Reviewed by Taylin

TITLE: Pirates Of Romance

AUTHOR: Asta Idonea

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2020

LENGTH: 56 Pages

BLURB:

Xander joins his local am-dram group in order to make friends. He certainly doesn’t expect to fall for the group’s playboy star.
Graeme is confident and easygoing. He believes in fun without commitment. However, all that changes when Xander gets under his skin.

REVIEW:

After a work colleague hears new-in-town-boy Xander, sing – he is encouraged to attend the local amateur operatic society. He’d never sung in public before. All his performances were private, with an audience of one – himself. Nervous, but needing to make friends, Xander goes along and makes an encore of an impression. Leading man, Graeme, also makes an impression on Xander, but the man is known to be a player.

Graeme is good looking, and he knows it. His baritone voice is panty-dropping beautiful. Graeme seduces, uses and throws it away. But, after an encounter with Xander, something happens to him, and he can’t understand what it is.

Told in the third person, present tense, Pirates Of Romance is a short story. Coming in at only 10k in length, rarely have I seen such efficient use of words that allowed maximum storytelling utilized to its best effect. Then again, Asta Idonea aka Nicki Markus is an editor and pre-reader, so it is of no surprise that the story was on point, in all aspects. I have read short stories of this author’s before, in anthologies, and to date, I would say she is the master of the short story.

There are four sections to the tale. An overture, Act I, II, and curtain call. Most of the story is from Xander’s viewpoint, but Graeme is also heard from. Xander is a shy young man, who has a backbone, who is dazzled by Graeme and I really don’t want to tell you more because I’ll end up giving too much away, and this truly is a short worth reading.

I love a good musical, and the am-dram society is putting on Pirates of Penzance. But one doesn’t need to know the musical to be able to enjoy the story. While the production is the backdrop and gives the story a timeframe, the focus is on developments between the boys.

I loved the way the two personalities come over clearly and different. It was a source of great amusement that Graeme gets confused by what is happening to him, to the point of believing he is ill. Going to give a shoutout here for Kristen – the protective friend who takes Xander under her wing. She has a heart of gold, a forthright tongue and a little bit of dream time to go with it.

Pirates Of Romance delivers humor, hurt, comfort, life evaluation, something hot and romance all in one little measure. For a shorty, it’s a goodie.

RATING:  

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