Digital Review: There's Something About Ari

Disclaimer: I'm friends with L.B. Gregg.  She's also been known to keep me in chardonnay at RWA conferences.  All of which has nothing do with the fact that I frickin' LOVED this novella.  You'll just have to take my word for it.  The free wine had nothing to do with it.

I am an unrepentant sucker for a friends-to-lovers romance.  So I was probably predisposed to liking There's Something About Ari by L.B. Gregg.  But then you mix in what I enjoy about her Gregg's writing in the first place (more on that in a bit) on top of friends-to-lovers and the undercurrent of angsty character baggage?  I was totally gone.  Over the moon.  I had my full swoon on.  Yes, I can see that this story isn't perfect.  Because it's not.  I had quibbles.  But frankly?  I didn't care.  The quibbles were pretty easy to ignore once I had my full-blown swoon on.

Buck Ellis had one mission in life: getting the hell out of Bluewater Bay, Washington.  And he was so close!  Full-ride college scholarship in hand.  Then his mom dies and it's just Buck and his kid brother, Charlie.  Dad passed away years earlier, which means the boys are now orphans and Buck is "technically" an adult at 18.  What other choice is there?  Buck doesn't leave, determined to raise Charlie, get him off to college, which means no full-ride scholarship and sticking around in Bluewater Bay to work as a crappy coffee barista.  On top of all this (because, you know, this isn't enough), his best friend, his only friend, Ari Valentine helps himself to Buck's saved money and skips town.  Runs away for good.  Ari.  Who Buck fell in love with when they met on the playground as kids.  As childhood turns to teen hormones, Buck realized he was fully in love (and lust) with Ari.  Complicated, nothing but trouble, Ari.  He watched while Ari "dated" (OK, banged) every other girl in high school and kept his crush to himself.

Back then, I'd died small deaths every time he looked at me, or talked to me, or slept on the floor of my bedroom, or borrowed a fucking pen.  God.  He made me cold.  He made me hot.  Sweaty.  Sick.  Happy.  Sad.  Horny.  Ashamed.  The whole fucking enchilada.  Squared.  It hadn't made sense then, because I'd been so afraid, so terrified of making a fatal error and losing him forever.

Now Ari is back in town.  He's an actor and has landed a part on the new TV show, Wolf's Landing, which is filming on location in Bluewater Bay.  So Ari is back in his hometown, living right next door (literally) to Buck.  Complicating all the baggage, all the words left unspoken between them?  Yeah, Buck's still got it bad for Ari Valentine. 

This novella opens up with Ari and Buck meeting on the playground as kids and that opening scene had me half-gone before I even got to Chapter 2.  There's a sweetness, a charm, to those moments.  Watching two boys, both outsiders, find each other - which had nothing do with romance (because, hello?  Kids!) and everything to do with finding your first real friend.  That other person who just seems to "get" you.

What charms me the most about Gregg's work is her ability to weave tangible, believable, human interaction.  Her relationship building.  I genuinely like her characters - flaws and all.  These are the kind of people I would want to know in real life - warts and all.  And certainly there are warts.  Ari taking off like he did (although he had reasons), Buck who is emotionally stunted (again, reasons), and the various secondary characters.  As Ari and Buck navigate their way towards each other, they also must navigate their pasts, all that has been left unsaid and, in a bit I especially loved, the idea of a "real" relationship.  Buck's been busy trying to keep what family he has left together.  Which means his past "relationships" (and I use the term loosely) were self-destructive, furtive one-night-stands that mostly took place with out-of-town tourists in public restrooms (Real relationship experience?  Nil).  And now here's Ari....right next door.  Ari who he has all of the these complicated feelings for, which means yeah - not exactly quickie in the restroom material.  Plus, Ari broke his heart once.  Buck doesn't think he could survive round #2.

Even as I was swooning from the characters, the relationships, the baggage, the "fun" that is Gregg's writing style - I could see some cracks.  There's not a lot of scene setting here, this being the second entry in the Bluewater Bay, multi-author, continuity series.  On one hand it's great, because there's no annoying sequel-baiting "walk on" characters mucking up the already tight word count.  But on the other hand, while I was intrigued by Buck and Ari right away as characters, the back-story of the series was slower coming into focus.  Also, the ending is a bit rushed.  I've seen other reviews stating this and I'm not going to say those readers are wrong.  This is a novella and I loved these characters, their romance, their baggage, their relationship, so much that I easily, happily would have spent 300 pages with them.  It helps tremendously that Gregg employed the ol' friends-to-lovers trope here, as it's more believable that two people who already have a shared history together can declare true love for each other in 100 pages - but still?  It's rushed.  But damn, that ending is sweet all the same.  Genuinely, lovingly sweet.  I wanted to jump through my Kindle screen and hug every damn person in this story.

