Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Beastly Businessmen and Guitar Gods 
AUTHOR: Asta Idonea
PUBLISHER: NineStar Press
LENGTH: 201 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 23, 2018
BLURB:
They say magic doesn’t exist in our modern age. But is that really true?
Without magic, how could a stolen guitar or a lost shoe lead to love?
What could spark romance at a workplace assessment, or turn a mean-spirited monster into a man?
Six fairytales and myths receive a contemporary MM twist in this collection of stories, which prove that sometimes the mundane can be magical too.
REVIEW:
This is a romance anthology containing 6 short stories all containing people who work within and around the DunGriffinCorp. Also, they are all retelling of fairytales and myths.
Dragged Into Love
Theo’s guitar is taken as rent collateral by his landlord, Graham. To get it back, Theo promises the man a date with his identical twin sister, Fran. She refuses and makes Theo and his best friend Luke dress up in drag to take her place.
I sported a smile for every word I read of this story. It is short and like all good short stories it doesn’t try to fit a lifetime into a few thousand words. It deals with one situation and does it very well. I was thoroughly entertained and loved the sense of humor that comes through. My favourite line – His butterflies weren’t just flapping about, they were on class-A drugs and throwing a rave. That wit is typical of the type that runs through the whole anthology – it brings a smile and borders on the sarcastic – a weakness of mine. I was even more impressed that I was kept guessing over who Theo would eventually end up with. I was convinced it was one of two men.
Rating: 5 hearts
Love’s Code
Code in the title, and code in the story. This one is a geeks paradise. Andre is an IT specialist. Eren is also an IT guru, and the object of Andre’s unrequited desire. A department-wide test, where failure means the end of his contract makes Andre believe his days of ogling Eren are ending. What he doesn’t expect is help to stay.
The test is the backdrop for this short. Anyone who has done programming will understand the lingo more, and eat up each word. Even so, the author describes various aspects well enough to not need a career in IT to enjoy the tale. I was taken on a whistle stop tour of each phase of the test and the coding used.
I found Love’s code not quite as amusing as Dragged Into Love, but it was still entertaining with a lot packed into a short space.
Rating: 4 hearts
Guessing Games
Alexander, aka Sasha is the focus of this tiny tale – and a bit of a tale Sasha has told too. He fudged his resume with a little twist of the truth. He didn’t know that little nugget would come up and bite him in the rear. The scope of his lie made the corporation believe he was familiar with a particular system and was the reason he was hired.
Guessing Games is based on the fairytale Rumpelstiltskin. So, it is no secret that he gets help. But, the little monster of the fable is a good looking chappy called Jack who appears at the end of each day and gets Sasha out of the mud. He is also the mischief maker who by the end of the story had me smiling and kicking myself with the twist.
Rating: 4 hearts
Assignations and Ultimatums
Oh myyyy, this one starts off rather H O T.
Ross is a paralegal at DunGriffinCorp and his lover Hunter is an administrator – a role Ross’s parents don’t believe is suitable for anyone associated with their son. To Ross’s family, money, and power trumps anything remotely humane. When they discovered their son was gay, he became a problem to manage and marry to a person of their choosing. Ross, blowing his top and storming out, wasn’t what anyone expected. But, the man his parents desire for their son has designs of his own on Ross.
From the opening paragraph, this was a story that I eagerly read each line, needing to get to the end to know what happened. Occasionally, I was sure my heart was in my throat and I was silently shouting at the screen – “You Bastard” and that wasn’t at Ross.
Rating: 4.5 hearts
Lost and Found
Oh, this one is a beauty. Cinderella is the inspiration and the office masked party replaces the ball. Only a few paragraphs in, and I could feel myself going to mush.
Loved this line – “No pumpkin, but I booked a cab. They look a little pumpkin-like if you wear orange-tinted glasses and squint.
Mark is the regional director of DunGriffinCorp’s London branch. Cillian is the young man who really doesn’t want to go to the ball and does so under protest. Even when his fairy godmother of a flat mate makes him the perfect outfit. When there, Mark makes a move on the enigmatic figure that he doesn’t know is Cillian. The rest in this Cinderella remake, as they say, is history.
This is the one that I wanted to have a bowl of popcorn close by while I read – and was my overall favourite. As much as I wanted to get to the end, I went and made my tea so that I could extend the experience.
Rating: 5 hearts
A Debt is a Debt
In the last of the stories for this anthology, the aim is high, including non-other than the CEO, Dunsten Griffin himself. In this instalment to pay off a debt, a father offers the administrative services of his son, Wynn. As Dunsten’s Executive Assistant soon goes on parental leave, the offer is accepted. Two things though – one, Wynn is expected to be available 24/7, and two, Dunsten’s nickname is Beast (cough, cough, hint, hint.)
Wynn isn’t as apprehensive as Belle. He knew he’d be worked hard. He also looked forward to learning from a financial genius. And make no mistake Dunsten Griffin lives up to his reputation.
This story has its rightful place as the last in the anthology, as there are aspects of all the other tales within it. But, it is only when they’ve all been read that one sees other threads running through them. A Debt is a Debt is a delight and the perfect ending.
Rating: 5 hearts
Overall this anthology was thoughtfully written. It starts with employees on the peripherals of the company, getting more involved and closer to the top with each passing story. Each tale highlights one period or event in each of the characters lives. As such each episode is well written, and not skimmed over. The final effect is an anthology that gives an in-depth knowledge of the company and its employees, rather than a series of stories from here and there. It was a new experience for me and I’d like to read more anthologies of this type in the future. Short episodes making a cohesive whole.
Knowing the basic fairytales made anticipation worse as I knew something would hit the fan and generally when, too. While I liked some stories more than others, that is only natural for such a work. Oh, and not all the stories were sexed up to the hilt, many had lustful situations that fade out to the imagination.
Everyone who reads will have their personal favorites. Some of the myths/fairy tales are more obvious than others, yet all were entertaining, different (there’s no same scenario written six ways), and there has to be a story in there that each reader will connect with.
What makes these stories special are not the story arcs but the little things – a turn of phrase here an action there, that makes the characters relatable.
With this anthology I took a leap of faith. Generally, I don’t read anthologies. They are a good way to discover new talent, but all stories tend to be similar. However, I have read stories from Asta Idonea before and greatly enjoyed them – so I took the plunge, and I was sooo glad that I did.
RATING: 
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