Reviewed by Ro

TITLE: I Touch Hoses

SERIES: Bent Oak

AUTHOR: Bix Barrow

PUBLISHER: Self Publisher

LENGTH: 96 pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 24, 2024

BLURB:

What happens when a smoking hot retired rock star finally decides to take a walk on the bi side?

I have no idea. I panicked and tanked our date before I could find out.

When I accidentally overheard Jake Lord, womanizing rock god with a d**k of legendary proportions, say he wanted to come out as bisexual, I never imagined I’d be the first man he’d ask to dinner. What could a famous musician want with me—a guy who’s so freaked by what happened on my last job that I’m working as a gardener to try to forget?

I should’ve turned him down immediately, but he was so adorable—all nervous and awkward—I couldn’t stop myself from accepting his invitation.

But after decades of the rock and roll life, Wesley doesn’t want to be “Jake Lord” anymore. He’s ready to be a dad, a homebody, a guy who rescues kittens. A man like that needs someone who’s got their s**t together. And that’s definitely not me.

So I bailed before I was in too deep.

REVIEW:

Jake Lord, real name Wesley, is a fifty-five-year-old rock legend who is now retired and finally wants to embrace his bisexual side. He is legendary for his sexual prowess but he’s only been with women. He comes to the home of Cole, a famous actor who came out and has two male partners, thinking he could pick Cole’s brain on what he should do. “I came here for advice. Because you were in the public eye, and there was never any gossip about you sleeping with men.” The way he goes about it, however, is strictly foot in mouth and I found it funny.

What he finds at Cole’s Triple the Love Ranch is a gardener named Keson, who is exactly Wesley’s type. Wesley has been a wham bam thank you ma’am his whole life, but now he’s looking for a relationship. For his part, Keson has had a bad situation happen that he feels guilt about. Wesley’s assumption about Keson’s past work is, again, funny. How he even came to the conclusion he did I have no idea, but it was a laugh!

The story focuses on these two in their own little world at the ranch and how they are introducing each other to themselves. Wesley is so nervous and worried about messing things up that sometimes it’s a self-fulfilling prophesy. Keson has the same issue, turning their first date into a sort of traumatic experience. “Worst of all, Wesley could tell I wasn’t solely focused on him. His smiles became smaller and dimmer as the night went on.”  Once the miscommunications are unraveled, things get better, and I like seeing these two together.

For the side characters, I liked Cole, Will and Jason and the support they have for each other and I absolutely adored Wesley’s son, Freddy, who has the best badass name!

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon