Holiday Tale Is Better than Most

Unwrapping Hank by Eli Easton
Rating: 5 stars

I absolutely hate holiday romances.  I don't know why, really.  I don't hate the holidays.  For some reason, the fact that these books are built around a holiday--be it Easter, Fourth of July, Veteran's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or even birthdays--seem to resonate with a false sense of cheer to me.

I know, I know.  It shouldn't be that way, but it is.

So going into this search for an acceptable holiday book was painful.  All those jolly people who are slinging gift wrap and ringing bells.  I'm the person who thought Scrooge's story was much more poignant than Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim's.  Give me a Scrooge I can love every time.

Fortunately, Eli Easton jumped in my path.  Big, growly, in-the-closet Hank Springfield makes a wonderful holiday hero.  Hank's the sore thumb in his brother Micah's fraternity at Pennsylvania State University.  Hank belies his philosophy major by saying he wants bong parties, loud music, and crowded rooms of drunks after midnight.

Hank hates the frat's token gay, Sloane, even though everyone else in the frat loves him.  When frat president Micah orders Hank to work with Sloane in coming up with the best frat holiday party ever, Hank balks.  But Micah is adamant, and Hank and Sloane reluctantly team up.

When the find they both love murder mysteries, they come up with a workable and popular Who-Killed-Santa theme.  In the process, Sloane crushes on Hank, who isn't quite so sure about Sloane.

After Sloane's academic parents extend him an off-hand invitation to join them in Israel for a wedding over the holiday break, Sloane resigns himself to staying either at school or somewhere close by.

Micah, however, won't hear of this, and invites Sloane to his and Hank's rural Pennsylvania home for the holidays.  Sloane accepts.

Author Easton magically melds a Scrooge tale onto a cheerful holiday story here, and also adds a little bit of suspense to what starts out to be a linear romance between A and B.   Turns out Micah has the hots for Sloane as his brother Hank begins to fall for him.  So A (Sloane) has his choice of B or C (Hank or Micah).  This brings a bit of spice to a holiday story that looks fairly predictable at the beginning.

All in all if a reader wants something a little different in a holiday tale, I wholeheartedly recommend Unwrapping Hank.

Reviving the Dead while Initiating Romance

Reading Challenge 2014
November - Historical romance

Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk, part of the Whyborne & Griffin series

Rating: 5 stars

I used to read only historical romances and was a hardcore Mary Balogh fan, transferring her older books to my Kindle as they were released in the newer format.  But gradually as all the books became clones of each other and the characters and plots became nearly indistinguishable in my mind, I moved to contemporary, then Western romances and beyond.

Since I started reading gay romance, I've pretty much stayed with contemporary settings although I've been intrigued with Jordan Hawk's Whyborne & Griffin series from the first book appeared last year.  I didn't read Widdershins until this challenge, however.

Hawk's self-published book doesn't disappoint.  For those looking for an occult historical gay mystery--or any gay romance actually--Widdershins is a delight.

In this installment of their partnership, introverted scholar and dead languages translator Percival "Ival" Whyborne and former Pinkerton detective Griffin Flahery join forces to investigate a group of men raising the dead using an incantation found on an Egyptian scroll.  While the main plot revolves around these troubling acts, the real story rests on how two totally diverse men not only develop a friendship but also a love affair.

Therein lies Hawk's mastery.  She makes this odd duo understandable and believable.  Ival needs Griffin as much as the detective needs the scholar.  In an era when their liaison was considered a crime, their discretely told tale becomes an even deeper love story than those of Regency misses who flirted at balls and were at the mercy of their families' matrimonial wishes.

Yet because of the occult twist to the case, I'd recommend Widdershins to readers of Meljean Brooks rather than Balogh even though the steampunk trappings of a Brooks story aren't involved.

For atmosphere and the building of a wonderfully fusty library and museum, Widdershins is at the top of the heap.  Add in the sparks between Ival and Griffin, and it's a delightful read for anyone looking for something unique in historical romance.

Murder on the Mountain, a Cure for a Cold?

