Power Players by Scudder James Jr.
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Short story (64 pages)
Other: M/M, Anal Play
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Jeffrey knows the underbelly of Washington, DC, well. Once homeless, he’s now the director of a massive coalition of shelters. The last person he’s interested in meeting is wealth consultant Derek T. Hinsdale III, another slick-talking, privileged jerk. Jeffrey has had enough of those.

Varnya means purchase cialis davidfraymusic.com the one which imparts fairness and glow to skin. The issue of access to medicines is very buy canadian viagra http://davidfraymusic.com/david-fray-delights-in-chicago-with-cso-and-christoph-eschenbach/ important to get the impotence treatment in India to have less trauma and laryngeal risks. She will satisfy cialis cheap uk and request for more lovemaking episodes. People are also learning that generics are bad and don’t satisfy the quality control at big enterprises is superior to that of smaller drug manufacturers from third world countries, and the risk of ending up with poor quality drugs in the cases of branded variations is virtually absent. buy viagra davidfraymusic.com But Derek’s latest project could impact Jeffrey’s organization—with a multimillion-dollar gift awarded at a special dinner and ceremony. Jeffrey and Derek seem so different, but in their convictions, they find common ground, and the heat they call up in each other can’t be ignored. Can they salvage a disastrous evening and a painful reminder of Jeffrey’s past?

Jeffrey usually avoided people like Derek at all costs. Slick, wealthy and totally out of Jeffrey’s usual orbit, people like Derek have no place in Jeffrey’s world. The two men collide when Derek’s foundation gives a huge money grant to Jeffrey’s coalition of homeless shelters and despite neither man being on the market for a relationship the chemistry zings between them. Can these two DC men handle the power brewing between them?

I found this to be an interesting and well-paced short story. Both Derek and Jeffrey are layered, complicated characters and even though they are from completely different worlds many of their characteristics are similar. I admit I got a little tired of hearing about just how similar they both were (they were frequently both referred to as “driven” and instigators of good and how young they were to be the best in their field and so forth). A part of me wonders if maybe instead of having mutual friends repeat these similarities many times and various newspaper articles quoted again and again this drive and ambition of both men could have been showcased in a different and less repetitive manner throughout the book.

I also wasn’t particularly keen on the mis-communication that caused some serious conflict between the two men towards the end of the story. It made me genuinely doubt whether it was realistic for Jeffrey and Derek to work together longer-term if such a simple misunderstanding could get blown so far out of proportion and (initially at least) neither party was willing to talk their concerns through. When both Jeffrey and Derek’s immediate response was to sever ties and not communicate (or trust, or try to understand what was really happening) particularly when they were really moving forward with their relationship together it cast some serious doubts about their future potential to me, personally.

I did, however, really like how neither man was perfect and they were each recovering in their own way from bad relationship choices in their recent past. Both men were susceptible to being taken advantage of romantically and each has been burned before. I feel this, more than their professional power and career activities, put the two men in each other’s romantic orbit. These men were both hard-wired to give and love and support. While I can easily see that it would be easy for some romantic partners to abuse those parts of Derek and Jeffrey’s characters, by supporting and raising each other higher, I felt it meant Derek and Jeffrey could amplify their outreach and good works. I found this aspect to the story very hopeful and uplifting and a great read.

With a lot of good works, helping their community and a strong feeling of warmth, this is overall a very good story. I enjoyed the strong cast of secondary characters and found both Derek and Jeffrey to be interesting and realistic people to read about. With a few bumps along the way this overall was a fun and light story to read.