Reviewed by Tara
TITLE: The Bricklayer
SERIES: Workplace Encounters # 3
AUTHOR: Serena Yates
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 133 pages
BLURB: Mike Brown has been a bricklayer working for the same construction company since leaving high school at eighteen. While building a conservatory for a Victorian house northwest of downtown Baltimore, Mike meets Ash, the landscaper hired to restore the gardens, when Ash distractedly stumbles over some of Mike’s equipment. Mike offers to take Ash to dinner as an apology, Ash hesitantly agrees, and the two men start dating. Then Mike is pulled away from his next assignment of building fireplaces by a promotion he doesn’t want, only to be fired for incompetence two weeks later. Three of the fireplaces have collapsed, one seriously injuring a cleaner. With Ash’s support, Mike must figure out who sabotaged his work, and why, before he faces a lawsuit.
REVIEW: This is the third installment in the Workplace Encounters series and it can be read as a standalone. Mike Brown is 27, a bricklayer, and a closeted gay man. He has been afraid to tell his family and has spent most of his days buried in the company he has worked with for nine years even though his heart lays elsewhere. He works at the company with his flaky friend Dale, and as they are working on a building a conservatory for a Victorian home, Mike stumbles upon a man that makes everything down below perk right on up. Ash is a potential landscaper that the owners of the home want to hire. He is stepping out of his father’s shadow and is trying to make the company they own not just deal with trees but landscaping as well. He sees two men working on the wall of the conservatory but one stands out the most. After he gets through the interview for the job and lands it, he goes out into the yard and forgets the advice that the hunky bricklayer gave him and almost hurts himself. Mike seeing an opportunity offers to take Ash out as an apology. On their first date after an interesting game of footsie, the two begin to date. Everything in their personal lives seems to be going in the right direction. But professionally Mike is suffering.
His boss wants to promote him to foreman which means cutting corners and not doing the intricate and detailed work that Mike wants. Unfortunately the first day on the site he is pushed into the position earlier than he expected and everything begins to falter. A week after he is in the position and facing a permanent change he receives a call that he is fired from the company due to a fireplace job he had to walk away from. Devastated he starts to push Ash away but Ash won’t let him. They look into things and discover that Mike is being made the fall guy. They band together to find the crook and for Mike the person is the last one that he would expect.
This was an okay read. I think for me I got distracted by all the terminology with the bricklaying and I got a little lost in it. Mike though is a like-able character. He take pride in his work and obviously despite not liking his job 100 percent he is loyal to the company that he is with. But of course he comes with the typical issue of hiding that he is gay to his family, a family that is apparently incredibly supported and in the end when he came out his father stands that he always wanted a son in law…kind of weird but still cute. Ash though kind of rubbed me the wrong way initially. I wasn’t totally into the weird footsie game because maybe for me it’s the whole touching feet thing. But he was what Mike needed definitely. He was so sure that Mike was who he wanted and nothing got in his way. The sex when it did finally happen all the way was nice, and it was good to see that their relationship remained solid. But the whole mystery as to who betrayed Mike when you read it is fairly obvious. Even though I must say his boss was an absolute douche-bag, kind of reminded me of my last one. So not much mystery in that aspect at all. But all in all not really my cup of tea but a good read nonetheless. If you are looking for something light, easy, with a bit of lust turned to love then this is for you.
RATING: 
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