2014 Reading Challenge:

October 15 - Paranormal or romantic suspense

Murder on the Mountain by Jamie Fessenden

Rating: 5 star

October has been a heck of a month.  I caught a cold while in Arizona at the end of September.  By the first of October, I was really ill, coughing and gasping and generally feeling awful.  By October 15, I was ready to give up since the cold seemed only to get worse, not better.

I went to the doctor, the first time I'd been out of the house since October 1.  She prescribed meds.  I took and am taking the meds.  What?  I'm not over the "cold"?  Nope.  And I still haven't been out or wanted to go out for nearly a month now.

So what have I been doing?

Reading, reading, reading.

When I finally realized I hadn't written my Reading Challenge review for October, I looked at the dozens of titles I've read since getting sick.

Jamie Fessenden's Murder on the Mountain is the perfect choice since it's equal parts romance and murder mystery.  In a nutshell, the story revolves around the death of a tourist on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, author Fessenden's state of residence and the setting of most of his books.

Aspiring mystery writer Jesse Morales finds the body of Stuart Warren, his head bashed in, and wheedles his way into helping solve the case when Kyle Dubois and his partner Wesley Roberts show up to investigate.  Widowed Kyle is attracted to Stuart, but doesn't act on the sparks flying between them because he's surprised at his attraction to another man.

Fessenden, who writes with a down-to-Earth style, captures readers' attention not only from his loving descriptions of Mt. Washington but also from his deft handling of Jesse, Kyle and Wesley's initial surprise and then acceptance of Kyle's homosexuality.  In addition, Fessenden adds his signature droll sense of humor, particularly in the seasoned cops' response to Jesse's eagerness to help solve the case.

I've enjoyed reading Fessenden's previous books, and this one was no exception.  While my favorite is still Screwups, I'd put this book as a very close second.

 

Laugh Out Loud Fun--Merrow Hits My Funny Bone

Reading Challenge 2014
September 17 - Recommended read (a book recommended to you by someone)

Caught! by J. L. Merrow, part of the Shamwell Tales

Rating: 5 stars and a number of hearty laughs

I'm not sure who recommended this book or why, but if I find the person, I owe him/her a kiss.  This often laugh-out-loud funny book is both poignant and awwww-inspiring.

Robert teaches at a small British primary school in a tiny village, a come-down from his previous job at a posh school in the big city.  Although he privately grumps and groans about his young students and their energetic joie de vivre, he's actually the perfect match for them since he has a wonderful sense of silliness and whimsy.

He's particularly taken by the uncle of a pair of mischievous twins and he's been covertly eyeing the ginger-haired man since he's known the two boys, since the uncle often picks them up after school.

Motorcycle-riding, rogue Sean is tickled by Robert and his collection of classic bow ties and his persnickety ways.  As a pest control worker, Sean isn't above making Robert a little uneasy about the rodents that might be lurking in his house as a chance to get to put his arms around the smaller man.

My two favorite lines from the book, lines that definitely struck a chord with me:

·         at one point the major character calls almond croissants the "crack cocaine of baked goods"

·         "Fordy’s always rather exuberant brows had now entirely met in the middle, like a couple of very small, coy ferrets exchanging a kiss."

Rest assured the quote about the ferrets isn't the last you've heard about them because Merrow goes on to expound about the kiss and its culmination.

Since I can't find any other references to The Shamwell Tales, I'm assuming this is the first of them.  I can't wait until the next one hits my Kindle.  I'm prepared to laugh and enjoy it too.

Get the Reading Challenge Book You Need

August 20 - Luscious Love Scenes (erotic romance, erotica, a "sensual" read - leave those "just kisses" books alone this month!)

If there's one thing that's a nearly common denominator in gay romance, it's sex and lots of it.  Selecting a gay romance that borders on or is firmly standing in erotica is almost a slam dunk.  A larger challenge would be to find a gay romance with no sex in it.  It's possible (Steve Kluger's Almost Like Being in Love comes quickly to mind), but it's not typical.

So with a vast sea of choices, what to chose, what to chose for this month?

