Reviewed by True
TITLE: Are You There, Moriarty?
SERIES: Parlor Games #1
AUTHOR: AE Lister
PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing
LENGTH: 330 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 20, 2024
BLURB:
Welcome to Maverick Molly’ s— for the Victorian sex rebel in all of us.
Toby Dunn has a fun job.
As a server-slash-performer at a newish establishment called Maverick Molly’ s— a gaming parlor and kink club in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada— he dons bloomers and a corset to serve drinks and perform burlesque skits for the men who frequent the place. Maverick Molly’ s hearkens back to a darker time, when sodomy was illegal and men who loved other men could be thrown in jail, or worse, for daring to be true to themselves and each other. Maverick Molly’ s brings all the positives from that period— the daring dress and ribald performances, the joy in safe spaces and the resilience of people who didn’ t let anything stop them— and leaves the negatives in the past, where they belong.
Toby’ s life isn’ t all fun, and he’ s determined to move out of the home he shares with his alcoholic mother and keep up his average in his BA program at the University of Ottawa. Oh, and he’ s going to quit smoking… eventually.
But everything changes when charming Alastair Kenney walks up the stairs to the club and invites Toby for a casual hookup at the most prestigious hotel in Ottawa, surprising them both with the intensity of their chemistry.
What happens after that is up to them.
REVIEW:
What an excellent story, I honestly laughed out loud, hiccuping, such a great sense of humor.
The author didn’t just create two wonderful characters, noooo Toby and Alastair were magnificently crafted, I saw them as the wonderful persons they were, heard them, and laughed with them.
These fine-designed characters were such a fresh breath.
Alastair was just amazing, I was a bit dumbfounded by his endearing attitude and all Dom, gosh what a man! And Toby was, I have no words, such a candid and honest soul.
Toby is twenty and works at Maverick Molly’s, a gaming parlor and kink club, as a server slash performer. A dream job, and a way to get out of his toxic mother’s life. ( I don’t want the mother thing to give too much attention because ugh, but she was there) So, let’s focus again on Toby and Alastair!
Alastair is thirty-five and an experienced Dom who visits Maverick Molly’s regularly, always with a different partner, and always directly to the Bordello room, read yourself what happens behind those doors!
No wonder Toby had never seen him before, until now, when he was taking a smoke break in the alley.
Alastair approached to get into the establishment, he stopped, they talked and there was an instant connection. Not that they could do anything together, because Toby can’t get involved with customers. But after work time… dang they went to a hotel.
What happened there left a deep impression on both.
Toby knew Alastair was way out of his league, and it was only a one-night stand.
Sweet Toby, little does he know. Alastair was completely over his head with Toby.
“Well, that’s a…that’s a St. Someone’s cross. I can’t remember the saint,”
Okay, guys, fasten your seatbelts, what follows was more than I could hope for, more of everything!
It was a delight, the scenes were deliciously heady, their relationship and the story altogether just magnificent, or how the French say magnifique, a chef’s kiss!
I wanted to highlight the whole story, and ALL the feels, spoil it here, I won’t of course. Read it yourself, duh!
RATING: 
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