Technical note: this is a 56 page story, so a novelette, I suppose. The last 15% of the kindle file is an excerpt from a different author's work. I liked the MC, which is why I read it. But no one has lives outside their work apparently, which makes for thin characterization. It reminded me to not bother with this author's work, but YMMV of course. ( )

At one point in this story one of the characters exclaims "It's like a Spanish telenovela in here tonight"—and that is exactly the level of drama, hidden goings-on, and revelations you need to be ready for when reading this book. It starts with bartender Floyd, a man who loves to f*ck but has never really dated, and spirals downward from there. Whether it's the sleazy bar owner or the slutty bus boy, everyone tries to maintain an image of "high morals" but secretly… you'll have to read it to believe it!

Floyd makes no secret of the fact he likes men, but doesn’t want to commit. Every new guy he meets is a potential bed partner, at least for one night, and he is enjoying himself immensely. Or so he thinks. And anyway, all that ends when Gavin walks into the bar. Floyd is smitten, feels a deeper connection, and promptly f*cks it up. It takes him a while to gather the courage to try to fix it, but by then it may be too late…

Gavin is an interesting character, even if I found out way less about him than I wanted. It probably would have interrupted the flow of the story, and the energy it was building, but still. He intrigued me, and if the author's purpose was to make him appear "dark and mysterious", that objective was achieved in spades. When the man leaves in a huff, he does so extremely effectively.

If you like stories about men who tend to mess everything up because they are a little more cowardly than they'd like to admit to themselves before they finally man up, if you enjoy dramatic scenes with lots of very fun secondary characters, and if you're looking for a read that will have your head spin with all the connections and pseudo connections between several men, then you will probably enjoy this short story. I think it's a great mix between hilarious and (almost) sappily romantic.


NOTE: This book was provided by Pride Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )