Reviewed by Stephen K.
TITLE: Heart
SERIES: Tales of the Circle #3
AUTHOR: Timothy Warren
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 246 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 22, 2021
BLURB:
Chef, George Patras, is embracing life again. It’s been two years since David’s death and to honor him he’s opening a restaurant in his name.
Michelangelo Napolitano is a sweet bear of a guy, known in Dupont Circle as the singing mailman. He’s cute, funny, bold, impulsive, and light on his feet—one of which is often in his mouth.
George’s restaurant is on Mikey’s route. They see each other daily, yet date the wrong people. Will they ever see they’re perfect for each other?
There’s more Circle magic in this romantic comedy of blind dates, new love, and a whole lot of HEART.
Heart: Tales of the Circle Book 3, is a romantic comedy set in the gayborhood of Dupont Circle, in Washington, DC. It features characters from prior novels in the series that may enhance your enjoyment, but can easily be read as a standalone.
This book contains mature content.
REVIEW:
OK… I’ll admit it, I was initially more attracted to the setting of this book than to the set-up. I’ve been a frequent visitor to DC over the years and have always loved the gayborhoods there. DC is a weird mix of North and South; great restaurants, plenty of cultural distractions, plenty of embassies and plenty of old money. Plus the people I’ve met there have generally been friendly and somewhat lower-key than the Manhattanites I was used to dealing with.
The main characters here are both bearish men past thirty, more like my real-life friends than the younger svelter guys I generally read about. Both MCs are well-rounded, down-to-earth guys you might actually meet, with a cast of supportive friends, workmates, and family.
This is a relaxing, sweet romance, with low angst. And the sex is regular guy sex, not the sex one so often sees in books, between athletically gifted, gym bunnies. And yet, the problem with cuddly guys is that amid their outward geniality, there are often some soft-spots and insufficiently healed wounds. These guys are no exception, and this quickly becomes a tale of healing, community, friends, fellowship, and family.
And since one of the guys is a chef opening a new restaurant, now I’m hungry. Gosh, I haven’t had a good saganaki in so long…
Still, if you’ve an appetite for a romantic tale of two regular guys finding each other and a bit of happiness as well, I can recommend this as a good place to start. This is a comfort read with a HEA ending and the promise of more books in the series to come. This IS the third in a series and I’ve not read either of the preceding books, but I don’t feel that I missed anything because of that. I have added them to my ever-growing “want-to-read” list.
RATING: 
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