Reviewed by Carissa

TITLE:  Opportunity Knocks

SERIES:  Laissez Faire #1

AUTHOR:  L.D. Blakeley

PUBLISHER:  Evernight Publishing

LENGTH:  149 pages

BLURB:  

Small-town security guard, Gill Martin, has lived in Mystique Pointe his entire life. His dating prospects are non-existent and he doesn’t particularly like his job, but at least it’s better than unemployment. Besides, he hasn’t got any better ideas.

Big-city artist, Tommy Hearne, knows exactly what he wants out of life: a successful art career and a successful relationship. He also knows that living in Liberty City is his best chance for pursuing both. Unfortunately, for him, neither of these pursuits seem to be panning out quite to his liking.

When Tommy and his misfit band of friends roll into town for the Laissez Faire, Mystique Pointe’s annual music & art festival, worlds definitely collide. A fiery tryst sparks more than just a lust connection, but what happens when the weekend is over?

REVIEW:  

It may be one hell of a long drive from Liberty City to Mystique Point, but the money Tommy Hearne and his friends make at the Laissez Faire music and arts festival is well worth the trip. Finding out that the security guard is hot, built, and (knock on wood) gay, only makes the trip seem like nothing. But as Tommy gets to know Gill Martin he begins to suspect that a weekend away from home, and in Gill’s bed (if he ever gets there) is not exactly going to be enough. Too bad they over five hours, and who knows how many miles away.

As with most new-to-me authors, I don’t go in expecting very much, but I have to say that I really enjoyed this. It was well written, and the sex scenes were pretty damn hot. Plus, I’m a sucker for a guy who can cook…even if reading about it always makes me hungry.

I had so much muffin envy when reading this.

I liked how the time-lines–with the short weekend to get to know each other, initially–worked for the story. A lot of the times I can’t quite believe that two people can fall in love in a matter of hours (what can I say, I am a skeptic at heart), but I like how the relationship progressed in this story. It really was more lust and attraction in the beginning, and the love came later. I’m a big believer in taking your time when getting to know people.

All the characters in the book were well written. I do admit that the spunky-girl-best-friend is something I usually find overdone and cliche, but I think Blakely avoids a lot of the things I find annoying about it. And that whole thing with Michael works itself out in a way that I find believable. No flipped switches on the personalities around here.

Overall this was just a really good story that I enjoyed. And I now have a new author to add to the list of people to follow. Which is always a good thing in my experience. You can never have too many books, or makers of books, around you.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

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