Special thanks to Leontine from Leontine's Book Realm for the super header.


Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Short is sexy

There are problems with having access to too many computers. I generally keep all of my books on my netbook which I use when my daughter is home, but when she's away I use our desktop and during the week I have my work computer. So I read books somewhere and then I forget and find it after the fact which happened here. So this is a bit of catch-up

Sandalwood and a Potato by Andy Slayde and Ali Wilde (55 pages)

Nathan works at the bank and one day a cute guy picks up his wallet he dropped but he doesn't think much about it. Since his ex took him for everything he had he's sworn off relationships. Sky, the guy who picked up the wallet, owns a new age store in the mall. By chance his Mom is Nathan's next door neighbor and she conspires to get them together despite the fact that Nathan tries to push him away. Nathan finally agrees to a no-strings relationship, just friends with benefits. When Sky confesses his feelings Nathan freaks and has to decide what he wants. It reminded me a bit of Cheek to Cheek by Chris Owen in that Nathan, despite spending every weekend and sleeping at Sky's more than his place still insisted they weren't in a relationship. Denial is a wonderful thing. It was a good short read though, I really liked Sky and his positive attitude even in the face of Nathan's negativity.

Play it Again Sam by Jenna Byrnes (53 pages)

Sam got laid off from his tech job and to avoid dealing has spent the week at the old neigborhood theatre watching Casablanca every afternoon. Finally he gets up the nerve to talk to Marcus who works there. They go out for lunch and agree to meet that night. They have some fun in the projector room but Marcus who is in is mid-40's tries to put Sam who is 33 off. Sam finally convinces him to come to his place but Marcus is really freaked and Sam thinks maybe he's got agorapobia. He starts pushing for more and demanding answers which chases Marcus off. When the movie theatre closes down Marcus has to decide if he'll reveal his secret and take a chance. It was interesting to read a character who obviously had issues and was older forced by circumstances (losing his job) to face up to his fear.

The Manny by Sara Bell (56 pages)

Tate is having the day from hell, his dead lover's parents are suing him yet again, and his annoying landlord is evicting him. He's looking for a night job and sees and ad for a night nanny and despite being a 6 foot tattooed biker (oldest of 9 kids) he goes for it. Turns out it's for AJ, his landlord who just inherited a 6 week old baby when his ex died (she used his sperm so it's his bio baby). He seems to have a hate on for Tate but when he makes the baby stop crying he hires him on the spot. They then spend their time getting to know each other until finally they give in to the passion. A misunderstanding almost derails things but an intervention from AJ's sister helps them work it out. I really liked this but I'm a sucker for the big guy with a baby routine. I also liked Tate's family what you saw of them and on the whole a cute read and AJ is so hapless with the baby but totally in love. It shows it's a holiday story but that is such a small part of the story I didn't even realize it until after I was done.

17 comments:

Chris said...

I really liked The Manny, too. And I enjoyed Play It Again, Sam. Just added the first one to my TBB list. :)

Tam said...

Jen reviewed the first one and really liked it so I picked it up. It's definitely worth the read.

Jenre said...

Erm...no I didn't :). I reviewed Aniseed and Juniper by GS Wiley from the TQ Spice series, not this one.

These all sound good. I looked at The Manny today cos I've just read/reviewed a Sara Bell book and was interested to see what else she's written. I might pick that one up now.

Chris said...

Um... I wonder who reviewed it, Tam? Because I thought it was Jen, too.

Tam said...

Well, who the hell reviewed it then? LOL Maybe Val? Hmmm. Ha, found it, Lily. Thanks Lily.

They were all good little reads Jen. I quite liked Sara Bell's style in this book which is why I am waffling on the one your reviewed but contemporary and fantasy are so vastly different it's hard to say if it would translate for me.

Lily said...

LOL :)

I did like the Potato book very much. The others sound good as well though I haven't read them.

Tam said...

I knew I'd figure out who reviewed it sooner or later Lily. Wanted to give you credit. :-)

Average Reader said...

Hi, Tam, good reviews! I got enough of a feel for these books to let me know that I probably wouldn't like any of them -- so I appreciate the info! Not enough compelling conflict in any of these for me ...

Tam said...

You're right Val, they don't have a lot of conflict beyond some misunderstandings which are pretty quickly cleared up. Different strokes. :-)

wren boudreau said...

The Manny sounds good. I'll have to add it to the list. That it's by Sara Bell intrigues me as well.

Tam said...

It was a cute story. It did have a bit of a BM, but it was fairly quickly resolved.

Erotic Horizon said...

Denial is a wonderful thing.

Don't knock it hon - there are many a book running around out there with this plot line...

I read the last two and really liked The Manny - I thought the first few pages were a bit wonky - but once baby got into the picture... hooyha...

I have never read anything by those two first authors - I will have to go check them out as well...

E.H>

Tam said...

Ah yes, denial. Works great in real-life too EH. To a point, then it all goes to shit. LOL

I've never read anything by the first two either but it was a cute read.

Tracy said...

I started Sandlewood but I just couldn't get into it - and the banker guy was annoying me. I didn't call it a DNF because I keep thinking I'm going to go back to it but I haven't yet. I'll try again soon. :)

my veri word is: outandpi. Shouldn't that be out and gay or out and bi? lol

Chris said...

outandpi is very mathetmatical!

Tam said...

That's for gay mathematicians. LOL

He does start out being an asshole Tracy but I liked how Sky didn't let it stop him from pressing forward and breaking down the barriers. He definitely had "issues" though.

Tracy said...

lmao - very clever Chris and Tam.

Ok - I'll give him/it another shot. Thanks.