Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Heat

SERIES: ABC’s of Love

AUTHOR: TL Travis

PUBLISHER: Sapphire Publishing

LENGTH: 175 pages

RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2022

BLURB:

What do you get when you throw a burly blacksmith and the town’s poster child for clumsiness together?

A whole lot of swearing and a threatening use of duct tape.

And the need to construct a sign that reads, “DO NOT LET CAMPBELL NEAR THE FORGE!”

Alabaster Falls’ local blacksmith, Daughtry Blackburn, was satisfied with his reclusive status. He had iron to bend and orders to fill but he knew he needed something to take the business to the next level. His father had fought taking their business into the twenty-first century, but since he’d passed, it was up to Daughtry to keep things forward moving and he knew there was no way to do so without being on the World Wide Web. Metalworking, he got. Computers, not so much.

Campbell Jenkins was desperate to be accepted by his peers in the little town he’d called home since birth. Problem was, he was accident-prone. Not just in the sense of an occasional break here or there, but in a “can’t walk by glass without it

shattering – even when it seemed he was a mile away” type of thing. No matter how hard he tried to fit in, this curse led to failure. Forced to stay stuck inside the walls of the home his grandmother left him, he spent his time learning all he could about computers and social media. His online friends never cast him aside—too bad the real world wasn’t as kind.

When he answers an ad in the local paper for online marketing assistance, he wasn’t sure what to expect. Least of all, the brawny man answering the door to a log cabin that had seen better days.

Can two opposites in forced proximity learn to play nicely or will one wind up in an iron grave?

REVIEW:

I am a HUGE TL Travis fan and was so excited to see her take part in this series!

Campbell Jenkins is a walking disaster…just as anyone in Alabaster Falls. But behind all those accidents and bruises lay a sweet young man who was literally thrown away by his mother the first chance she got. Being gay and small in stature growing up caused him heartache by bullies and assumptions by men that weren’t necessarily true. Daughtry Blackburn is all alone since his Pops passed awhile back. But being a recluse never bothered him much. Now all those biddies trying to marry him off to one of their daughters…that was enough to make him shutter. He never saw one that ever peeked his fancy even. When Daughtry decides that he needs to move into the 21st Century to sell his creations he puts up a sign on the Post Office bulletin board. When Campbell comes to apply for the job of Internet Guru he doesn’t know what to think and things go to hell in a hand basket quickly! (Guess I need to add a buck to Campbell’s swear jar) So groveling is in order when he shows up at Campbell’s cute little home. (Cute seems to be a theme for anything Campbell!) But what happens when a lumberjack of a giant craftsman and a petite non-twink of a klutz computer genius start working together and sparks fly (and not from Daughtry’s forge)?

This is a slow burn, easy going romance of two men that never quite fit in, have mother abandonment issues, and are now all alone. Although they seemed the

mirror opposites of each other at first glance the more you dive into their story the more you realize that they are absolutely perfectly matched for each other like the way Daughtry’s art pieces come together to make a piece of beauty. They compliment each other in only a way true love can.

I truly enjoyed watching both these amazing and caring men find their way to each other and learning to accept that the other was truly their mate. They were gentle and thoughtful on navigating Daughtry’s new found sexuality and Campbell’s ability to learn to trust. Wonderful stand-alone novel that will warm your heart with southern hospitality and manners.

RATING:

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