Saturday Shorts

Troubles by GS Wiley
After finishing the marvellous anthology of shorts by this author I craved more of her stuff.  Then I remembered that I'd won this short over on her blog not too long ago so I dug it out of the TBR pile.  It's set in London in 1992 and follows Belfast born Protestant, Donal, who moved to London with his mother and sisters when he was a child after his father was killed in a bombing during the troubles.  Donal doesn't care about religion, but his mother does, to the extent that she refused to speak to her now dead Catholic neighbour.  When the neighbour's nephew, Diarmit, arrives to set the house in order ready to sell, Donal is very attracted to him and it isn't long before they start on the road to romance.  That road isn't smooth for the pair, however, when more than religion could prove a roadblock to their relationship.  Growing up in the 80s it was impossible not to hear about all the dreadful things that happened during that time in NI and I found that aspect of this story very interesting, especially Donal's thoughts about his mother and father and how his Belfast accent is viewed in London, even after years of living there.  Donal has a wry sense of humour which was quite endearing and an accepting attitude to everyone, including his cross dressing friend and his Catholic hating mum, even if he didn't agree with her views.  The other characters were equally as well rounded for such a short form.  This was a well written story which had a number of sly, amusing references to keep me firmly in the time period but the story also had a punch of a serious message.  Overall a great mix of humour and pathos.  Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.


Heart Shot by GH Worth
Ashton is a rich man who joint owns an exclusive art gallery.  It's almost a year since his stalker ex-lover shot him in the chest and it's been a long and painful recovery for him.  Ashton decides that he wants to have a tattoo to cover up one of the scars left by the shooting so he meets up with Mark, a tattoo artist.  There's instant heat between them, almost enough to have them doing the dirty on the tattoo shop floor, but they manage to restrain themselves at least for a short while.  Tam recommended this story to me and I can see why: tattoos, a bit of humour and hot sex, what more could you want in a story?  All the characters were given enough to make them more than cardboard cut outs and I liked the overall message of facing your past and getting over it.  The writing was solid and if I have any niggles it's that the way the men talked was a little unrealistic, for example who tells their friends that they've just met a guy and "I want to hear him scream"?  Perhaps I'm just too British, but that stuck me as a little over the top.  Other than that niggle, I still enjoyed the story and would recommend it to anyone looking for a hot little story about a guy with tattoos.  Grade: Good.

Buy this book HERE.


Special Delivery by Cassandra Gold
Mark is a secretary to a high powered lawyer and works hard.  Unfortunately all this hard work means that he never gets to play and add that to his natural timid and shy nature and it's been a long time since Mark met anyone special.  When a gorgeous new delivery guy, Tim, starts work at the firm all the secretaries are gossiping and it isn't long before they're laying bets on who's going to be asked out by Tim. Mark doesn't think he's got a chance, but perhaps his quiet, unassuming nature is just what Tim's looking for.  I have to admit that I loved this story.  I like shy heroes and Mark was just perfect.  He's got quite a low sense of self esteem and it doesn't take much for it to get knocked down further by the sometimes cruel comments of the other secretaries.  The way that he blushes, fumbles through interactions with Tim and generally makes a fool of himself was extremely endearing, although I can see how some readers might find that irritating.  I also liked the peek into office life from the view of the secretaries rather than the usual boss being the hero.  The best thing about the story was the gentle lead up to the romance, with a slow build up in the tension and a wholly satisfying conclusion.  The romantic in me was sighing sweetly and fluttering her eyelashes by the end.  Marvellous.  Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.