This hysterically funny, fun and flirty tale about two best friends who fall in love despite the fact that one of them is pretending to be gay is guaranteed to give you warm and toasty FEEEEELS galore!!!!!!! Maggie Matić meets the women behind Clam Jam —‘An exhibition of female art’— to grill them about angering feminists, playing on cliché, and battling a persistent gender imbalance in the contemporary art world… The characters in this story were fantastically portrayed. And I’m not talking only about the main ones, because let me tell you, the supporting characters were as awesome as the protagonists. Therefore, I wouldn’t mind to read their own stories/story.

Clam Jam – Place your cleaned clams over direct heat. They will begin to slightly bubble and then pop open. Once they open add them to your skillet, careful to retain as much of the brine as possible. Discard any clams that don’t open.Maggie Finnegan is devastated when she catches her fiancée cheating on her. She decides to stay away from men and dating for a while and focus on her career. Now that her ex moved out she needs a new roommate, but she needs the “perfect” roommate – so no women and of course, no straight men. Sparking an important conversation about ‘woman art’ and how it should be approached in the contemporary art world” The heroine, Maggie tries so hard not to fall for her handsome, 'gay' roommate, but she just can’t help herself. And who can blame her? Ry is completely swoon-worthy. He is strong-willed and smokin’ hot - but most of all, he has a good heart. J.E. Lighter, Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang (1994) cites the 1952 instance reported in Wentworth & Flexner as its first recorded occurrence of the usage, but then adds a slightly later occurrence, from 1955, and still later ones from 1964 and 1991: Aromatics –Add in your aromatics. Let your shallots, garlic, scallions, ginger, and scotch bonnet peppers sauté until they are tender, and the shallots are slightly translucent.

If my tongue had a voice of it's own, it would probably say something like, "Just the tip. That’s all I want.” The tip of my tongue tracing over Ry’s abs, that is. You know, just to prove someone Photoshopped him. Or not. First of all, I despise insta-love so I would have preferred if Ry pretended to be gay because he desperately needed somewhere to live (with Maggie being his last option), instead of the "she's The One even though we've never even said hello" bullshit. Still, it does demonstrate that I'm not the only one who's ever heard the term. And really, almost everywhere I've ever played music the term has come up (though not about my playing—honest!). It's also not the only term used for a missed note (one I especially loved was "approximatura," which played nicely off the musical term appogiatura, but that's a story for another day). Anyways, I totally understood Ry taking a chance in the beginning which gave Maggie some space till she was ready to date again. But after time starts skipping ahead months and the dates drag on, the premise became repetitive and my patience with the characters began to wear thin. And not just with Ry who kept living a charade when it was clear that Maggie was ready to find love again, nor Maggie who should have clued in sooner, but also with their friends and family who should have stepped in and put an end to the shenanigans when it was clear that it was no longer in their best interests.

The earliest coverage of clam in the sense of "mistake or misplayed musical note" that I've been able to find is in Harold Wentwoth & Stuart Flexner, Dictionary of American Slang, first edition (1960): EB: We did have one artist get very angry with us. Really angry. To the extent that she said: “Not only will I not be participating, but I think you should consider not going ahead with this at all”. For that very reason — she felt that we were taking women’s art and putting it where it shouldn’t be. So what happens with these little white lies? Well, you’ll have to read to find out. But the heart and soul put into this romantic comedy is DREAMY. I FELT everything that Ry was feeling. He is a man that I would be proud to call my own. And Maggie? She is a sassy and fun character that could easily become my own best friend. These characters touched my heart, made me smile from ear to ear, and gave me a pleasurable reading experience through and through. The comedy? It’s up to part with Tara Sivec’s Chocolate Lovers Series and the Virgin Romance Novelist series by Meghan Quinn (my favorite romantic comedies EVER). The text accompanying the The Royal Standard’s current exhibition, Clam Jam, begins with a quote from artist Sigalit Landau:

