pushed into anything he wasn’t okay with and neither was Jonah. They found something that would work out for the both of them without getting in the way of their feelings for each other. It’s not exactly the ending I would have chosen, but I still felt like this was an HEA for these two.

I laughed all the way through this book and I’m pretty happy I decided to read it. There’s no way I couldn’t give this book 5 stars. I will be continuing this series and keeping my eye out for other Cass Lennox works in the future.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own and not influenced by the author or the publisher in any way.