There's also a few dangling threads, mostly revolving around Buck's identity as a gay man.  I wouldn't necessarily say he's been living in the closet - I mean, his boss knows he's gay.  But when it comes to younger brother Charlie?  That's where I'm not sure.  I mean, Buck's no virgin - but again, it's been wham-bam one-night stands.  Buck doesn't "do" sleepovers for obvious reasons.  So it would have been interesting to read about Charlie finding out that Ari (who he follows around a bit like a puppy) and Buck were hooking up as a couple - and, you know, confirmation that Charlie is aware that his brother is gay.  Seeing more on that front would have been nice.

However, as it is, I still enjoyed this story immensely.  I inhaled it in fact.  It charmed the ever-lovin' snot out of me.  I just loved everything about these characters and it pushed every. single. one. (seriously) of Wendy's friends-to-lovers trope buttons.  No, it's not perfect.  But I loved it.  I wish I could reread it for the first time all over again.

Final Grade = A-

ETA: I labelled this as a "digital review," but it is also available in good ol' fashioned print!  My bad.

Digital Review: Men Of Smithfield: Sam And Aaron

Disclaimer: I know LB Gregg.  I'm friends with LB Gregg.  In fact I fully expect to spend an exorbitant amount of time in the hotel bar with her at RWA San Antonio throwing back a few glasses of vino.  Also, this book is dedicated to me.  I'm not sure how I feel about having a book being dedicated to me when the secondary character of the town librarian is 1) old and 2) a battle ax but hey - at least she's awesome.  I want to be an awesome old battle ax librarian if I ever grow up.

You know what I'm a total sucker for?  Romances featuring nice people.  People who may have agendas, may have their own personal baggage, but at the end of the day are nice people.  That's what LB Gregg has given readers with her fictional New England town of Smithfield.  Everybody in this town is nice.  Really, really nice.  The heroes are nice, their families are nice - Gregg's world is like an m/m version of a Karen Templeton "straight" category romance.

Sam Meyers and his sister Wynne run Smithfield's Bed & Breakfast.  They inherited the place when their grandfather died.  Sam spend his childhood learning at Granddad's knee which means 1) he can fix darn near anything and 2) has never left town.  Ever.  The guy hasn't even been on an airplane.  Life is passing him by.  The few gay men that live in town are all blissfully paired up and since Sam doesn't leave town?  Yeah, he's single.  Shockers.  That is until he heads to the library late one evening to return some overdue books (Oh Sam, how could you?).  Trying to free his cell phone from the book drop (oops), he spies someone lurking around inside the building.  After hours.  A someone who in no way looks like Mrs. Strauss.  Turns out it's Aaron Saunders, visiting from California (as if breaking and entering didn't already make him a suspect - he's from CALIFORNIA!).  Sam doesn't care how sexy the guy is, he's a sneak and up to no good.  Of course only Sam thinks he's up to no good while Wynne is more than happy to cut him a deal to stay at the B&B at extremely generous off-season rates.

And that would be the crux of the conflict for this category-length story.  Aaron is in town for mysterious reasons, has secrets, and Sam cannot help but be curious (and attracted).  These two rub each other in all the right, and wrong, ways.  The secondary players round things out and give our couple more chances to get thrown together.  Sister Wynne fancies herself a Food Network wannabe and has devised weekly "date night" cooking classes hoping to drum up more business for the struggling B&B.  There's BFF Claire who thinks Sam needs to get laid (she wouldn't be wrong), plus the variety of town denizens that have popped up in previous Smithfield stories.  I've read exactly one other Smithfield book (the first one, Mark and Tony) and had no problem keeping up when the series-itis creeps in.  Again, everybody is so darn nice that I'm going back to add the stories I missed to my digital TBR.

Written in first person (for the record, I love me first person - sneer all you want naysayers), the story isn't without a few bumps along the way, but charming all the same.  There were a few instances where I would have liked a few added pages by way of fleshing out story and conflict.  I also felt that when Sam finally gets wind of why Aaron is really in town?  He's way too slow to shake the truth out of him.  It borders on slightly icky.  As the reader I knew there was going to be a reasonable explanation (and there is), but Sam not putting his foot down immediately and demanding answers before partaking in more Naughty Sexy Times with Aaron is just.....well, kinda icky.