What's more sexy than two studly college students who decide to have sex in order to alleviate a little pressure in their lives, but end up finding love instead?  That's what I thought after passing up SJD Peterson's BAMF and a slew of other books I've enjoyed reading this month.  In fact, I had so many choices that I'm late writing this review--which I've started a number of times with different books.

But Get What You Need by Jeanette Grey is the perfect mix of sex and sincerity.  PhD candidate Greg London is shocked when hunky senior baseball player Marshall Sulkowski suggests they watch a movie together.  Greg has been drooling over Marsh, the newbie in Greg's off-campus house, and never thought the popular jock had even noticed him.

The movie turns into sex and a loose agreement between the two for casual sex during the rest of the semester.  Because both guys are so likeable and so well-meaning, the sex scenes are more than mere meaningless couplings, which makes erotica even more erotic.

Under a lot of stress to do well and get his PhD, Greg can't wait to shake off his blue-collar background and help his wonderful parents live an easier life. 

Marsh, on the other hand, has just been kicked out of the family by his homophobic father who saw Marsh kissing a guy during the summer.  Now March, who's been told so many times that he's only a dumb jock by his dad, believes it and is floundering in his classes and in his life in general. 

Sex takes the edge off the pressure of both guys' hectic days, but ultimately it doesn't solve their problems.  Only they can help each other balance their lives.

This is a book to read for the sex scenes, but also for the love story that builds because of them.

Reading Challenge for July: Every Time I Think of You

2014 Reading Challenge
July Challenge: Lovely RITA (past RITA winners or nominees)
Title: Every Time I Think of You
Author: Jim Provenzano
My Rating: 4 stars

Since I'm trying to keep this year's Reading Challenge books to all gay romances, taking titles from the Rita winners or nominees won't work for this month's challenge.  Maybe someday, but not this year, alas.

So where would I find award-winning and award-nominated gay romance books?  There are a few good choices, but my go-to site is the Lambda Literary Awards.

A short recap:  From 1989-2001 although Lambda gave awards, none were for romance per se.  This year's winner for gay romance is Into This River I Drown by TJ Klune, and although I haven't read it, I decided not to read it for this challenge.

Instead I chose the 2012 winner, Every Time I Think of You by Jim Provenzano, which was a self-published work.  I'd read the nominated Something Like Summer by Jay Bell, also self-published, and loved it, so I wanted to see if I would have chosen Provenzano's book over Bell's.

Now I know why Provenzano won, but I'm not sure if I agree with the choice.  Fortunately, Bell's Kamikaze Boys, another m/m romance I really enjoyed, won the award in 2013, so I didn't feel so badly that Bell lost in 2012.

While Provenzano's book is enjoyable after the first few chapters, it's the beginning chapters that really bothered me the most.  In them two boys go into the wooded area between their two very different neighborhoods in the middle of an Illinois winter to pull of their clothes and jack off.  They don't know each other, but spy what the other is doing and form a bond.

Not a bad opening volley, right?  It's clever, catches attention, and seems right enough for two teenage boys.  So what's my gripe?  The writing style which is overblown and pretentious.  Not only was it off-putting considering what was going on in the scene, but I was really afraid it would be used throughout the book.

I understand that the narrator is supposed to be a nerdy, word-smith geek, maybe even a precocious kid, but considering that the language choices and tone don't continue throughout the book, the beginning struck me as unnecessarily condescending considering that male teens might want to read this.

But I don't think that is why the book won the Lambda Award, even though many award-winning literary fiction works begin the same way.

I think the book won because it centers on one character's unexpected off-scene accident which makes him paraplegic.  Although the issue of gay men and paraplegia isn't really addressed in the book, I think the shock value of a young men in love romance turning down that path sealed its award.

True, because the book is a first person account from the boy who isn't injured, delving into the mechanics of how a young man lives and functions in a wheelchair isn't the focus of the romance.  Perhaps that's why Provenzano published the sequel, Message of Love, this March--in order to flesh out the parts that were missing in the original story.

No matter what his purpose, even with the quibbles I talk about here, Every Time I Think of You was a good choice as the Lambda 2012 gay romance of the year.  It took an established theme in a new direction and did it well.