God I loved Ryland’s character, not only was he (air quotes) presumable gay (he’s so not gay) he’s hotter than any male has a right to be, but above all of that he’s got such a soft, tender side to him, the lengths he went to to just be near Maggie had my heart melting. I haven’t laughed this hard in a while and to be honest I needed it. I love rom-coms and Clam Jam is one that I was surprised how much I loved. Maybe it is my type of humor but just even now thinking of it has me laughing. I loved how determined that Ry was to follow through on the whole gay roommate angle and that it went on as long as it did. Poor guy had to be blue, well you get where I am going with that. He knew lying about his sexual preference was the only way he would get close Maggie and have her get to know him but when she finally wants to begin dating again, instead of coming clean he begins to clam jam her and some of it gets to be a little ridiculous but I loved it anyways. Jamaican jerk refers to both the style of cooking also a dry spice and wet marinade. The first reference of jerk in history is associated with the indigenous Taino. The word itself is believed to come from the term charqui, a Spanish word that eventually led to the English word jerky. Okay, she might be worried he is bi-sexual. Fair enough. 2. If he doesn't admit it now, when? When she's dead. Married to another man? She's already kissed another guy. 3. Why is his best friend is still pretending to be his partner? A year! Why isn't he telling him to man up or ask him where is balls are? 4. Where are both of their balls? BALLS I SAY.)

clam n. ... 5. a mistake ; a boner 1952: "Radio men speak no worse English than the general average of American professional men, and ... on the average there are not really so horribly many out-and-out clams coming over the air." Letter in N.Y. Her[ald] Trib[une], Apr. 3, 24/5. Yes, it’s noted that there’s a discrepancy between the percentage of art school graduates who are female and the representation of women artists in the art world. It’s interesting that you see that starting to balance out. Without all-female shows, people might not think about the fact that there are often all-male shows; but this just goes under the radar because it’s the norm. The debate centres on whether there is a space for all-female shows. In that sense, I suppose there is, because it throws light on these persisting problems. EB: We did, and we expected to. The whole thing was about treading a line, and we have been careful to tread that barrier in everything we have done with Clam Jam, in that we wanted to make sure it was playful and nobody took it too seriously, but at the same time not being flippant about what we were doing, and not making a joke about presenting female work.

Easy Process –Skip the hassle of a digital thermometer. Clams have their own built-in sign to immediately let you know they are done. The second they pop simply remove them from the heat. No guessing required and also no fear of overcooking them. I love when a Romantic Comedy book reads like a Romantic Comedy movie and CLAM JAM definitely did. The plot was refreshing, the characters were enjoyable, and there was plenty of steam, geekiness and cheese to make for a good time had by all. The day I interviewed for the room to rent, everything changed. I knew I had met the girl, except there was one small problem: she didn't want anything to do with men. I recognized a top-notch force field when I saw one. She'd been burned badly and didn't want to deal with a heterosexual guy as a roommate. I could've turned around and found another place to live, but I wanted to live there with her. I met Ellie Barrett, one of the curator/directors at The Royal Standard, as well as Claudia Dance-Wells and Chloe McClellan, two of the artist whose work features in Clam Jam, to find out more about the process of putting together an all-female art show…As it stands I can unlatch the roof and the side windows drop (so at least one of the latch microswitches is working), the handbrake light is on so the handbrake microswitch also works. I really enjoyed this one. BUT I really wish that Maggie would’ve figured out sooner on her own that Ry was really not into men and only had eyes for her. I’m not really sure how she couldn’t? All the signs were there!! There's only so many times that Ry can take home the guy she's after. If I was her best friend, I would’ve pointed it out a long time ago. Okay, rant over. Serve it Up – Squeeze in your lime juice. Stir your clams into the jerk broth. Garnish with extra lime wedges and your reserved scallions. Don’t forget the crusty bread! Ry needs a place to live. He had been renting a room with a guy, who sadly for him gotten married. Since he’s not entirely sure his job will keep him local, Ry is not interested in buying an apartment. Needless to say, he’s looking to rent one as soon as possible. Of course all his "little white lies" end up snowballing out of control and I was rubbing my hands with gleeful anticipation wondering if Armageddon would break out when his ill-devised Clam Jam charade finally crumbled! Not gonna spoil the fun but suffice it to say Ry might be watching Saturday night replays of The Breakfast Club all by his lonesome for a while!!