Hmm, well I didn't really find the characters to be unlikable. I really prefer flawed characters, physically and mentally, both of which were featured here.
The writing is in my opinion the best I've seen in any of the series of BL novels that have been released, and yes, I have read them all to date. At least part of I'd say would be the translator, because I also read Konohara Narise's Cold Sleep and while the story was nice I didn't find the writing quite as enjoyable. On the other hand I read Little Darling which was translated by the same person but written by a different author and really disliked the writting style, so I suppose I have the author and the translator to thank for the tone of this novel ( and Don't Worry Mama.)
Be aware that there are a LOT of typos in this novel though, as in every other page at times, sometimes even on the same page multiple times. Mostly just little things like a tense shift or a grammatical mistake, but it's a pattern I've noticed with all of the BL novels from June, DMP, please hire a proofreader, it will be worth the money I swear.
Onto the actual story, it was interesting from the get go to me, I have to say that the only character I grew to dislike was Osada, the women that the main characters work with. But the story didn't really seem to stall any where, it moved along at a good pace without rushing anything. The characters were well defined by the end and were all distinct. The story itself I found to be enjoyable, even the parts that didn't pertain to BL at all. The humor here wasn't as obvious as some other stories but I found myself laughing at times, even the description on the back of the second book made me chuckle: "Is their snarling rivalry hiding a secret that one of them doesn't have the balls to reveal?" Clearly some one has an odd sense of humor.
Any way, I'd pick this up and give it a read. Even if the cover art does nothing for you, or even repells you (This is not the kind of book you want to read in public if you don't want to get funny looks, trust me, been there.) The author is no Shakespeare and this is no Romeo and Juliette, but it is a love story, and it's sweet and a little sad. So just try it.