Review: Cute, fun and easy read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 14, 2014
This review can be found at The Blogger Girls review site.Stratford Dale is not very happy. He’s working his butt off ewriting popular children’s books under the pen name Doctor Chicken but he’s getting paid barely anything for it. On top of that, he has the worst luck in finding a guy to call his own especially when all the guys who are interested only want him for sex. Vinnie Giani changes all that when they meet at a cooking class and Vinnie pulls out his rusty romantic charms and tries to woe Stratford into something of a relationship. Both men are clueless on just what that means but one thing has been made clear… keeping secrets is never good. Will their omissions cause their fledgling relationship to fall apart before it ever actually starts?Stratford is that cute mix of awkward and geeky. He loves to wear bow ties and has the tendency to be very clumsy at the worst possible moments. He’s straight up adorable and I loved every minute of his awkwardness. Vinnie is the exact opposite in that he’s charming and sexy. I loved that Vinnie loved all of who Stratford is and even goes to great lengths to explore his likes, such as starting to watch Stratford’s favorite show, Doctor Who, just because he knew Stratford loves it.Seriously, the two together are just all kinds of sweetness. They balance each other out but also have a lot of issues they have to work through. At times, Vinnie seems lost and Stratford is there to guide him through things. At other times, Stratford needs the guidance. The whole story is about them working through their problems and trying at something new. Stratford is insecure, afraid of rejection and hates confrontation but Vinnie does what he can to help Stratford through that. Vinnie has a tendency to try and fix things, which causes them both some problems. The story is a nice mix of exploring their feelings, wants and dreams and trying to walk on eggshells around those issues.While this was a fun and easy story, I admit one of my biggest problems was the way Stratford could never just say enough is enough. He has major rejection issues not to mention he doesn’t like confrontation so that means he will do anything to avoid anything negative… this means he lets things play out well past when they should, which equates to him getting walked all over. I loved that he was so damaged in this way but it also got on my nerves that he couldn’t stand up for himself. There were also a few scenes where it seemed that Stratford and Vinnie did a character role reversal (Vinnie started acting like Stratford, Stratford started acting like Vinnie, etc.). They weren’t that big a deal for me but the transition into that wasn’t very smooth.In the end, I really did enjoy it. It’s a pleasant read and while Stratford was frustrating a time or two, I did love Stratford and Vinnie and the tentative way they go about their relationship. The ending was a little abrupt but I still liked where they ended up. If you’ve liked KC Burn’s other books, you’ll no doubt like this one as well :)