Review: Not an easy book or a predictable read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 23, 2014
Reviewed by Pat Henshawfor TheRomanceReviews.comTough is the operative word in this novel of love and redemption between two men who've been batted around by life.After being rejected by his mother for being gay and reviled by his ill father who promised to leave him the old man's Rio Grand Valley trailer after he died, Chenco Ortiz is incensed when his father leaves the trailer to the Ku Klux Klan instead.Visiting the probate lawyer's office to see if there's anything he can do to keep the trailer which he considers his home, Chenco runs into Steve Vance, a friend of Chenco's older brother, Mitch Tedsoe, the long distance trucker from the first in the series, Special Delivery.A drag queen in his spare time from his job at a cafe, on the one hand Chenco knows his father was repulsed by his son's onstage alter ego Caramela, but on the other hand, the old man should have been grateful because Chenco paid all his medical bills and the home where he spent his last days.As Chenco stews about where he will live when evicted, Steve is smitten with him and begins a campaign to get to know him. When push comes to shove, Chenco moves into Steve's spacious hacienda which is also housing Chenco's brother Mitch, Mitch's husband Sam, and their friend Randy, a Las Vegas card dealer, who is married to a casino owner.Steve's life, however, is not without its complications because Steve is also caring for his old friend Gordy who's gone off the deep end, living in a decrepit cannery warehouse, often not eating, and begging for Steve's personal attention.Ironing out the problems in Chenco's and Steve's personal lives is paramount if the two are to have a chance of making a life together, which is the crux of the tale.Both Chenco and Steve are interesting and indelible characters, worthy of this strong series. Both are beset by immediate and important problems, which are fleshed out convincingly. And both are so likeable that readers will be on their side from the outset.But this isn't an easy book or a predictable read. Neither man is cut from the mainstream, but is plagued by kinks that the outside world for the most part doesn't understand. And this is where Heidi Cullinan shines because she makes their differences part of their basic characters, not colorful add-ons.Chenco and Caramela aren't two separate entities, but two facets of one interesting character whose well-meaning goodness makes up his basic personality. Steve's safety valves of BDSM and needle play may seem dangerous and unhealthy, but his grounded responsibility and respect for himself and others make these fringe fetishes work to keep him sane in a world that's neither sane nor kind.As someone who's enjoyed Heidi Cullinan's walk on the wild side in the two previous Special Delivery books as well as this one, I can't wait to see what she has in store for us in the future.