Livin’ on a Prayer, Slippery When Wet by Jude Mason
Publisher: Phaze Books
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Short Story (75 pgs)
Other: M/M
Rating: 3.5 Cherries
Review by Plumeria

Logan White is released from prison after serving eight years in Corcoran for his part in a B & E where a man was killed. Enter Reverend Shane Grayson, a gay man of the cloth who helps find Logan a job, but that turns into a horror story. Can the two lovers find a way to be together or will the underbelly of society win this battle?

From page one we are instantly drawn into Logan’s world. Ex-con, desperate for a job, we immediately feel his desperation as he searches for a job and avoids the temptations that will lead him to the streets and failure. But it’s not without some dark humor. In one job interview, he describes the interviewer this way: “The man who spoke was fat, his t-shirt and apron were splotched with unidentifiable stains and he had body odor that’d drive buzzards off a crap wagon.” Can’t you just see and smell this man?

I was a bit disoriented in the beginning not to know where this story takes place. I get no sense of where we are at all until he mentions Corcoran, which I know is a California state prison and not everyone is going to know that. I suppose some people don’t care about where a story takes place, but I always like to know where I am, even if it’s a made up setting. But one thing we do get is a sense of this man’s need and desperation. All he wants is a chance – he paid his dues, now he wants to stay on the straight and narrow, but if no one will offer him that chance, what’s a boy to do… I sensed he was getting close to breaking and there are underlying hints of violence – an interrupted robbery, a harshly sensual masturbation scene that brings home in some way the life of deprivation this man has suffered for the last eight or so years. But through it all, he wants to go straight. We can feel this and it makes us like him and want him to make it.

Then he has a run in with Reverend Shane Grayson, an immensely handsome man with the bluest eyes Logan has ever seen. It’s immediately apparent that there is a sexual attraction there, at least on Logan’s part. I can’t help it — at this point, I need to read on to see if I’m right and these two end up together. Certainly Logan is having impure thoughts about the reverend right from the start. It’s unclear whether Shane feels the same, though he is very happy to help Logan in his search for a job and seems eager to do so.

There’s a rawness to the narrative I really enjoyed. This is a story of an ex-con and as such it’s not ‘pretty’ in language or setting. Many viagra on line major issues and sources of dependency are sorted out with a proper solution if determined. As dogs age, tab viagra 100mg they experience many symptoms similar to people. These glands produce vital endocrines, together with adrenaline and noradrenalin that are neurotransmitters and help your system http://davidfraymusic.com/2015/07/ buy cialis from canada in managing stressful situations. It is said that premature ejaculation is not the problem when a male cannot hold up erections for enough to achieve successful on line levitra davidfraymusic.com lovemaking. There’s certainly nothing pretty about Logan, though he is ruggedly handsome, but nonetheless he’s an intriguing character and almost immediately I’m drawn into his world and find myself rooting for him.

It isn’t long before it becomes clear there is a strong attraction between Logan and Shane. Shane admits he’s gay and is very attracted to Logan. They become lovers soon after this. I had an issue with the sex part –- don’t get me wrong, it was hot, but all through it I kept thinking, this guy just got out of prison, neither one of the two men know each other from Adam, yet they freely engage in unsafe oral sex. I know we’re told earlier that Logan was tested after leaving prison, but that only means he was disease free then, most diseases have an incubation period, plus he hasn’t got a clue whether Shane has ever been tested. Front and center, it’s unsafe sex no matter how you look at it and no one seems to notice. It’s like they live in another world where these things aren’t a consideration. Later when we see them have anal sex at least they use condoms, but even unsafe oral sex is problematic for me. But it’s not an issue big enough to spoil the story, it’s just something I noticed. Other readers may not care. It is, after all, fiction.

As a villain, Santino is a little too cardboard evil for my taste. He would have been more effective if he had had a little more nuance and depth to him. I find complex bad guys more appealing than cartoon ones who chew the scenery with their evilness.

The end was somewhat predictable. The only doubt I harbored was whether Logan would try to run away or tell Shane what was going on. But everything is settled in the end and it was a very satisfying ending. Not brilliant, but this is a fun, hot read that I would recommend for a cold winter night curled up in bed, alone or not.