Reviewed by: Taylor

Title: Sex & Sourdough

Author: A.J. Thomas

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Pages: 266 pages

Blurb:

Anders Blankenship never intended to hike the Appalachian Trail alone, but when his boyfriend cancels, Anders steels his courage, leaving the abusive relationship to tackle the long-distance hike. Though a hiking virgin, he’s glad he made the decision when he receives threatening messages from his ex. Luckily, Kevin, an experienced backpacker, takes him under his wing.

Kevin Winters isn’t looking for a hiking partner, let alone a fling with a cute man on the rebound. After learning he has the autoimmune disorder that killed his father, Kevin left his family to wander remote trails. Convinced his future holds only pain and death, Kevin refuses to get close to anyone. The family sourdough recipes he recreates over a campfire are his only solace.

In the wilderness, Anders and Kevin discover a lot of common ground. While the future holds uncertainties they may not be ready to deal with, it might also hold the chance for happiness.

Review:

I’m not really sure what the author was going for in this one, which was a slight letdown considering how much I loved her first book, A Casual Weekend Thing. However, this had a lot of great parts and plenty of build-up for the couple, so it’s not a complete miss.

Anders Blakenship lives in Florida, will soon get a business degree and his father wants him to follow in his footsteps to succeed, whether it’s a path that Anders actually wants or not. Anders decides to take the summer off and plans on hiking the Appalachian Trail with his boyfriend Joel, who cancels at the last minute due to a summer class he wants to take.  Anders shows up alone, unprepared, a little scared and a lot excited.  He meets Kevin Winters, an experienced hiker figuratively and literally walking away from his family, his past and walking alone towards his inevitable future.  Kevin has the same autoimmune disorder that killed his father and he refuses to let his family go through that again with him, so he decides to make them angry at him, hide his illness and wander the forests and trails alone.

OK, right there the author has set up a book with plenty of plot lines and numerous ways these two hikers could develop a relationship and fall in love with plenty of drama and angst.  I would have been extremely happy with that simpler book.  However, Sex & Sourdough took the train into Jerry Springer-TMZ-ville and even though I was expecting it due to a character’s tendencies, it still disappointed me.  It tarnished the book a bit and the plot line felt overplayed in books.  It happens and I get that, because hell…people are mad creepy sometimes but Anders and Kevin (Sourdough) had enough going on in their lives and their relationship with each other that I didn’t feel this extra drama was necessary or helped the story.

The autoimmune illness parts were extremely sad, written with restraint and read beautifully. These specific kinds of illnesses aren’t really covered in m/m romance (at least the ones I’ve read) and it made me happy with how Kevin and Anders dealt with it and with depicting how the illness affects so many people surrounding the person sick.  Truly well-done.

I believed in Anders and Kevin’s attraction to each, their friendship and the ease with each of them fit with the other.  The build-up and attention to detail was nice, but I can already see how some people will feel the urge to skim, because Sex & Sourdough has a lot of detail.  Each step in hiking and camping and showering and…OK, so you get my point.  That detail also goes for the relationship between the main characters, as well as their relationships with their families.

I liked this, I did.  But I’d happily trim this some and delete that dramatic plot line with one of the characters.  Looking forward to this author’s sequel to A Casual Weekend Thing!

Rating:

Buy Links: Dreamspinner Amazon  Are