Two For Tuesday

Yay for drinks. :-) So we have had a break in the heat finally. I guess it's supposed to warm up through the week but yesterday was downright cool. It's kind of weird being kidless for a week, but my daughter made it off to both sets of Grandparents on Saturday. It was her first ever flight by herself but she's an old hand at traveling so had no issues. Only 4 more days at work counting today. Yay. Not that I'm counting down the days or anything. Noooooo. ;-)

A Change of Scenery by JM Cartwright (185 pages)
Torquere Press

Con works in construction in Chicago and when his promotion is denied in favour of an owner's relative, he's tired of the games in the big city and takes a job working for a smaller city in West Virginia. His first day there he runs across a guy with a flat tire and reacts oddly because he's straight, has always dated women. However as chance has it, his apartment is over Stephen's shop. He determined just to be friends with Stephen but the first time he gets him alone they are all over each other. However he quickly runs and Stephen realizes he's got a closet case on his hands. The question is, how long is he willing to put up with the hot/cold Con, even if he caves to the he-man attitude regularly. I liked that Stephen FINALLY grew a spine. He was much more patient than I likely would have been. When Con wasn't thinking about if he was "gay", he was sweet in that alpha-male guy, when he started thinking about he was an ass. Thankfully he figured it out and it was a sweet story with touches of humour and some sexy bedroom times with a D/s edge.

Muscling Through by JL Merrow (60 pages)
Samhain

This is a wonderful story of opposites, all told from the point of view of Al, who is big, tattooed, scarred and not all that bright, but he's got a good heart. He meets Lawrence, an art history professor in an unusual way, which when told from Al's perspective is hilarious and you totally get how different perspectives can be of the same event. Larry is sure he's about to be murdered, and Al is just helping a poor drunk guy home. Once Larry gets over his freak out, he finds out Al has a lot of art talent and he just likes the guy and his simple outlook on life. It's not easy, Larry's family and friends don't get it, beyond a sex thing, but that doesn't stop the two men who eventually move in together. A misunderstanding with an art model causes some stress, but in the end, Larry's sister helps out. A couple of times I wanted to slap Al with a clue stick, but because you hear his thoughts about what's happening, you kind of understand how he viewed things in a very literal way, and Larry didn't help by running off and not talking about it. He should have known how Al would think. Al's Mom was a hoot, even if Larry's parents were snobby, I was glad his sister came around. I thought it was a very sweet story and you couldn't help but adore Al and his innocence and Larry's fascination with a gentle giant.