Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Muscling Through 
AUTHOR: J.L. Merrow
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: 87 pages
BLURB:
The bigger they come, the harder they fall… in love.
Cambridge art professor Larry Morton takes one, alcohol-glazed look at the huge, tattooed man looming in a dark alley, and assumes he’s done for. Moments later he finds himself disarmed—literally and figuratively. And, the next morning, he can’t rest until he offers an apology to the man who turned out to be more gentle than giant.
Larry’s intrigued to find there’s more to Al Fletcher than meets the eye; he possesses a natural artistic talent that shines through untutored technique. Unfortunately, no one else seems to see the sensitive soul beneath Al’s imposing, scarred, undeniably sexy exterior. Least of all Larry’s class-conscious family, who would like nothing better than to split up this mismatched pair.
Is it physical? Oh, yes, it’s deliciously physical, and so much more—which makes Larry’s next task so daunting. Not just convincing his colleagues, friends and family that their relationship is more than skin deep. It’s convincing Al.
Contains comic misunderstandings, misuse of art materials, and unexpected poignancy.
REVIEW:
What a sweet gentle love story….
When it came time for this months theme week discussion, we decided on teachers, to honor all of the teachers heading back in to classrooms this month. I checked the teachers list for m/m books at Goodreads and was surprised to see how many I had already read. I wanted a new book this month, instead of doing a quick reread of a previously read book, and had to look a bit! I saw this one from JL Merrow and decided to give it a try. A book I haven’t read, from an author I haven’t read. Perfect.
It was a great little book! It’s a small plot, all from the perspective of Al, a simple man, with a huge heart. Al lives in Cambridge, during the day he pulls punts (flat bottomed boats) out of the river for a boat rental company, during the evening he drinks with his mates at the pub. One evening after drinking a bit too much, he stops in an alley on the way home to pee, and scares the crap out of a cute little man. He chats up the man, totally missing the fact that the man thinks he’s going to get robbed, raped, and/or murdered. He even escorts him home, continuing to terrify his new friend.
The next day at work, the cute man shows up to apologize, he honestly had thought Al was a bad guy, going by his rough exterior, tattoos, and not quite attractive face. He invites Al out for a drink, and off we go.
Al isn’t bright, he knows it, Larry knows it, Larry’s family sure knows it, Larry’s coworkers at Cambridge University know it. But Larry doesn’t care. Al is also, it turns out, a fantastic painter of portraits. This causes much joy, as well as a bit of drama due to a misunderstanding on Larry’s part.
It’s a very British story, accents and phrases, it did take me a chapter to get used to Al’s speech. Then I got in to it and liked it. I liked the differences between them, Larry is a professor, Al works manual labor. Larry from a wealthy, or at least comfortable family, Al from a single parent home. Al is big and gruff, Larry is small and gentle. Al is slow, Larry is quick. Al is pretty clueless, not following conversations often, but Larry never talks down to him, and is quick to defend him from rude comments by family and friends.
There’s not much to the plot, they meet, date, fall in love, and live happily ever after. It’s just perfect as it is. Small and sweet. I totally enjoyed it. This is a new author for me, and I’ll be looking for some more books. The writing was good, I loved the characters, and the simple plot was nice for a change. Big complex books are exciting, but sometimes I want an easy read. Oh, and a hot read! These boys like to fuck and they do it well! Sweet (again with that word!) and hot, steamy and sexy. Lots of yummy sex!
If you are looking for a short, sweet story, this would be a good one to try!
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: