Tuesday Two

 

Barging In by Josephine Myles (207 pages)
Samhain

This is now available today. Dan is a journalist who is doing an article about barging on the canal near Bath. He's pretty hopeless at it really, and literally runs into hottie Robin, who lives on his boat. He's surly and not impressed with idiot tourists, however before long, self-professed slut Dan, with no interest in a relationship, and firmly-bi Robin, have agreed to spend the week together, no strings. Well, we all know how that goes right? At first Robin comes across as a bit of an ass, and Dan is a good-time Charlie, but the more you get to know them and dig beyond the surface you find out what they are really about. Why Robin behaves as he does toward Dan, and Dan's sexually-free lifestyle and why he is staying away from commitment. I really really liked this story. It takes the time to develop the relationship, even after the week vacation, there's no easy answer to their issues, especially the distance. The cast of secondary characters was great, the locals who live on/beside the canal, Robin's very upper-crust family and Dan's blue-collar family, and his best friend and sometimes bed-buddy Tristan, all play important roles and are individuals with distinct personalities. I may have sniffled a bit at one point, but it's not super angsty. There are funny parts and serious parts and both men change and grow and move forward in their personal growth due to the other. If I had any niggles it was Robin's female friend who interfered a bit (but I appreciated that both guys ignored her LOL), and I would have loved to see Robin address his bi vs gay status, but those are very minor. So I am saying, rush out and get this great little story. You'll fall in completely love with Dan and Robin by the end of the book. I'm kind of hoping Tristan gets to find his HEA soon. :-)

Goldilocks and His Three Bears by AM Riley (105 pages)
Loose Id

Brian is new to LA and has found solace in one of the leather bars. One night he meets Paul, a big tattooed leather Daddy and they start up an exclusive relationship. Paul has roommates who are never home and things are going well, when Paul has to leave for several months for his job, and he never makes a commitment to Brian. He's hurt Paul left, but he meets Jim, a bit of a pot-head and they start a relationship, when Jim finally takes him home, holy hell, it's Paul's house. Then before long, just when Brian is getting attached, Jim disappears and asks Brian to water his pot plants. One day, Scott, the third roommate shows up and before long they are having fun, when, oops, Paul and Jim come home and find him in bed with Scott. Brian feels guilty and yet Paul never even discussed their relationship, nor did Jim. Before long they are all in bed together, however things can be a bit awkward and before long Jim and Scott have some kind of complicated thing going on, and what does that means for all of them. I liked that it wasn't just "easy", that everyone fell into bed and la la la, life is perfect. It was complicated and messy and confusing at times, and I think it naturally made sense that they tended to pair off with play-time still between all four. And the fact that Scott didn't get the D/s relationship between Paul and Brian, and felt it was abusive, so they had to try and explain to him how it worked for Brian, was an interesting twist. If you only like your two main heroes together then this isn't for you, but I think this was an interesting portrayal of a semi-open (polyamorous to an extent) relationship with three very different bears who all offered Brian something different that made a complete relationship for him. I quite enjoyed the complexity.