Just Like Honey

Can He Paint His Muse into 36 Views of Seattle?

Artist Ryan Ikeda's domestic bliss shatters after an invitation to join a career-launching gallery show in 1990s Seattle. His artistic uncertainty and secret desires, dangerous as turpentine and flame, threaten to torch his bond with Ben, his handsome boyfriend and muse.

Suddenly, instability rocks every aspect of Ryan's life: his grandmother's sinking health, his friends moving on to new jobs, even his apartment is endangered. Worst of all, Ben's work demands more time away from home, the overload of changes jeopardizing the stability of their open relationship.

Ryan's long-time friends advise him to jump headlong in to the colorful Seattle art scene. However, Ryan's deep examination of his creative needs outline new demands for his life with Ben. Striving for both balance and success, Ryan faces the greatest risks of his personal and professional life.

Just Like Honey peeks inside working artists' studios, cruises the 1990s Seattle bar scene, and eavesdrops on artists gossiping about their competitors at hot gallery shows, while Ryan and Ben explore the communication and tenderness required for a deep, open relationship.

The Queen City Boys books are an interrelated series of standalone stories with no particular reading order. Spanning four decades in Seattle, Queen City Boys tells the explicit adventures of an eclectic group of gay friends as they find their way through the ends and beginnings of their most important relationships.

This book contains depictions of racism, and death/grief.