Book Title: Lonely Diner
Author and Narrator: Dann Hazel
Release Date: February 9, 2024
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Tropes: Military Romance, Coming Out, Overcoming Adversity, Second Chances
Themes: Dealing with Trauma, Gay in a New City, Forgiveness
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: 11 hours and 5 minutes
It is part of a series, but each novel can be read as a standalone.
It does not end on a cliffhanger.
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Two conflicted military men. A longing for happiness. One Lonely Diner, where people often search for a recipe for love. (The food is good there, too.)
Blurb
Two conflicted military men. A longing for happiness. One Lonely Diner, where people often search for a recipe for love. (The food is good there, too.)
One man plays it straight. Another grieves over a lost best friend with benefits.
Everyone thought they were meant for each other. Lance, an Air Force computer engineer, and Ryan, a former submariner in the Navy and now a military college professor, are gay men blinded by the painful wounds of their past decisions. Both men are ready for love. But because of their pasts, they’ve slammed the brakes on their desires.
Now thirty years old, a younger Ryan Ball decides he can be happy only by conforming to social expectations. So what does he do? He decides he must have a wife and kids. Though he acknowledges that he can never be straight, he is convinced that with effort, determination, alcohol and erectile dysfunction meds, he can play the necessary roles.
Vikki, Ryan’s girlfriend in high school and now his wife, begs to differ.
At thirty-one, Lance Dingle falls for his best friend and roommate, Randy, a stunt pilot who agrees to a friends-with-benefits arrangement. From Lance’s perspective, there’s a spark in their arrangement that Randy denies. Then, tragedy strikes. Lance finds himself alone and lonely, living with memories of Randy and an ever-expanding list of “what-might-have-beens.” Finally forcing himself into the dating scene, Lance discovers that Mr. Right is more elusive than he ever imagined.
Then, Callie Yenti, transwoman, drag performer extraordinaire and entrepreneur, enters the picture. She owns the popular Lonely Diner and possesses an uncanny insight into the workings of the heart.
Even the complicated hearts of her two hard-headed friends, Lance and Ryan.
An HEA gay romance.
Trigger Warning: This novel includes scenes from a sexual assault and a PTSD episode.
And then, James actually went there, to Lance’s mortification.
“I’ve been wondering, Lance,” James said, “just who that guy was you were talking to at Dudley’s the other night. I mean, it’s not my business. I’m just curious.”
“Callie introduced us not so long ago,” Lance lied. “She thought we might spark up a friendship since both of us have a military background. In fact, she mused that we might even hit it off as a couple.”
The last zinger was Lance’s way of assessing James’ feelings about their relationship.
James blushed. Looked away briefly. Then turned back with a smile. “I’ve heard she’s a really excellent matchmaker.”
The dance had begun. The test, to see where they stood with each other, these two men who not long ago thought they might share a future together.
“I have a question for you, too,” Lance said. “Who was that young man accompanying you to the club the same night you ran into Ryan and me?”
Suspiciously, James studied Lance’s face. “What young man?”
Lance’s temper flared. “C’mon! Don’t patronize me, James. That cute little number who was practically glued to you at Dudley’s. For a while, you were choking him with your tongue. You waited for him to go to the restroom before you approached our table. You don’t remember that?”
After more dissembling, James realized the futility of challenging Lance’s relentlessness.
“Actually, Lance, he is the gay son of an associate in my firm,” James confessed. “To be totally forthcoming, he’s also the primary investor in Les Jardins du Nouveau. He wants to be in control of the place. I think he’d be a wonderful general manager and owner. He earned both a business degree and a hospitality degree. He’s the ideal choice to make the venue successful.” James chuckled. “Besides, he’s not all that much into desk jobs.”
Silently, the men continued to eat the savory barbecue, though now, neither of them had much of a taste for further conversation.
“This is only a business relationship then?” Lance forced himself to ask, though he already knew the answer.
Slowly, dreading what might follow, James placed his fork beside his plate. “Look, Lance. As much as I adore you, I think we both know, if we’re really honest, that you and I simply won’t work as a couple. The past few months have been immensely enjoyable. A great, sexy ride. And I’ll admit. I often imagined the two of us as a loving couple, living together in what’s going to be your gorgeous home.”
Lance’s appetite totally disappeared just as their server delivered their Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. There was no fucking way Lance could ever eat that rich monstrosity. In fact, he felt as though he might vomit at the mere sight of it.
Though once he thought about it, the nausea resulted more from the sight of James.
Lance stormed out, his dessert and flatware vibrating in time with the table his knee had bumped.
There was, he thought, one small benefit to this lunch that had gone so horribly awry.
James Manigault would have to pay for the whole damn thing!
Dann Hazel has been writing both fiction and nonfiction for more than twenty years.
Besides writing romance, he has taught high school English and journalism, college psychology and human sexuality, directed federal grants and worked as a therapist in a psychiatric hospital. His fiction genre interests include thrillers, horror, literary and gay romance. He has published the Some Like It Haute Gay Romance Series, including Room for Dessert, My Own Private Biscuit and Lonely Diner.
Nonfiction works include Witness: Gay and Lesbian Clergy Report from the Front and Moving On: The Gay Man’s Guide for Coping When a Relationship Ends.
Dann’s personal interests include reading and writing, cinema, jogging, Broadway, keeping abreast of current events and travel.
Currently, Dann lives in Central Florida with his husband, Josh, and their American Eskimo canine, Flurry.
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