But it's supposed to be fun, charming, and kind of like the m/m off-shoot of chick lit.  Which, you know, it is.  I'm not supposed to take it deadly serious, so I don't.  And now I want to move to Smithfield.  Hey, Mrs. Strauss is old.  Certainly she'll die soon, right?

Final Grade = B-

Digital Review: Men of Smithfield: Mark and Tony

Disclaimer: I know the author L.B. Gregg.  I would say we're somewhere between "friendly" and "friends."  She's not on my Christmas card list, and we don't exchange e-mails or text messages - but when I see her at conferences or she comes to SoCal, we hang out.  If I were ever taking a vacay in her neck of the woods?  I'd call her about getting together for lunch.  In short, I like her and, in turn, I think she likes me.

I have nothing against gay romance, it's just something that I thought wasn't necessarily for me.  Why?  Well, as pretty evident by the hordes of book reviews I've written online since 1999, I'm a very heroine-centric romance reader.  Very.  And gay romance?

Yeah, no vaginas.

This is obviously not a problem for a lot of readers, but it is one for me.  Or so I thought.  So what led me to trying a gay romance?  Education.  I'm a librarian.  I buy books for a living.  People like to read gay romance and, you know, I hate being completely ignorant on the subject. Since I know L.B. Gregg, I thought it would be fun to read Men of Smithfield: Mark and Tony, the first book in her recently reissued and re-edited series about the small New England town of Smithfield, and the hunky men that live there.

Mark Meehan is having a really bad day.  He comes home from work to find his boyfriend having sex, in their bed, with their very hairy and disgusting landlord.  This is, as one could imagine, a tad upsetting for Mark.  In response he heads to noon Ash Wednesday mass where Jamie is with his mother.  Before you can say "man scorned" Mark is grabbing the nearest Bible and beaning Jamie upside the head.

It is not one of Mark's finer moments, airing Jamie's dirty laundry in front of the entire congregation, but it goes from bad to infinitely worse when he realizes that not only did Jamie cheat - he also cleaned out Mark's bank accounts.  Naturally with assault and battery, along with theft going on, in steps the local law, Tony Gervase.

Tony is a couple of years older than Mark and is still working through a really bad year, a result of his father's death.  Mark has had a thing for Tony since the dawn of time, but after his advances were rebuffed when he was in high school, and Tony was in college, they've settled into friendship.  However little does Mark know is that Tony does have feelings for him, always has in fact.  It's just the timing has sucked.  The timing isn't much better now, but hey - at least Mark is now single.

The best way for me to describe this story is that it's chick lit, without any chicks.  Gregg tells her story in first person, which to my horror has always been a perceived no-no in romance circles.  I happen to adore first person to the point of wanting to have babies with it, and I love that Mark, while a confident person, is not above playing the man scorned.  He reacts strongly to Jamie's betrayal, in both good and bad ways, and naturally needs to clean up the mess in order to get on with his life.  These moments of petty revenge make for genuinely funny moments, like when Mark changes the password on Jamie's laptop to uradickhead.

Tony is....lickable I think is the word I'm looking for.  He's hot, he's hunky, he's rocking a uniform - it's just my dumb-ass luck he's gay (ladies, isn't that always the way?).  I loved that while he's in a confident position of authority in his professional life, he's more unsure of himself personally.  What he admires about Mark is how secure he is.  How accepting he is.  Tony watches his father die and knows that the old man goes to his grave thinking Tony being gay is something he'll eventually "out grow."

The secondary players are also quite wonderful in this story.  Despite my reservations on there not being a vagina in this romance, the author does include Mark's very pregnant sister.  Her scenes with Mark are really wonderful, and read like an actual brother/sister relationship.  I also liked that the town of Smithfield is a welcoming, accepting place.  Gregg has created a world where being gay isn't a political rallying point, it's not a "big deal."  It simply is who these men are.  They have lives.  They have families.  They have emotional baggage.  They also, just happen, to be gay. 

In the end I really enjoyed this story.  I liked Mark, which is a good thing given the first person narration, and I wanted to throw myself at Tony (Oh yeah, he's gay.  Damn.).  The sex scenes are spicy, although I'm not entirely sure I'd label them as erotic (unless you subscribe to the school of thought that all gay sex is erotic, which I don't).  Gregg wisely avoids huge sweeping declarations of true love, although the shared past and friendship between Mark and Tony certainly puts a positive spin on the Happy For Now ending.  This was a quick, enjoyable and fun read. I'm looking forward to return visits to Smithfield....

Final Grade = B

Note: This title was originally released as Gobsmacked by Aspen Mountain Press.  Carina Press has picked up the rights to the series and will be reissuing all the previous titles.