Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: As You Wish: An M/M Romance Novella
AUTHOR: Isobel Starling
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 113 pages
BLURB:
1 wedding, 2 best men, one hell of a love story!
Declan Ramsay’s brother Oliver was marrying Annabelle Aiken at a fairy tale Castle on the banks of Loch Ness in Scotland. The bride and groom decided, so that he didn’t feel left out, Annabelle’s gay younger brother Sam Should share the best man duties with Declan.
Declan had never met the kid who was to be his joint best man.
Sam Aiken was abroad, working as an interpreter and finishing his studies. He wouldn’t meet Declan until a few days before the wedding, so the best men communicated and planned their speech by email for more than a year.
But on meeting Sam Aiken, Declan is surprised to realize the kid isn’t a kid at all, but a tall, blond and athletic young man. Declan is sure he’s straight, so he’s alarmed by the ferocious attraction he feels for Sam. And as the attraction is reciprocated, the events at Dunloch Castle change everything Declan has ever believed about himself.
But is Samuel Aiken all that he appears to be?
This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group’s “Love is an Open Road” event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.
This story may contain sexually explicit content and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.
REVIEW:
I liked the premise of the book from the description in Goodreads. Two men, brothers of the bride and the groom, sharing the title Best Men. Throw into this mix the fact that one is openly gay. Add the fairy tale location of Loch Ness, sorry no monster here… at least not the type you are thinking. The wedding for Annabelle Aiken, daughter of multi-billionaire Sir James Aiken, is in an honest-to-goodness fairy tale Scottish castle!
Declan Ramsey and Sam Aiken had been emailing back-in-forth wedding planning for over a year. Although they had never met, or even seen a photo of the other best man, they developed a friendly comradeship. Both race to the wedding at the last minute, neither realizing who the other man is on the plane. After a misguided first non-meeting they develop a friendship that crosses over after Declan realizes that he has an attraction to the good looking younger man. In his thirties, Declan has never had feelings for or even looked at another man, being a straight male womanizer. Declan and Sam finally admit their feelings and desires and a secret romance occurs. Declan is cautious since he works for Sir James. Both men develop strong feelings for each other in the week that transpires.
I have a hard time putting tags on this story as the author had Declan even questioning what he had become. He never decided if he was bi-sexual, gay-for-you, gay or even gender fluid. What he did know was, he had fallen in love with Sam. I am not typically a love at first sight type reader but I decided that the men had had a quasi “getting-to-know-you” year long relationship before ever meeting. They knew that they liked and respected one another before they even met. The hot, animalistic sex was exciting and raw. The emotions, when they would let them been seen, were honest and true. I know that this novella was originally written as part of a Romance Group, looking at a picture and writing the story behind the photo. I did not know that this was a cliffhanger and that a full length novel is to come. I am not a fan of cliffhangers or waiting for the next in the series. I read so much that I tend to forget most of the parts or they get mixed up with other books. I have to reread the book before I can read the next one, if any lengthy time goes by. I did like Sam and Declan’s story and wait eagerly for the next book to resolve the “bomb” that was dropped in the final pages. A fun little addition to the book was the humor from reciting scenes and key phrases from the movie Princess Bride. A final note, there is strong Scottish language that, at times, might be difficult to understand.
RATING: 
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