Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: The Bachelor and the Cherry 
SERIES: Campo Royale
AUTHOR: V.L. Locey
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 215 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 20, 2021
BLURB:
Is he brave enough to stop hiding behind his persona and give love one final try?
Jordan Stevens has crammed a lot of living into his fifty years. Some of those years have been good, some bad, and some he would just as soon forget. The world isn’t always kind to an aging queen. Lovers begin to scamper into forbidden fields, your padding tends to slip, and you spend more time with egg whites than most pastry chefs. Heartache is nothing new to the man who embodies the acid-tongued Sitka Patel on stage every night, which led Jordan to vow to never trust another man under eighty again. He has his club, his drag family, and his Bombay cat Heckle. Who needs the hassle? That philosophy had served him well, until a stunning young thing with dark chocolate eyes shows up at the back door of Campo Royale with a suitcase, a sad story, and a dream.
From the time he was old enough to spell the word sequin, Yampier Perez knew that someday he’d be wearing them. One of three children born to Cuban immigrants, Yampier was always a little glitzier than the other neighborhood boys. His love of fashion design and performance arts was barely tolerated at home and even less so in the hallways of his rural Georgia high school. Yet, Yampier never let his light be doused, not even the day his older brother caught him modeling his sister’s prom dress. Beaten, disowned, and on his own before graduation, he found himself having to work seedy jobs doing even seedier things, until he saved enough cash to head to the Big Apple. That money has now run out, leaving him stuck in Wilmington with no food, no place to stay, and no family. Little does he know that stumbling into the Campo Royale Club, half frozen and weak from hunger, is about to bring him everything he has yearned for.
The Bachelor and the Cherry is a gay age gap romance that features an aging drag queen, a virginal newcomer, lots of sass, wigs galore, hurt/comfort, family found, and a richly sequined happy ending.
REVIEW:
I have to admit that I did struggle with the first third of this book. I just wasn’t my cup of tea. It felt like a channeling of some stereotyping and some phraseology that I just don’t care for. But as the story progressed, both Jordan and Yampier grew on me. Both had been hurt so much in their lives: Yampier by his family and unaccepting community and Jordan by the men he’d let into his life before. As Mother Sitka Patel, Jordan was a force to be reckoned with – all confidence and wicked tongue and sarcasm. She OWNED the room. But Jordan is a complete other story. Letting anyone get close is a huge gamble – and a lovely young baby drag queen less than half his age? What will come of this? Yampier has no experience whatsoever and has fallen for Jordan so quickly.
Jordan’s housekeeper/best friend’s concern is a hurdle as he doesn’t trust Yampier at all. He’s watched his friend suffer because of the men he’s chosen in the past who made him feel less than. However Aunt Zizzi, Jordan’s family, is another story 🙂 And the rest of the queens are there to help Yampier become the queen he’s dreamed of being his whole life. Most of them are romantics and enjoy helping Yampier learn the art of drag 😉 Well almost everyone.
Everything is going along swimmingly until Yampier’s past shows up. As usual Mother is there to keep things from exploding. Yampier struggles with his family dynamic again and it’s up to the queens to help.
Overall I enjoyed this story, although not as much as the first one in this series. Jodan has a badly battered heart of gold and Yampier is all kinds of soothing for it. If you like drag queens and happy endings, you’ll enjoy this story 🙂
RATING: 
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