Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: Employing Patience
SERIES: Divorced Men’s Club #4
AUTHOR: Saxon James
PUBLISHER: May Books
LENGTH: 279 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 31, 2023
BLURB:
Art
When it comes to regrets, I have none. My life is perfect. I own a bar, work hard, party harder, and smother my niblings in all the love they deserve. I don’t need to settle down, as much as my sister might want me to.
But then Joey Manning walks into my office and leaves me all but begging to give him a job … and wanting to give him so much more.
The self-professed straight man is in my head and while I know that I need to move on from him, my body isn’t getting that message. It doesn’t help that Joey is a grade A flirt who can banter with the best of them.
I’ve never had regrets. Not until Joey Manning.
Joey
The bills keep piling up and the pressure to get my sisters through college before we’re evicted is always on the back of my mind. Whoever said life was for living, clearly forgot that living’s expensive.
My default mode is stressed AF and working myself to the bone, and there’s only one person who gives me a break from all that.
Art de Almeida.
My boss.
The one man I shouldn’t flirt with, but I can’t seem to stop. I want to get under his skin. To leave him panting for me. Which wouldn’t be such a bad thing except that he thinks I’m straight, and I’ve never bothered to correct him.
I need this job.
But some days I worry that I need Art more.
REVIEW:
Employing Patience is the next novel in Saxon James’ Divorced Men’s Club series. It features boss/employee and slow burn dynamics.
If you’ve been reading the series, you know Art as the owner of Killer Brew and the cornerstone to the Divorced Men’s Club. He has a reputation for being able to make anything happen and never taking no for an answer. He’s kind, thoughtful, and generous to friends, family, and strangers alike. And, he’s a player, continually bedding different men. Who he wants now is Joey, though, but Joey insists he’s straight. You’ll remember Joey, one of Art’s bartenders, as a cute, outrageously flirtatious guy with his eye on Art.
I found the book to be monotonous, with Joey flirting but always reminding Art he’s straight. He doesn’t know how to identify sexually. Art longs to have Joey in his bed but Joey just dances around him. It goes on and on. Then Joey admits to himself he’s bi-curious and wants sex with Art but he won’t admit to Art he’s bi, so Art keeps shooting him down. On and on. When Joey finally expresses that he wants Art, he doesn’t know if he’ll regret it. There’s no UST, no sexual tension on Joey’s side, just lots of vacillation in behavior. They eventually end up having sex daily at the bar. I was skimming by this point.
My bigger problem is that it’s not until two-thirds through the book that either of the men show any signs of wanting more than just sex. They’re not dating, they’re not in a relationship, there’s no discussion of feelings, it’s not even on anyone’s radar.
I didn’t feel the chemistry between them. I like to experience feels but I got none. It just felt like Joey playing his games for over a year! At one point he tells a coworker (and Art overhears) that he only flirts with Art to become a favored employee and get ahead. At another point – after they start sleeping together – he acts indifferent toward Art, friendly but nothing more. It’s juvenile.
Going into the book, I thought I’d like Joey more but he just made me sad for Art. It’s a shame because outside of all that, Joey’s a sympathetic character with heavy responsibilities and struggles. We learn a lot more about Art in this book and he’s a compassionate, admirable friend, employer, and uncle. I began to enjoy the book more once it finally got around to deeper emotions with the men discovering who the other is under the mask they wear. But by that time I wasn’t much invested.
We’ve all been waiting for Art’s story so i have a sense that die hard Saxon James fans will like the book regardless. This might just be a “me” issue and your mileage may vary.
RATING: 
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