Summer Ride by Susan Laine
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Short story (112 pages)
Other: M/M, Anal Play
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

High school best friends Toby Billings and Jim Maverick went their separate ways after graduation. Five years later, they meet by chance. Toby needs a ride, and Jim offers to give him one.

During a journey across several states, with stops at roadside diners, state parks, and cheap motels, small talk turns to serious discussions of lives that didn’t turn out the way either of them dreamed. Their choices are catching up to them, and neither is on an innocent summer vacation. Renewing their friendship will mean painful admissions and secrets coming to light. Yet they discover they have more in common now than they ever guessed, and going their separate ways at the trip’s end won’t be easy.
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After aimlessly wandering the country, all roads lead back home. But first they must decide what home means.

Toby and Jim haven’t seen each other since High School graduation and happen to meet by chance at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. Toby is at a loose end, wanting to head west but with no real destination in mind, whereas Jim is happy to take Toby along for the ride, for the company and reconnection at the very least. Will this summer ride change both men’s lives?

I found this to be a really interesting and character-driven story. While I loved the deep conversations between Toby and Jim this story really is based around a bunch of very long talks between the men. Personally, I liked this character-driven style of story but I can well understand if the lack of action or adventure might not appeal to a lot of other readers.

The two men spent the majority of the book sharing with each other the course their lives had taken once they’d left high school – how things had turned out the same, and differently, to how they planned and expected. While not angsty or depressing, I found it interesting how they both had wended their way through the ups and downs of growing up and living their lives. I found both men really interesting – rather similar despite their different families and different situations. I loved how this – and their childhood friendship – created an emotional tie and link between them.

I wasn’t quite sold on how neither man knew the other was gay and they didn’t know they were interested in each other. While as small children I could certainly understand them remaining oblivious, as experimenting teenagers (and good friends) I just found that a bit hard to believe. That said, in general I found the story to be otherwise realistic and believable. I thoroughly enjoyed how neither man simply jumped into bed with the other – they both were cognizant of the fact their future potential friendship could be muddied with sex, but they agreed they were willing to give it a try. When Toby and Jim became intimate I found the scenes well written, steamy and full of emotional connection which I really enjoyed.

With a happy ending and a bright future ahead I enjoyed this story, finding it well-rounded and the character-driven plot interesting and engrossing to me. A great read and one I’ll happily re-read again in the future.

Just For Nice by H.M. Shepherd
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Short story (55 pages)
Other: M/M, Anal Play
Rating: 3.5 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Nick Caratelli flees the city in an attempt to escape a broken relationship and a career he never wanted. He plans to set up a bed-and-breakfast in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country—despite the fact he has no experience in renovating the old building. Luckily his handsome neighbor Sam approaches him with a curious proposal: he’ll help with the restoration in exchange for Nick babysitting his niece.

As they work to have the bed-and-breakfast open for business by summer’s end, their lives become interwoven without them even trying. Before he knows it, Nick is recovering from his loss and taking his place in the unconventional family that seems determined to form. But for Nick and Sam to be together in all the ways they desire, they’ll have to realize all the arguments against romance exist only in their heads….

After his fiancée broke up with him, Nick flees the city to start a B&B, but he quickly realizes he’s in over his head. A friendly neighbor, Sam, offers to help with the renovations in exchange for Nick babysitting Sam’s niece. Can these friendly overtures lead to both Nick and Sam finding the loving relationships they long for?
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I found this to be a well-written and light story. I instantly felt empathy for Nick – uprooting his life and searching for something more, and then his reluctance to be “that neighbor” who calls in the noise complaints at 3am when the kids next door just won’t quit partying…everything in the first few pages grabbed at me and touched a chord. I couldn’t help but enjoy Nick’s character and the position he found himself in life. Especially I understood how he longed for a simple, loving life and struggled to overcome the realities of what he was trying for. It made Nick feel really relatable and interesting to me and before the end of the first chapter I was totally hooked.

Sam was also a man I felt I could connect with. His character took a little longer to unwind – he didn’t share much of his history with Nick until almost half way through the book – but as a hard-working man struggling with custody of his teenage niece he was an interesting and appealing character to me.

While on one hand I really enjoyed the slower pace of the storyline just for the blossoming romance between Nick and Sam it was a little frustrating at times too. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know both men – and Ellie, Sam’s niece – properly first. I liked seeing them both in their own setting, watching their lives slowly merge first as neighbors helping each other out and then as men getting to know each other. But Nick initially at least was still pretty torn up about his fiancée ditching him – which was completely understandable, but while I knew he had to be bi, there was no mention of this until over half way through the story – so for quite some time there was a question mark there for me. And while Sam obviously was attracted to Nick, he also didn’t seem at all keen to make a move.

While I truly enjoyed the slower pace for the story, and appreciated Sam and Nick not simply glancing at each other then jumping into bed, not having more than the odd hungry look at each other for such a long way into the book had me wondering if they would even get together romantically at all. And for a romance story I personally prefer not to doubt whether the main characters will even get together – let alone have their romance and Happy Ever After. So this worry niggled me a fair bit.

That said, once Nick and Sam both get on the same page and admit their attraction the romance really progressed and became center stage for most of the rest of the story and I loved this. There is a small amount of sex in this – not enough in my opinion to put off more traditional romance readers, but certainly enough to satisfy those who like a bit of spice in their stories. I found this was a great balance and it helped round of the story perfectly in my opinion.

A slow paced, small-town feeling M/M that was both sweet and just spicy enough to keep me interested. With multi-layered and complicated characters and plenty of plot going around I felt this was a really good story that kept me eagerly turning the pages.