Reviewed by Kat
This is a Series Review of the Buchanan House Series (Books 2 & 3)
AUTHOR: Charley Descoteaux
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
TITLE: Pride Weekend
LENGTH: 50 Pages
RELEASE DATE: April 22, 2016
BLURB:
Overworked cubicle jockey Adam Byron wants to attend Oregon Coast Pride in style but the price of a room at Buchanan House, a popular gay retreat on the central coast, is beyond his budget. So he won’t miss out, he advertises online for someone to share expenses. Corporate drone Silas Grant responds to Adam’s ad, and the two get to know each other via texts before meeting at the coast. They agree on a no-pressure roommate arrangement, yet once they meet face-to-face, their attraction is undeniable. Desire might simmer well beyond Pride weekend, no matter how hard Adam and Silas try to live up to their noncommitment pact.
REVIEW:
I have been reading this series for the last week, getting to know the many, many characters. This short novella, I question if it really is 50 pages long, is set at the Buchanan House, a LGBT friendly retreat/B&B/camp located on the central Oregon Coast, for the Oregon Coast Pride weekend. Unlike the other books in this series, this is based entirely on the one couple, two men that were meeting for the first time to share housing costs. I have to say, I think I enjoyed this one the most out of the series. I liked the other stories but they rambled a bit, trying to add too much in. This novella stayed on track and we got to know the men and how they interacted.
Adam Byron and Silas Grant met up on the Internet and agreed to be “no-strings” roommates and share the cost for the big bash at the coast. Both men were good looking and in their mid-twenties. I liked how they were instantly attracted to each other but felt that they needed to fulfill their original pact. There was instant chemistry felt when the two men met for the first time at the door of their room that they were sharing. And it was cute to see the green-eyed monster of jealousy come to visit whenever anyone else looked at one of the men.
We also had a glance or two at the extremely gorgeous “hostess with the mostest” Nathan Lucas in this installment, but those were fleeting. It was nice to see that others thought he was as fabulous as his close knit group of friends did in the other books.
This book, like the rest of the series, has sex included but it is never graphically described. I wouldn’t say it was totally off-screen but, if you are looking for red-hot sex, these are not the books. I have to say again, I think that this may have been my favorite book in the series so far just because the author focused on these two men and didn’t get sidelined. Great little story.
RATING: 
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TITLE: Tiny House
LENGTH: 200 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 29, 2016
BLURB:
Pride weekend is over, but for Nathan Lucas, the summer is just heating up. He appears to have it all. He’s tall and blond, ripped and handsome, and half owner of Buchanan House, a successful gay retreat on Oregon’s beautiful central coast. But his joie de vivre hides a fear of abandonment. When he was twelve his mother had triplets, and instead of the cherished only child, Nathan became a scapegoat for his exhausted parents, and he has never truly dealt with that pain.
Portland chef Paulie Nesbitt is head over heels in love with Nathan. They’ve been drinking buddies with benefits for years, while Paulie has not-so-secretly yearned for more. Paulie’s extra pounds and self-doubt have kept him from acting on his feelings. Their friends know they would make the perfect couple, but Nathan and Paulie will have to let go of past insecurities if they want a future together.
REVIEW:
I chose to try this book based solely on the fact that it was set in the area that I have lived, on and off, for the past 60 years of my life. That area being the Lincoln City/20 Miracle Miles/Central Oregon Coast, an area that is extremely LGBT friendly. I knew that it could go one of two ways, the author could have either spent a lot of time there and get it spot on or never been there and blow it completely. Luckily for me, and all readers, she nailed my beloved home area.
Having read the first book in the series, Buchanan House, I was familiar with the “family” of characters. Ms. Descoteaux built a large cast of characters in her first book and has added even more to the group in this third installment. This book is the story of Nathan Lucas, one of the co-owners of Buchanan House, a remote gay-friendly retreat “camp” located just south of Lincoln City. I had been looking forward to his and his “friend-with-benefits”, Paulie’s, book. I was fearful that when we got to their story I would be disappointed because it wouldn’t actually be about the two of them. I wasn’t disappointed in that aspect, however, it took what seemed like forever, literally 75% into the book, before we got to them. In the meantime, we were introduced to even more new characters and got to know some previous ones better. That is all good and well except the story seemed to sidetrack way too much for my comfort with all these side stories.
These books are more about the “family” that Nathan and his business partner, and best friend since childhood, Eric have built around themselves, than it is about their actual romances. Their family lives weren’t good growing up and they have carved out a new one from their close-knit group of friends. I found it strange that Nathan had basically dragged Eric to the coast in book one, to save him from his over-drinking that Eric used to get past his disappointments and troubles in life. Then Nathan chooses the exact same path when things don’t go as planned? It just didn’t fit the same Nathan character traits as in the previous books.
I did like that she incorporated the building of a tiny house in this story. This is a newer fad to our area. She also had Tim, Eric’s husband, finding and re-purposing older, used wood to build and finish the house. That is also an extremely popular thing.
All in all, I liked the characters in this installment but there was just too much going on and not enough focus on the two main characters the book was supposed to be about. I liked the basic plot of the story and wished that the author had stuck more with Nathan and Paulie’s story. When they finally got together the story seemed to then be rushed after being almost too slow paced for the majority of the book. Good premise and endearing characters but too slow to build and too rambling for me.
RATING: 
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