Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Two Straights Too Many
SERIES: Heroes of Fort Dale
AUTHOR: Romeo Alexander
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 198 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 5, 2020
BLURB:
Elias: Moving to Daleport City to work at the local fire station was going to be hard. Then I met Cade. Turns out, I’d met my new best friend, and for two years, he’s been by my side through everything. The guys tease us about how close we are, but we’re straight, just good friends. Then Cade and I found ourselves having to pretend to date, pretend to be attracted to one another…And then we stopped pretending.
Cade: As if having a female stalker and a harpy for a mother wasn’t enough, I’m also in a fake relationship with my best friend? Then we ended up kissing…and more. Elias is straight, I’m straight, and we suddenly want to do not so straight things. That’s pretty much where I am now. So tell me… what am I supposed to do?
Elias and Cade, two straight firefighters and best friends, find themselves in a fake relationship that leads both men into territory they’ve never ventured into before. Can their friendship survive? Will they ever want to go back?
REVIEW:
Elias has been a firefighter in his adopted town for a couple of years. He and his best friend Cade spend the majority of their off-shift time together. They are kind of joined at the hip. They endure a bit of teasing at the firehouse that they are “boyfriends” but they take it in stride. There is one out gay guy at their station called Matt and aside from a couple of jerks, nobody seems to care really. Certainly Elias and Cade do not. Elias is happy where he’s at. His family supports him from afar, but he’s got a great relationship with his mom and sisters.
Cade is a local boy. His family is wealthy and pays him an allowance because he has to “keep up appearances” even though he’s very happy being a firefighter and has absolutely no desire to follow in his father’s footsteps with the business or his mother’s footsteps with social climbing and trying to control everyone around her by being seen with the movers and shakers in their fair town. In fact Cade can barely stomach his command performance weekly lunches with her. She’s constantly trying to fix him up with a “suitable and appropriate” woman befitting his “station” in the town. He has absolutely ZERO desire to do this. He’s a bit of a cat around town with the ladies and has no desire to settle down and certainly not with anyone of his mother’s choosing.
Cade gets roped into some social event given by the person his mother has in mind for him – a councilwoman named Christine. Cade thinks that she’s trying to trap him into seeing her and so he brings Elias along for backup and to help him stay out of Christine’s way. However, she’s not to be denied, so in an attempt to put her off, he tells her that he’s not with Elias. She doesn’t seem sold on the idea, and she kind of intimates that she might be looking into the fire department and his station in particular. Needless to say he’s worried. But he’s grateful that Elias isn’t pissed and has his back.
When word gets out at the firehouse that Cade and Elias are “together” at the firehouse, things get interesting. The same guys who are jerks to Matt are now being jerks to Cade and Elias and Elias is not having it. He’s a big guy and kinda scary so the knuckleheads back off. But the chief tells them they better keep everything the same at the firehouse. When yet another party – and this one in their honor – is thrown by Christine, they have to show up and are nervous as heck about how to act. They have GOT to sell this to Christine or there will be hell to pay. So they drink and dance and whoa, more! Neither one of them are sure how they got here nor where it will go.
Cade is a bit freaked out by everything so Elias gives him his space. But when things go on long enough he pushes Cade to talk to him but they are interrupted. Things happen that force Cade to realize the depths of his feelings for Elias and that he needs to figure out what he really does want and what he doesn’t. Hopefully Elias will be there for whatever he decides.
This was a cute story! it was a fast read and the MCs are very different. Cade can’t stand the way his family treats him, but it takes him a bit to figure out he really can choose his own life. I loved how he grew up during the story. I really liked how stoic and support Elias was. He seems a bit more relaxed in his self-perception – even though he’d never been with a guy before either. He was definitely more accepting of the change in their relationship. I felt like Cade’s response is the more typical response – but maybe not so much with the younger generation who thankfully seem to have a more fluid concept of sexuality. I really did like the way they got together. The supporting characters were great and I hope we meet Matt’s boyfriend for real in coming books. I also like the surprising advice that really helped Cade get over himself 🙂 Just a fun lovely read without too much angst. Recommended!
RATING: 
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