Title: First Impressions
Author: C. Koehler
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 03/29/2021
Length: 90200
Genre: Contemporary, “LGBTQIA+, Contemporary, romance, gay, family-drama, humorous, comedy of manners, ex-porn star, store clerk, resort hotel, mother/son relationship”
Add to Goodreads
Description
When Henry Hughes and Cameron Jameson meet for the first time at a Coming Out Day party, it’s anything but love at first sight. In fact, it’s an unmitigated disaster, despite a scorching physical attraction.
Henry, whose social anxiety gets the better of him, humiliates Cameron, and when Cameron finds out about Henry’s past in adult films, he assumes he dodged a disease-covered bullet. Yet as Henry runs into Cameron again and again, he realizes he might have misjudged the younger man. He also realizes that Cameron won’t let go of his own initial view and thinks Henry is an unmitigated ass. First impressions are lasting impressions, and Cameron seems to misinterpret all of Henry’s words and deeds.
It’s not until Henry confronts Cameron that Cameron realizes just how wrong he’s been, but he thinks he’s lost his chance. Yet when disaster strikes Cameron and his friends, Henry rides to the rescue. Will Cameron be able to put aside his pride and shame to accept Henry’s help and his heart?
First Impressions
C. Koehler © 2021
All Rights Reserved
“Here’s one for you,” Cameron said.
I loved being married and I wish I still was, only to a man this time.
I’m just a homebody who loves cooking and long moonlit walks.
No drugs or smoking, looking for emotionally stable young man…
“Give me that.” Simon grabbed his iPad. He looked at the screen. “What did I ever do to you?
“Whaaat?” Cameron played innocent. It didn’t always work, but sometimes people believed it.
“Do you really hate me that much? Five foot six and two hundred and thirty pounds? And you just skipped right over the part where he said ‘fairly decent shape.’” Simon snorted.
“C’mon, he doesn’t sound that bad.”
Simon looked at him like he was a fool and jabbed a finger at the iPad’s screen. “Where shall I start? Married to a woman, divorced, and now wants to be married to a man? That his outstanding physical attribute appears to be a large gut?”
“Careful, a double tap opens a chat window.” Cameron smirked.
“Shut up. No one who weighs two hundred and thirty pounds at five foot six is into moonlit walks.” Simon rolled his eyes. “Or exercise of any kind, for that matter. Please. I may not be Mother Beauchamp’s smartest child, but I’m not stupid either.”
“Well, maybe he’s unsuitable at that.” A sly smile ghosted across Cameron’s lips. He ran a hand through his sandy-brown hair in an unconscious gesture of nervousness. It was Simon’s turn, and after what he’d found for Simon…
Cameron Jameson and Simon Beauchamp did what they always did when they had a stray moment and the urge to torment each other. They sat in a booth at New Helvetia, their favorite Midtown caffeine refueling station, identifying and mocking wildly inappropriate mates. Those times with Simon, or any time with him, were some of Cameron’s favorites.
Simon cackled. “Now it’s your turn, Cam, and Meat Grinder will help me exact my revenge. Ah, here’s one for you.”
30ish-looking GWM—
“Stop right there. Thirtyish-looking? That means he’s well past forty. Next?”
“You’re no end of fun. Hmmm, let’s see… Here we go. This one’s a winner,” Simon declared.
I’m a tall and adventurous man of character, athletic, introspective, educated, and financially secure. I enjoy working out and travel. Looking for a boyfriend, not a trick.
“It says he’s in his late thirties, and the pic’s hot.” He looked up to see Cameron frowning. “Now what? Attractive, financially secure, a bit older, which I know for a fact you dig. Wants a sure thing, not a quickie. Honestly, you’re going to be single forever.”
“He’s too good to be true.” Cameron took the tablet to look at the profile picture. Simon was probably right. “No one’s that good. The profile’s probably full of lies and that picture? It’s probably some porn star. In fact…”
Cameron ran a quick image search and the flipped the tablet around for Simon. “There, you see? Porn star.”
“Wow, and hung too.” Simon squinted at the screen. “Hugh Jerection. Jeez, who comes up with these names? But they’re not kidding. That looks painful.”
“Oooh, Meat Grinder! Do me!” squealed a slim blond man. Cameron grinned as Thad Vandergriff, one of his roommates and a bestie besides, slid in beside Simon. Thad was the poster boy for the twinkie archetype—yellow (haired) on the outside, white and creamy on the inside, and almost totally devoid of substance.
“Thad wears a shirt with that on it to the Throne Room,” said Van Nguyen, Thad’s ever-present partner in crime and Cameron’s other roommate, who’d come in with Thad. Cameron had only known him for a few years, but he couldn’t shake the sense that the “crime” part might’ve been true. Van shook his head. “He still hasn’t learned that the best don’t advertise.”
Purchase
NineStar Press | Books2Read
Amazon
Christopher Koehler always wanted to write, but it wasn’t until his grad school years that he realized writing was how he wanted to spend his life. Long something of a hothouse flower, he’s been lucky to be surrounded by people who encouraged that, especially his long-suffering husband of twenty-nine years and counting.
He loves many genres of fiction and nonfiction, but he’s especially fond of romances, because it’s in them that human emotions and relations, at least most of the ones fit to be discussed publicly, are laid bare.
While writing is his passion and his life, when he’s not doing that, he’s a househusband, at-home dad, and oarsman with a slightly disturbing interest in manners and the other ways people behave badly.
Christopher is approaching the tenth anniversary of publication and has been fortunate to be recognized for his writing, including by the American Library Association, which named Poz a 2016 Recommended Title, and an Honorable Mention for “Transformation,” in Innovation, Volume 6 of Queer Sci Fi’s Flash Fiction Anthology.
Facebook | Twitter
