Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: What’s in a Name?
AUTHOR: Pat Henshaw
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 90 Pages
BLURB:
Barista Jimmy Patterson thinks it’s a good idea to get rip-roaring drunk on his birthday after he’s dumped by his boyfriend. When the burly owner of Stonewall’s Saloon rescues Jimmy, the night starts to look up.
Now Jimmy just wants to know the bartender’s first name since he’s worn a different name tag every time Jimmy’s seen him. “Guy” Stone gives Jimmy seven guesses, one for each night he takes Jimmy out on a date.
While Jimmy’s trying to come up with his name, he’s distracted by the destruction of his coffee shop and what looks more and more like a hate crime.
REVIEW:
Pat Henshaw has delivered a wonderful tease! I so want more, more, more! I absolutely loved this short book and can’t wait for more of the story. Ms. Henshaw, you will crush me if you tell me there isn’t more coming…..and soon! Honestly, if this were a standalone, I would not be as happy with it, because there is a lot of story yet to come…..
Jimmy Patterson is getting very very drunk at the Stonewall Saloon. His boyfriend of a year has decided to take off with another man he hooked up with at the bar. To make it worse he is taking him home to their apartment. To make it far, far worse, it is Jimmy’s birthday! What a total douche.
Enter the hot bear behind the bar. Jimmy doesn’t know what his real name is, even though he has been frequenting the bar for a year with his boyfriend. During most of the visits, the boyfriend has been off “socializing” with other men in the bar, leaving Jimmy to talk and get to know the bartender. He noticed very quickly, months ago, that the bartender always has a different name tag on, so no one really knows his name. He has been teasing the bartender for months to tell him his real name. The bartender is described as a totally hot, bald, hairy, bear, biker. My personal favorite. That drew me into the story instantly!
When Jimmy falls off his barstool (literally) and then has to be rushed to the bathroom to get sick, the bartender helps him. With vomit breath, Jimmy turns around and licks the guy’s nipple, which the guy finds just a little gross. Then Jimmy starts running his fingers through the guy’s chest hair. The bartender finally cleans him up, takes him out and sits him at a table and tells him to “stay”.
The next thing Jimmy knows he is waking up in a strange bed somewhere he doesn’t recognize. I’m sure you can all guess where! Hot bartender’s house.
The title of the book relates to the bet that Jimmy makes with the bartender. He will have one guess per day for a week to figure out what the bartender’s real name is. If he succeeds, the bartender will buy him his own motorcycle. If not, Jimmy will have to kiss him. There really isn’t a down side for Jimmy since they’ve already done WAY more than that, although in a fade to black sort of way since the book doesn’t have any actual sex scenes. I’m kind of on the fence on that aspect. I wouldn’t have minded some sex scenes, but I think the book works fine without them.
As the story goes on we find out that Stone, as most of the town knows him, owns the Stonewall and that is where his nickname came from. It seems no one actually knows his name. He was raised by his grandfather who owned the bar and has been in the bar his entire life.
Jimmy, with his friend Felicity, owns a coffee café named Penny’s and they are getting ready to open a second location only four doors down from the Stonewall.
The problem is some of the good old boys aren’t down with the whole homosexual invasion in and around their town and don’t want another gay spot downtown. When Penny’s gets trashed, in a fit of what looks like homophobia, the town might have a hate crime on their hands. I loved the steaming mad wives that show up because of that!
I loved this book, I loved the development of the storyline, characters and locations. The background characters had depth and I’m thinking there is a story in there somewhere for the chef. It is a fairly light but really fun to read story which will leave you eagerly awaiting more! As I said above, it is devoid of actual sex scenes, so if that is something you have to have in a book, then this one isn’t for you. Some people, ok one person in particular, posted a pre-release review on a well known website slamming the book for no sex, insta-love, and the fact that SHE didn’t approve of the hairy biker daddy/bar owner and cowering twink aspects. She obviously skipped the entire part about them having known each other for a YEAR and having been talking seriously and getting to know each other for six MONTHS, as well as every time that Jimmy stood up on his own! It isn’t often I call out other reviewers, but frankly that is why I don’t usually read the garbage reviews on that website. I mean seriously? Posting photos to show your disdain?
Rant complete. In this reviewer’s opinion, the book was very well written, had me laughing in spots and even had me mumbling from time to time “god I LOVE this book”. It is a short tale of 7 days that covers that initial infatuation stage in any relationship. I read it as what it was, I believe. I believe it is an introduction to the characters and locale that will be further expanded in future books. I can’t wait to see where they go from here. Please Ms. Henshaw do not let the negative jerks get you down. I am truly hoping as I said at the top that there is more coming. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a short, fun, without a lot of sex read. Get it today.
The only negative I found? The cover. Not the whole cover, the motorcycle caught me instantly, as did the rest of the picture. The problem? Stone is supposed to be really hairy. What part of that didn’t the cover artist understand? There needs to be some hair on that there chest! 🙂
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
OK…so no on page sex. But is there any kissing, making out, cuddling, spooning etc…??
First, Dan, thanks for the review. As you can imagine, it really helped to balance out release day for me. Secondly, the next book in the series, also a novella, is titled Redesigning Max and the viewpoint character is Fredi, the interior designer. I’m currently writing the third of the series, The Behr Facts, about the very-bear head of Behr Construction, the guys who work on the Old Towne Penny’s and Max’s mountain cabin. I’ve been thinking about the fourth book and hadn’t decided where to go from here–Bud and Lorraine’s son or somewhere else. But now you’ve got me thinking about Adam… So thank you again for pushing me in his direction. Yes, he has a story too.
Thank you for the review. It sounds like it has a lot of good elements but also some elements that readers may find a bit off putting(?)
I can see the issue with the cover and the model is as clean shaven as a baby.