Updating Beauty and the Beast

Reading Challenge: June 18 - Romance Classics (classic book, classic author, classic trope/theme etc.)

Running Scarred

by Jackie Williams
Stars: 2

I love variations on the Beauty and the Beast theme.  For that reason, I thought Jackie Williams' Running Scarred sounded like fun.

First of all, she's British, and I thought a British take on the universal fairytale would be interesting.  Secondly, her hero, Patrick Reeves--nicknamed Superman because of the film actor's last name--is an British soldier who was disfigured when a bomb blew up unexpectedly, which is a modern twist on the Beast idea. 

As can be imagined, Patrick is bitter, not just about the fact that his comrades died and that he lost a leg and has burn scars on his face and body, but also because his wife of ten years left him when she saw him in the hospital.

Patrick now lives in the gardener's cottage on the grounds of a decayed French chateau away from everyone but the nearby villagers.  His peace is disturbed one night when beautiful British Ellen tromps through the woods near his cottage as she stomps away from her fiancé.

Multi-millionaire Ellen has recently discovered that her fiancé doesn't love her and has been using her to get control of her fortune.  While this is disturbing, Ellen has more important things on her mind. 

She's searching for a building to buy in order to turn it into a luxury resort hotel where wounded British veterans, their families, and friends can come for vacation without outsiders staring at them.  She plans for her brother and his friends, all wounded veterans, to help her vet the place once she's made repairs and added upgrades.

It's a wonderful premise.  Unfortunately, questions abound.  These are just a very few I had while reading the book:

* Why does Ellen decide to buy this chateau which has almost no usable rooms in it and which is a crumbling shell?  Surely, there are secluded houses that are in better repair in both England and France.  Her attraction to Patrick can't be that strong after a few hours seeing him one night.

* After Patrick finds out that Ellen's brother is a double amputee and the brother's friends are also wounded veterans, why does Patrick still battle Ellen and her attraction to him?  At times he comes off as churlish rather than charming.  And the smell of a real man and the sight of Patrick's broad shoulders, reasons why Ellen begins to love him, don't seem enough to attract anyone.

* Why does it take Ellen so long to figure out her fiancé just wants her money?  She's already bought a Spanish resort that he talked her into and, against her wishes, let him put his name on the deeds.  She also bought her own engagement ring and just about everything else in their relationship.  How dense can one woman be?

Those are only three of the many questions running around in my head as I read the book.  I wanted so much to like it since I love the Beauty and the Beast premise, but this book didn't do it for me at all, despite having such a promising contemporary Beast.

Hopefully I'll find a more compelling and less troubling use of the old fairytale in the future.

Racing TBR (To Be Read)

Challenge: More Than One (An author who has more than one book in your TBR--to be read--pile)

Title: Racing for the Sun

Author: Amy Lane
Grade: A

First off, I don't have one TBR pile.  In fact, my TBR pile has a bunch of TBR piles.  How does that work?  Well, I like to keep things semi-organized, so my TBR pile is divided by subgenre--review books, gay books, Westerns, contemporaries, and non-fiction.  I also have a miscellaneous TBR pile with bits and pieces which don't fit in the bigger piles.

I always enjoy reading Amy Lane's gay romances, mainly because her books feature such quirky and lovable-despite-themselves characters.  But she writes way faster than I can keep up, so Amy Lane novels seem to pile up quickly on my TBR list.

Racing for the Sun is another in a long line of her anti-heroes who turn out to be larger than life heroes.

Jasper "Ace" Atchison bonds almost instantly with Sonny Daye when Sonny joins Ace's Army unit.  Although Ace immediately knows that Sonny is hiding something, he also knows that short, frail-looking Sonny needs protection from those bigger and meaner than he is, and Ace is just the right man for the job.

Both of them love cars, and Sonny is a mechanic who can build the fastest race car around.  Leaving the service, they set up a garage together and start street racing, winning both with the adrenalin high and the betting money.

But as in all of Lane's angst novels, the past barrels down on Ace and Sonny, nearly wiping them out.  To say more is to spoil the book.

