Gotta Love Them Good Old Boys

In Mathew Ortiz' Love and Salvage: Eli's Three Wishes, Eli Gaither is a good ole Georgia boy in the best sense of the description. He works hard, plays hard, and loves even harder. But Ortiz is quick to remind readers that even good ole boys who look like they have life by the tail need true love, and sometimes it's harder for them to find it than it is for us lesser mortals.

Big, brawny, and bald Eli works at the Gaither family salvage company and despite a huge family and friends has been a loner since his divorce. His younger son, with whom he bonded more than his other two children, refuses to speak to him, and lately the family pretty much avoids him because Eli's been acting like a bear with a thorn in his paw.

The only one who doesn't seem even the least bit intimidated by grouchy Eli is Oscar Hernandez, a tall, thin Hispanic man who isn't afraid of yelling at and teasing Eli. At first annoyed by the interior designer, Eli mentally bats him away, trying to walk away from Oscar's taunting, until Oscar suddenly kisses him.

However, Eli only wants three things in the world: For his son to talk to him, for someone to love who loves him back, and to become a family man again. He's embraced the fact that he's gay and that getting married in the first place because it was expected of him was a stupid idea. Now he wants the love and happiness that so many of his extended family have, not just another roll in the hay.

Fortunately, Oscar is just the right guy to take on Eli. Coming from a loud and lively Hispanic family, Oscar immediately understands the Gaithers and reads Eli as just the man he wants and needs to complete him. And Oscar is just the bandy rooster to get what he wants.

When Eli's son appears, having been kicked out of the house by his mother after he announced that he was gay, Eli greets him with open arms, only to realize that taking care of the boy, who is hurt and confused, will probably end his burgeoning relationship with Oscar. But how can Eli walk away from the son he loves so much or from the man who is stealing his heart?

Read the rest of my review at All About Romance.

The P-town Chronicler Checks In

Jacob Z. Flores, author of three light, frothy P-town gay romances, takes on bears and bear culture in his latest, When Love Gets Hairy.  In his first two novels, Flores made Provincetown sound pretty formidable with hordes of randy gay guys roaming the sidewalks and beaches searching for Mr. Right, but imagining the same scene with bears, who take up a lot more space, becomes nearly frightening.

Fortunately, the bear of note, Teddy--bad jokes, Mr. Flores, ugh!--is too nice and kind to be scary.  His romance counterpart, non-bear Nino, however, is a little more challenging to like.  And the love of Teddy's life is about as deep and likable as a sidewalk puddle.

But no matter.  Flores isn't going for an in-depth psychological study of his gay men, especially in P-town where fun and anonymous sex are the names of the game.  It's the time of year to let one's hair down and during Bear Week, there's a lot of hair around.