Older Men Rock

After reading as many gay romances about young, randy men who have no inhibitions about their sexuality and acting on their sexual impulses, I find it refreshing to get a review book with two mature men who share their attraction in a somewhat restrained way.  This doesn't mean they don't have sex.  It's just that they aren't hopping from hookup to hookup like bunnies.

K. C. Burns' Rainbow Blues is a particularly wonderful example of this.  Here's a bit of my review which went live today at The Romance Reviews:

Love between two mature men who are ready and willing to settle down isn't all fireworks and grand displays, but rather gentle like the purr of a cat. Or so implies K.C. Burn in this thoughtful romance that explores the attraction of two dissimilar, but intriguing men.

 At 43, construction foreman Luke Jordan has been divorced two years, having been a faithful, hard-working, but closeted husband since his wife got pregnant in high school and he felt obligated to marry her. While he's had a few gay flings during his married years, Luke is a pretty laid-back homebody who doesn't make friends easily and doesn't know how to find a companion now that he's free.

 For Christmas, his 24-year-old college senior son Zack gives Luke a membership to Rainbow Blues, a very loose organization of gay blue-collar workers, and urges his dad to go to their events. Luke agrees and goes to a play where he spies romantic lead Jimmy Alexander and is immediately attracted to him. When he shyly meets the 38-year-old amateur actor after the production and takes him out, he learns that Jimmy's day job is high school science teacher.

 Through a series of dates, the even-keeled Luke and high-strung Jimmy realize they love each other and are perfect for one another. Sure, they have bumps in the road--Zack originally fears Jimmy's a gold-digger looking for a sugar daddy and warns his father, for example. But the primary ingredient in this enjoyable romance is the wisdom of maturity.

Read the rest of my review at The Romance Reviews: http://glbt.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=14362

British Teacher Pushes Mentor Out of the Closet

From my review of Love Lessons Learned by K. C. Wells that is posted at The Romance Reviews:

A closeted mentor teacher falls for his fledgling out-and-proud instructor in this British romance that flirts with improper conduct.

When John Wainwright is hired to teach at an impoverished Manchester elementary school, he's immediately attracted to Head Teacher Brett Sanderson, who is also his mentor. But John thinks closeted Brett is straight, an impression Brett works hard at maintaining.

Since John, whose brother is a married gay man, wants to ultimately have the same kind of relationship his brother enjoys, he doesn't pursue Brett, but settles into his new living arrangement with three other out-and-proud men.

Brett, too, feels an attraction to John, but since Brett's only acknowledgement of his true self is as "Rob" in the gay resort of Brighton during school holidays, Brett too is ignoring his attraction to his mentee.

It's a stand-off until, one day, overcome by his attraction, Brett kisses John, and then the floodgates open. But is it wise to have an affair with John when he's supposed to be mentoring him?

Read the rest of my review at The Romance Reviews.

Is Dyslexia a Deal Breaker?

As a lifelong voracious reader, I was intrigued by the premise of Z. A. Maxfield's Eddie: Grime Doesn't Pay.  Eddie, a dyslexic whose adapted to his inability to read quickly by using a number of electronic gadgets, falls for Andrew, a teacher whose father was a bookseller and who has shelves of books in his house.

I know that if my husband wasn't a reader (and writer) we would have never gotten married.  Being with someone who doesn't read would have driven me crazy.  Since I worked in libraries and newspaper offices, the chances of my falling for someone who wasn't a reader weren't large.  So I was curious to see if Maxfield could convince me that Eddie and Andrew might make it as a couple.

Fortunately, she did, and it was easy to give the book an "A" rating at All About Romance.  I think the thing that tipped the balance was that Eddie wasn't against reading, but knew there were many things he needed to read, like menus in restaurants for example, and found ways to work with his inability to decipher them.

As I read the book, I realized it wasn't someone with dyslexia that I couldn't have lived with, but someone who hid himself because of his inability to read well and who refused to find ways around his inability.