What makes this book special is its tone.  Written in the first person from Ace's point of view, the novel shrieks of rural America, the good-ole-boys standing around an open garage talking about the fish that got away or the car that could go 0-60 in half a second. 

Images of grease-stained coveralls and grimy, calloused hands underlie the tender emotions and electric link between Ace and Sonny.

Both Ace and Sonny are so vivid that even those of us who live in cities and rarely see mechanics working in garages will know them intimately.  Lane's stark prose breathes life into them and makes the unknown believable.

This is one of those books that lives on in the back of readers' minds and bubbles up when least expected.  It's made me move the rest of Lane's backlist to the forefront of my TBR pile.

How the Fake Becomes Real

Reading Challenge / April 2014: Contemporary Romance

Pull Me Under by Zarah Detand
Rating: B+

After a video of Ben, a famous footballer who's closeted, dancing with a guy goes viral, his manager suggests Ben get a fake boyfriend to show what an upstanding guy he is.  Henry accepts the challenge of becoming Ben's ersatz love because he admires Ben and wants to help him.  This doesn't go over well with James, who's in love with Henry and sees his "sacrifice" in becoming Ben's media boyfriend as too much.

The story on the surface revolves around how Ben and Henry get together as real lovers and overcome their fake relationship to find happiness.  But on a deeper level it's the story of how Ben grows up and stops believing his publicity in order to become himself.

What Ben and Henry don't understand at the beginning of the book is that Henry is in love with Ben's media image.  When that image changes from interesting footballer to gay sports icon, Henry falls even deeper in love with the fake Ben.

Consequently, both men have to change.  Both must look beneath the fame, money, and media images to find who they really are in order to come together on a level that is potentially lasting.  Until they do, not only are they cardboard cutouts but their relationship is too.

Detand is masterful in writing Ben's stream-of-consciousness first-person narrative.  Ben's at once puffed up with his sports prowess yet still uncomfortable with his success.  He has great rapport with his teammates and other athletes but is unsure of himself with anyone else.  He's self-conscious enough to be aware that maybe he isn't as great as the media think he is.  And that's a troubling thought.

Henry, on the surface, seems like a saint, putting up with Ben's often larger than life ego.  But Henry's got a secret agenda.  Henry can see how important Ben is to gay boys and men everywhere.  Henry knows that he's the one responsible for keeping Ben from becoming outrageous and embarrassing himself and everyone around him.  Ben's image is important to the gay cause, and Henry's there to help him keep that image clean.

James who wants Henry to be his boyfriend and is contemptuous of Ben is the third interesting character in this romance.  James sees Ben as a buffoon who should be ignored.  He can't understand why Henry would want to protect and promote Ben at all since as far as James is concerned there's nothing real about the footballer at all.  Instead of seeing how Ben's potentially a good role model, James sees him as a setback to the cause.

Although it took me a while to get into the first person streaming presentation, I very much enjoyed this book because it brought an entirely new look at gay athletes and their part as role models in society, especially since some of these athletes aren't the most mature or thoughtful people.  Maybe some of them really do need Henrys to make them think like adults and not just party and respond like teens.

Intriguing New Author: Darien Cox

Challenge: New-To-You Author (an author you've never read before)

Title: Guys on Top

Author: Darien Cox
Grade: B+

My M.O. on Amazon to pick out books to read is to look at the suggestions listed below the books I've really enjoyed (A-list books) and sample them for new authors.  That's what I did in this case, but I can't remember which of my A-list books prompted this author and title.

I've found that I can't read the entire Amazon sample, but try to stop myself somewhere in the middle.  If I read the entire sample, I've been known to buy a book that sounds interesting, but don't have time to read, and then read it later.  But later I think I've already read the book because the beginning sounds so familiar even though the little Kindle indicator says I haven't finished the book yet.

All this brings me around to Guys on Top, a book that I read in one day, staying up at night to finish.

Two other things you need to know about me:  I've read so many gay romances in the past two years that I often can tell exactly what happens in the book having read the first two chapters.  In some ways the romance is gone from the romances I read.  The second thing you need to know is that I haven't stayed up in a long, long time to finish reading a book because I'm uneasy about where it could be heading like I was with this one.

