Darlene's Book Nook: #Audiobook #Review: 3 out of 5 stars for Tartan Candy by K.C. Burn @authorkcburn @dreamspinners

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

#Audiobook #Review: 3 out of 5 stars for Tartan Candy by K.C. Burn @authorkcburn @dreamspinners

TITLE: Tartan Candy

SERIES: Fabric Hearts, Book #1
AUTHOR: K.C. Burn

NARRATOR: David Ross

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press. LLC

PUBLICATION DATE: October 10, 2016

FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook

LENGTH: 7 hrs and 21 mins

GENRE: Contemporary, Romance

ASIN: B01LY3TQ03

Finlay McIntyre (aka Raven) is a successful adult film star with a penchant for kilts, until an accident cuts short his stardom and leaves him with zero sexual desire, lowered self-esteem, and no job. He knew his porn career wouldn’t last forever, but he wasn’t prepared for retirement at twenty-eight. While trying to figure out the rest of his life, Raven agrees to attend a high school reunion. That’s when a malfunctioning AC unit in his hotel room changes everything.

Caleb Sanderson, an entrepreneur with his own HVAC business, has no idea what to expect when he steps into Raven’s hotel room to fix his AC unit. They’re attracted to each other, but Caleb, closeted, can’t afford a gay relationship, not with his mom pressuring him to produce grandchildren. If he wants to keep Raven—who no closet could hold—he’ll need to tell his family the truth. But Raven has a few secrets of his own. He refuses to reveal his porn past to Caleb, a past that might be the final obstacle to Caleb and Raven having any kind of relationship.

MY REVIEW:

A prompt in one of my reading challenges is to read a LGBT romance. I don't ordinarily read contemporary romances, and I also have never read one that features LGBT characters. So, this is a first for me!

Finlay (aka Raven) is a young, good-looking guy. After having been involved in a serious accident, he could no longer work as a gay porn star so he works as an escort minus the sexual services. His "date," Jeremy, hired Raven to accompany him to his high school reunion. The air conditioner in Raven's hotel room is not working, and Raven goes gaga over the repairman that shows up. Actually, the feeling is mutual. Caleb is also attracted to Raven but neither makes a move. Later, Raven busts the air conditioner on purpose so that Caleb has to return and he can make the moves on him.

Meanwhile, during the reunion, Jeremy is all hands and Raven regrets having agreed to this arrangement.

While Raven is out and flaunts his sexuality, Caleb is not. Caleb worries how his ailing mother will react, especially since all she talks about is wanting to become a grandmother and Caleb's family members are constantly setting him up on blind dates hoping that he'll meet the woman of his dreams. They have no idea that he wants to settle down with the man of his dreams! The only one that Caleb can be honest with is his gay cousin, Jaime.

I really felt for Caleb in this story, who clearly was torn between wanting to please his parents but also wanting to be able to be honest with them. That's a hard line, and I get how difficult it would be for him to come out of the closet. I really enjoyed the relationship between Caleb and Jaime, and how nice it must have been for Caleb to have at least one family member that he didn't have to pretend with. I also really enjoyed Caleb's friendship with Francesca, one of his blind dates who saw right through him.

Raven is used to his body being on display, so he obviously had loads of self-confidence and didn't have a problem with that. However, the accident did a number on him and he is very self-conscious of his scars.

The romance between Raven and Caleb was both hot and sweet, but there was a big showdown when Caleb found out from Jeremy about Raven's porn past. This was my main issue with the story. In this day and age of STDs and HIV, Raven never should have been sexually involved with someone without revealing his sexual past! Caleb had every right to know who he was climbing into bed with, so that part about Raven bugged me.

So, this was my first M-M romance. While I did enjoy the story and it pushed me out of my comfort zone, I probably wouldn't reach for another book in this genre unless I was again trying to fulfill a reading challenge. If that was the case, then I would likely read the next one in this series, Plaid versus Paisley.

David Ross' narration was good, and he was pleasant to listen to. He's very soft-spoken, and he seemed a good fit for the characters.

MY RATING: