Under Contract - 3.5 stars
It just didn't do it for me. A lot of important parts in character development were skipped, while it dragged too much on the (hot and steamy) sex part. It had it's good moments though.
Over the Road - 4.5 stars
Now this story was fantastic. It was funny, has good tension (plot-wise) and the characters are likable. It even has the angsty part at the end, and it made me think it would have been better if it was a tragedy rather than a HEA story. The only part that bothered me was that they didn't exchange names over all the months they talked. But it was either that or make them too dumb to fit the pieces together when they met irl, and I prefer that teeny annoying detail over pulling my hair out while screaming at the characters how dumb they are.
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I was a little disappointed, usually I enjoy these authors a lot more. The first story was probably 2.5 stars while I enjoyed the second story a lot more. I would give that one 3 stars.

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Two short stories featuring working class guys, but neither of them is especially strong or memorable. I read this a week ago, and I had to look it up to remember what it entailed. There is one involving a construction guy and his supervisor, which at least had the interesting idea of what happens when someone you don't know outside of work declares they have deeper feelings. Nick was actually transferring because he thought Ted Lucas hated him, and instead Ted was obsessed with him. It wasn't bad, and engaging while I read it, but it wasn't especially moving or intense.

The second story was the weaker of the two, I guess I had just read the excellent Special Delivery which had also a trucker hero, and the men here paled in comparison. Even though it was a novella, it bogged down in the middle and there were factors that really annoyed me that i can't go into here without a major spoiler.

It was a really cheap download - $2.49, so I'm not worried that I bought it, but I don't think I'll be rereading them very often. ( )

Under Contract by Madeleine Urban: Ted Lucas is new in town. A foreman construction worker, he is know among the crew to be a grumpy man. And instead Lucas is only a very shy man; his former lover left him since Lucas was not able to make him understand how much he loved him. Now, on the new job site, Lucas felt in love at first sight for Nick Cooper, his assistant foreman, but instead of making clear his feeling, he avoids for much is possible the man, and looks him from afar with eyes full of desire. Glares that Nick Cooper mistakes for disapproval ones, and that push him to ask for a transfer. The day he wants to give his notice, Lucas finds the courage to express his feelings and Cooper obviously his perplexed: how can a man who nearly spoke to him being really in love? Cooper thinks it to be only a question of lust and he is willing to give Lucas the chance to quiet down a bit of heat. But a night is not enough to wear down the attraction, and so begins a strange relationship, one in which Lucas becomes even more involved and instead Cooper is only waiting for him to be tired.

Cooper has not a big opinion on himself. He is an happy-to-go man, friendly and handsome, but probably he doesn't think him to be relationship material. With his easy behavior, he unintentionally doesn't give to anyone the chance to come closer. Lucas instead is so in love that everything Cooper does, only increases his love; he was so hurt in the past to not have the gut to voice his feelings, that now he is almost in an hurry to make them clear. It takes him a bit to have the courage to do that, but now he is like a train in race, nothing can stop him. And maybe this attitude makes Cooper wonders if it's real love or only the spur of the moment.

Lucas and Cooper's relationship is easy and enjoyable; two real man who have no problem to make physically clear that they like each other; with the bodies is simple, but when the hearts are involved, it's another matter. Sex is not a problem, and also a buddy f..k relationship, but love... it takes a lot more courage.

Over the Road by Abigail Roux: Millis (Elliot) and MacLean are truck driver. They know each other since a bit, but only by phone. When one of the two needs a friendly ear, he knows who to call. But sometime a voice is not enough and so, a lonely night, Elliot gives up to the temptation and spends the night with Jimmy, another truck driver he meets on the street. Jimmy is an easy man, an apparently no strings attach relationship, and so that first night Elliot doesn't feel guilty... in the other hand, what he has with MacLean is not a real relationship, he even knows if the other man is gay or if he is interested in him. But then there is a second encounter with Jimmy, and now Elliot starts wondering if he is content with that, of if he wants the real thing, and if he wants the real thing, he wants that with Jimmy or with MacLean?

This is a domino play and a play of hidden cards. A mistaken comedy. I don't want to give up the story, but it's pretty clear since the first pages what the secret is, and so, after discovered it, you have only to enjoy the show, and in particular, the almost epistolary relationship between Millis and MacLean, but here, instead of letters, we have two mobile phones and the long American highways.

Again a right dose of sex, and two real men who enjoy it and a lot. In both stories, the friendship is almost important like the sex relationship; both couple are first friends and than lovers, but also when they are lovers, they still remain friends, and this make all easier and smooth. And since friendship is so important, there is also a light and funny tone in both stories that makes them very enjoyable.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981737242/?tag=elimyrevandra-20