Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: A Kiss In Time
AUTHOR: Pat Henshaw
PUBLISHER: JMS Books
LENGTH: 20 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 4, 2020
BLURB:
When former tagger Eric hears a cute fellow student named Joel protesting to a woman that he’s gay, Eric comes to his rescue and gives him a big kiss and hug in City College’s hallway.
Even though sparks fly between them, Eric doesn’t expect any reward for saving the guy from being hit on in public, so he’s surprised when undercover cop Joel asks him to become his pseudo-boyfriend.
How bad can it be for a former high school dropout, who’s been to juvie more times than class, to pretend he’s a cop’s lover?
REVIEW:
A Kiss in Time is certainly an unusual twist on the fake boyfriend trope. Joel is an undercover narcotics cop posing as a college student where Eric just started classes. To maintain his cover, he asks Eric, whom he just met, to pose as his boyfriend. It works well because they’re both older students around thirty years old. If Eric agrees, the police department will give them a snazzy loft rent-free so they can live together. Additionally, Eric would be granted the use of the walls of a downtown building to use for painting murals. Eric is a high school dropout and was twice in juvie for tagging, but he maintains a dream of becoming a respected street artist. Joel’s sexy looks almost have Eric convinced to agree, but the walls seal the deal.
My one complaint is the lack of any on-page romance or sexy times. The sexual part of the relationship can be summed up in one sentence: “We’d kissed, fucked, and then decided we’d hit a crossroads.” An extra five pages could’ve been dedicated to developing the relationship, exhibiting some emotions between Eric and Joel so we could see their progression toward love, and gifting us with a nice steamy scene. I’d even be okay without the steamy scene if the emotions were more developed.
I generally don’t care for short stories but this is an exception. I really enjoyed A Kiss in Time – it’s a cute story with likable main characters, an intriguing storyline, and a snappy pace. I would love to see it fleshed out as a novella or full-length novel. This is one short I happily recommend.
RATING: 
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Thank you so much! I’m glad you liked the story.