Review: An engaging short tale
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 11, 2012
This story is on the short side, being more of a novella than a proper novel, but engages the reader nicely and turns out to be a nice diversion. I rate it almost four stars. I liked it, but it didn't quite reach the levels other Andrew Grey stories do. Still, it's priced nicely and is well worth the money.Dirk is a firefighter who gets seriously injured while saving a baby from a burning building. He awakens in the hospital and is saddened and angered when the only person from the fire company to show up is a new guy named Lee that Dirk doesn't even know. After being prickly with Lee, Lee informs him that nobody else showed up because they all dislike him for being such a perpetual jerk. The truth of this sinks in over the weeks of his recuperation when Lee is the only person who will have anything to do with him. Well, his father visits occasionally, but ol' dad isn't a touchy-feely warm kind of guy and is more concerned with making his son into his own image than anything, wanting Dirk to be a Christian investment broker.It's no surprise that Dirk has a strong attraction to Lee, but being in the closet, doesn't like to acknolwedge it. Lee, who is very out and proud, tears apart Dirk for being a "closet case". But a romance wouldn't be good if there was no romance, so they soon find themselves in a relationship. The friction occurs when Dirk is not comfortable coming out of the closet, and Lee refuses to go back into one.There's some interesting things going on. Dirk realizing he's universally disliked by everyone (except Lee) makes for an interesting aspect, and his attempts at correcting that when he returns to the firehouse is also engaging. I would have liked the pacing slowed down a bit, with more detail added into how Dirk alienated himself from his coworkers, and how he worked at trying to gain their friendship again. I also thought Lee could have a used a little more nuance in his character. The romantic scenes were steamy and take a prominent place in the story, making the story definitely for adults only. Overall, it was an engaging and enjoyable tale. It was short, but priced accordingly, and that makes for a nice afternoon diversion.