Contents of blog copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2023
I've been gone a while. I started reading fanfiction to escape and I got sucked in an abyss.

I have no idea if someone else is hosting similar challenges. I just grabbed some of what I have hosted before.

Here's to a happy year of great reading
Jan2023: Not much has changed. Writing a fanfiction now O_o as well as reading but I bought 7 new books in December and hope to get those read soon. Crossing fingers about adding challenges (late!)

Saturday, April 18, 2015

N is for . . . Not Safe for Work (contemporary gay romance)

Not Safe for Work
by Michael S. Booker 

Publisher: self-published 
ISBN: 9781476145648 
Release Date: August 2012 
Genre: contemporary gay romance  
138 Pages

format available: ebook

Author's Twitter  

Book Blurb
A month after breaking up with his long-term girlfriend, Eric Dennis decides to go to a gay club one night, something he has wanted to do for a long time. He does not expect much out of the experience: just have one drink and go home. Yet when he meets Mathew Campbell, a very attractive man with an adventurous spirit and a sharp sense of humor, Eric throws all caution to the wind.


My Thoughts
This is an office romance that doesn't start off that way. Eric has never gone longer than three months between girlfriends since he started dating but his attraction to males has always been there. The story starts a month after his latest breakup. A three year relationship with a girl his mother just loved.
Eric Dennis had circled around the pub four times, trying to decide if he wanted to go inside. The traffic light turned green and he drove forward, past the bar, for the fifth time, still very uncertain.

Go in and have one drink. If you don’t like the place, just leave after.
Oh, if only it were that easy. Eric ends up drunk, losing track of time and going home with the first man to have a conversation with him. (nothing sexy happens)

He sleeps in the next day. . .
His mouth and tongue were drier than dust and his head felt like someone repeatedly hammered nails into his skull while he slept. The sunlight, shining through the large window in his bedroom nearly blinded him.
and while trying to wrap his mind around Mathew, his ex-girlfriend calls and wants to meet for lunch. I'm thinking she knows what's what.

All this is well and good but he spends so much time with work that weeks then months pass without him calling Mathew. When it finally gets to be too much, he advertises for an assistant. His co-worker/friend (that I don't like) tells him he's being too picky. Finally, his boss steps in and says "here's ten new resumes, pick five, interview them, and hire someone before the month is over".

Three guesses as to who's in the top five? Lucky for us Eric's top choice, who wasn't much of a choice, has accepted a position elsewhere.

So now we've got an office attraction going on. Eric doesn't believe in messing with co-workers (although he says it much more crudely) and Mathew doesn't see anything wrong with it. Did I forget to mention that no one knows Eric's gay? Maybe Bi is the better word after all the girlfriends he's had but the same problems arise. Eric doesn't want his co-workers or family to know he's attracted to guys.

back to reading . . .

I guess it wouldn't be much of a story without, at least, the tease of a happy-ever-after. The sexual tension is high. Eric's paranoia is too. He stills needs to tell his mom that he broke up with his girlfriend! When we finally get to the sex (you knew we would) it was hot but not enough. At first. ;-)

There are proofreading errors but no more than I've seen in other books so I can't hold that against the author. I like Eric, he's very believable even if I did want to slap him upside the head a couple of times. I even liked his ex-girlfriend. His co-worker/friend is believable too even if I didn't like him much. Mathew? Mathew came across as fun-loving, mostly confident with a little vulnerability and I just want to be one of his friends.


Disclaimer: This was a private purchase but the review is not written any differently than if I had received a complimentary review copy. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and may differ from yours. Book information courtesy of the author, Smashwords and amazon. 


copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

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