Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Firemen, Flames and Fettuccine
SERIES: Love’s First Response #2
AUTHOR: Sara York
PUBLISHER: MLR Press
LENGTH: 56 pages
BLURB:
Grady Madison thinks his goofy clown suit is a huge turn off for the hot bear, Paul Sessa. But sometimes goofy is more appealing than suave.
When Grady Madison was forced out of the closet he thought his life would change for the worse, but he soon realizes he can date men without having to hide it from his co-workers. Attraction fires when he runs into Paul Sessa, filling him with fiery hot desire. Taking things slow is the plan, until they wind up with pants around their ankles before their first real date.
Paul Sessa wants a man of his own and not just another hookup. But that guy has to pass his daughter’s scrutiny, and she’s one smart cookie.
REVIEW:
This is the second novella in the Love’s First Response series. We met Grady Madison, an Everett, Washington fire fighter, in the first novella when Drake Knowles, a closeted police officer, came to Grady’s rescue and defense from a group of homophobic police officers and fire fighters attacked him. Grady was the fire fighters captain for the annual basketball game fundraiser. He was also very interested in Drake as a love interest. Grady, Drake and Adam eventually all became friends.
This story is how Grady meets and develops a relationship with famous restaurateur, Paul Sessa. Paul is a gay man that has a daughter from a brief relationship when he was younger and felt he had to appear straight.
My problem with this book series is that they are taking on a “cookie cutter” pattern to me. First of all, I am not a big fan of instant attraction and then straight to sex. I want the relationship to bloom and build. That is not the case in these stories. I realize that they are short so there is not a lot of room for relationship development but I feel that it tends to do the story a disservice. This had the makings of a good story but it was all over way too fast. Second of all, it felt like a fill-in-the blank story line. Man meets man, insta-attraction and quick-to-bed sex, problem arises, problem solved, man winds up with man and lives happily ever after. I really liked the characters and was looking forward to Grady’s story but I felt rushed and cheated.
RATING: 
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