Saturday Shorts

Getting increasingly festive as we head towards Christmas.

From the Heavens: The Star by Vic Winter
Dirk is a paramedic on the edge of breakdown.  Haunted by all the people he was unable to save, he heads off into the mountains for a six week sabbatical.  He's found a great place to stay run by a lovely old lady and so takes off for an overnight walk into the wilderness.  The lovely old lady turns out to be a worrier, as she sends out the mountain rescue to look for Dirk when he's not back by nightfall.  At first Dirk is irritated by the appearance of Wayne, the man sent to rescue him, but this soon turns into an attraction.  I have to say that this story was just delightful.  It had just enough angst to counteract some of the sweetness later in the book and I loved Dirk's slightly sarcastic turn of phrase.  His response when his peace and quiet is disturbed by Wayne had me snorting with laughter.  In the end this was a lovely story of how you can find love in the most unexpected of places.  Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.

Mistletoe on the Mountain by PD Singer
This short follows on from the end of the excellent Snow on the Mountain.  Kurt and Jake are now living through their HEA, but there's still a shadow in their relationship.  Jake isn't out yet and doesn't feel able to take that final step.  This causes tension in the relationship as Kurt is out and having to go back into the closet for Jake, but Kurt is trying hard not to push Jake for his own reasons.  I think I may have mentioned a few times how much I love these guys and this story was just such a perfect add-on to the previous book.  It actually gave the reader something other than the obligatory sex scene (although that's there too!) in that the story follows a continued progression in the relationship between the heroes.  It's taken from Jake's point of view and I really sympathised with his feelings about coming out - which stemmed really from his natural timidness than a worry about being rejected.  Overall, a terrific short and a must for those who have read the two previous Kurt and Jake books.  Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.

The Dickens With Love by Josh Lanyon
This festive novella is a bit of a roller coaster in terms of the relationship of the heroes, but ends on a lovely sweet note designed to warm the hearts of even the most determined Scrooge.  James is a disgraced antiquarian book dealer.  A link to a dodgy book dealer in the past has led to him becoming a pariah of the book hunting world so he's forced to work for unpleasant private collectors like Mr Stephanopoulos who has hired him to assess a new, previously unheard of Christmas Story by Charles Dickens, currently in the possession of British professor Sedgwick Crisparkle.  After a shaky start and a run in with an ocelot, James and Sedge act on their mutual attraction, but lies and secrets threaten to ruin the best thing that's happened to James in a long time.  Josh Lanyon is an absolute master at putting two men together and causing a disagreement.  Honestly, I'm in awe of the way he can start a scene with his characters in complete accord and end it with heated words and (almost) slamming doors.  I just love books where it's not just the sexual tension which is high, but also the emotional tension.  Both men in the book have an instant like and attraction to one another but underneath there's a simmering unease and you just know that a single misplaced word by one of the characters is going to light the fuse and set off the fireworks.  The story isn't too complicated but that didn't matter in what is essentially a character based story and I liked James very much, sympathising with his loneliness and frustration over things that have happened in his past over which he had little control.  The sly winks to Dickens' stories was just an added bonus.  Overall, I spent a very pleasant couple of hours engrossed in this story and I think you will too.  Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.