The plot started fairly normally.  After breaking up with a longtime boyfriend who was cheating on him and subsequently getting involved in a lawsuit that bankrupt him, Doug Crandall is rebuilding his life and getting a new apartment out of his brother's house.  But the first week is a nightmare because the upper floor tenant in the house he's renting carries on parties nearly 24/7.

When Doug meets his new neighbors, two beautiful, hunky men, he's enamored with Stewart, a professional plumber and electrician, and repulsed by Corey, a masseur who's angry with Stewart because the landlady called Stewart and Corey about the noise.

At first I thought this might be a ménage romance and wondered why I hadn't filtered it out even though I've read ménage books (particularly memorable is SJD Peterson's Tag Team), too many of them have been silly excuses for excess sex with no substance.

But as I kept reading and Corey got weirder and weirder with seemingly level-headed Stewart becoming odder and odder for putting up with Corey, I started getting the Stephen King uneasiness about the story.  Would Doug, who has a history of anger issues, tear into Corey?  Would Stewart play love-'em-and-leave-'em with Doug, breaking down the fragile Doug even more?

As if that weren't enough, I started wondering about Doug, the point-of-view character.  Was he a reliable viewpoint character?  Or was I relying on the wrong character to get the facts of the case?

Doug and Stewart were having sex like hyper rabbits, and Corey was getting even more angry and schizoid.  Instead of building to a romantic finish for me, the whole story seemed to be building like a tornado about to run riot over a Midwestern community.  I could envision fallout not only from the main characters but also from the peripheral ones as well.

So I read into the night, trying to figure out where Cox was going.

As is reflected on the grade I've given it, the ending didn't quite meet my expectations--if so the book would have gotten an A+.  But explaining why I was disappointed and what didn't hang together for me would entail major spoilers, so it's better that I rest my case and let readers decide for themselves.

Suffice it to say that I'm now intrigued by Cox and his writing style.  He's definitely on my watch list.

Not So Offside This Time Around

Reading Challenge 2014: February--Pick a book from a series you're behind on

Grade: A

Offside Chance by Mercy Celeste is the third in the Southern Scrimmages series and the author suggests that the books be read in order: Six Ways from Sunday, Sidelined, and finally Offside.

The books deal with professional American football players and homosexuality, a combination that was popping up in the news during the season and will probably be cropping up fairly regularly now that pro athletes are coming out of the closet.

Six Ways from Sunday has to do with an NFL tight end and a career Marine who fall in love even though they can't be together as much as they like.  When the Marine is captured and presumed dead, the football player thinks his life has ended.  But has it?

Not answering that question but moving on to book two, Sidelined.  In this book, a successful quarterback is cut from his team and decides to go back to his hometown where he hopes to figure out his twisted life.  Jude, his lawyer brother, persuades him to help coach the new high school's football team, made up of students from previously rival high school teams.  The head coach?  Once the quarterback's high school rival.

Celeste constructs interesting and elaborate plots, and Offside is no different from her previous books.  Here Jude, the lawyer, moves back to New Orleans to look after Levi's house, but is surprised to find a hulking football player, Levi's best friend, already ensconced there.

William Slater is standing on the edge of a breakdown since his house burned down, his contract is about to expire, and Levi has turned out to be someone he barely recognizes.  His refuge in Levi's house is compromised, however, when Levi's brother Jude appears.  Initially, the only thing they seem to bond on is how perplexed they are about Levi declaring himself flamboyantly gay.

As they're holed up together during a freak snowstorm in New Orleans, the self-declared low-brow Slater and the decidedly upper-brow Jude must make compromises in order live without killing each other.  That they do, only to discover two surprising things: they're sexually and eventually totally attracted to each other, and someone is trying to kill them.

Of all the Southern Scrimmage characters, I like Slater and Jude the best.  Both of them are no nonsense guys whose worlds have changed dramatically in just a few months.  Unlike the high maintenance Levi or the first book's couple, Slater and Jude try to roll with the punches and then figure out where to go from there.

But these new rounds of punches have nearly KO'd them.  They can't rely on Levi or his boyfriend for support, and since they're boxed in the house in New Orleans, they are sitting ducks for the killer.

In addition, Celeste brings up the very real question of what guys in their thirties who are kicked out of their careers are supposed to do with the rest of their lives.  Slater has no idea, and his quandary and floundering are probably typical to all pro athletes whose bodies can't sustain them more than a decade.  Having someone like level-headed Jude in his corner makes the transition less debilitating.  Slater for all his physical strength definitely needs Jude for his mental and emotional support.

Fortunately, unlike in the previous books, Celeste is more grounded here, and the book doesn't rely on a dramatic (and somewhat unbelievable) surprise.  Instead this is the totally believable story of two guys burdened with family who must play the hand they were dealt or walk away from the table.  That they both play and play well makes the story totally enjoyable.

Cupcakes Aren't Just for Girls

My January 2014 Challenge Read: A Novella

Grade A-

More than anything else in the world, Allen Jameson likes to create cupcakes, so after his older partner dies, Allen takes some of the money he is left and opens a cupcake shop.  So begins Cupcakes by Sean Michael, the sweet, funny, and often poignant tale of starting over again.

Two years after Gary's death, Allen finally realizes his dream and opens his shop.  One day contractor Byron Bannigan hurries into the shop, frantic to get cupcakes for his office manager's going away party.  Even though they are very different--Allen is used to the staid, cultured life Gary provided for him--they are the same, both workaholics who love their jobs.

As they see more of each other in between their work responsibilities, Allen realizes that not only life but love can reappear suddenly and blossom.  But there's a snake ready to strike in their Eden, someone who doesn't want Allen's happiness.  Can he and Byron beat the snake at his own game?

What makes this novella compelling are the main characters who at first glance don't seem to be the types to look outside their milieu when seeking dates.  Both are good guys, the type of guys who work hard to make their dreams come to fruition.  They are the kinds of characters readers immediately bond with and wish well.

Their interactions also compel readers to like them.  These aren't flashy guys, but real people, the people we want to have in our neighborhoods.  Byron has designed and built his house from the ground up.  Allen has taken Gary's classic home in an established neighborhood and made it a show place.  Neither of them takes his possessions lightly.

Both are supportive of the other.  When Allen's business blossoms and he has more work than he knows what to do with, Byron pitches in to help, much to Allen's surprise.  Allen, for his part, becomes a sounding board for Byron at the end of the day, a companion who makes the stresses of the day dissipate.

This story works really well as a novella since except for the snake in the grass, the entire plot centers on Allen letting go of Gary and realizing that his life isn't over but has redirected to a new track.  It's a perfect book to lend someone who has lost a spouse and can only look backward and not forward.

And speaking for forward, I look forward to exploring more fiction written by Sean Michael, whose author biography is one of the strangest I've read in quite a while.

Joining the Challenge

At the Misadventures of the Super Librarian website, Wendy is challenging readers again in 2014.  Since I do so much reading, I thought a little challenge this year would be nice.  The months break down like this:

January 15 - We Love Short Shorts! (Short stories, Novellas, category romance)
February 19 - Series Catch-Up (pick a book from a series you're behind on)
March 19 - New-To-You Author (an author you've never read before)
April 16 - Contemporary romance
May 21 - More Than One (An author who has more than one book in your TBR--to be read--pile)
June 18 - Romance Classics (classic book, classic author, classic trope/theme etc.)
July 16 - Lovely RITA (past RITA winners or nominees)
August 20 - Luscious Love Scenes (erotic romance, erotica, a "sensual" read - leave those "just kisses" books alone this month!)
September 17 - Recommended read (a book recommended to you by someone)
October 15 - Paranormal or romantic suspense
November 19 - Historical romance
December 17 - Holiday themes (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, it's all good!)

So, since I'm late signing up, you can expect to see my first review of the January book as soon as I read it.  Fortunately, novellas count.  I'm off to Amazon to look for interesting novellas right now.  In fact, I think I have some on my wish list.

Oh, yes, if you haven't signed up, but would like to challenge yourself, Wendy says you can sign up anytime.  Just like I did!