Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Check Me Out

AUTHORS:  Jordan Castillo Price, Kim Fielding, Clare London, Dev Bentham

PUBLISHER:  JCP Books LLC

LENGTH:  201 pages

RELEASE DATE:  August 12, 2024

BLURB:

Who says Romance can’t be found in everyday places?

Four Market-Fresh MM Romances from four well-loved, award-winning MM authors, each set in the supermarket. Follow the characters on a trip down the grocery aisle, where unexpected romance drops right into their baskets.

Whether you’re drawn to the charm of modern love or the intrigue of uncanny twists, this anthology promises a fresh and heartwarming reading experience. Dive in and discover that sometimes, love is just an aisle away.

THE PRICE OF HAPPINESS by Jordan Castillo Price

Between his guitar gig in a local indie band and his cashier gig at the Val-U-Mart, Angus has no time to worry about discount-pricing an vaguely-labeled can at the back of a shelf. But that dollar price is currently all that Newton can afford for today’s grocery haul, which brings him into Angus’ orbit. Can you put a price on happiness? Angus and Newton are about to find out.

DEMO DAY by Clare London

Pips has been having one of those weeks. Possibly a year of them. His bad luck with boyfriends and jobs is legendary, and seems to have followed him into his new role as this week’s Demonstrator at Your Better Buyz.

That is, until the succession of disasters at the demonstration table brings him to the attention of Marcus, the very cute marketing trainee Pips had been trying so hard – on principle – to hate.

LOST IN by Kim Fielding

Joe Becker can’t find the dental floss. In fact, he can’t find any of the items he’s looking for in the huge, sterile supermarket he’s arrived at. Even with the help of Han, the best customer service rep Joe could ever have imagined, he’s lost in more ways than he can explain. Faced with a crisis between his life to date, and what the future now holds – what’s the chance of a fresh start?

GAY NINETIES NIGHT AT THE PICK AND GRAB by Dev Bentham

Seth mistakenly attends the local supermarket dating social, but quickly realises it’s not exactly his demographic. Luckily Dakota, the attractive manager, is more Seth’s age and type, and there’s no denying the attraction. Together, they watch and navigate the amusing, poignant, and turbulent love stories unfolding for the other customers – from a romantic wrangle over cocktail peanuts to an anguished love waiting from afar – and discover a story for their very own.

REVIEW:

When four of my favorite authors get together to put an anthology of quirky meet cutes in a grocery store, well I’m all over it.  This collection is a delight!  I loved all of them and each has it’s own lovely connection.

JCP’s story has a delightfully fresh approach of two guys who are both a bit down on their luck and a bit broke, but they connect after meeting at the discount grocery.  Angus is a cashier/musician and Newton is a nearly penniless match student.  One dollar is the difference between them meeting or not.  Angus does his best to get Newton to notice him, but alas, it takes a second attempt for them to connect 😉

Clare’s tale is such a comedy of errors 🙂  Pips is really so unlucky – and then Marcus, the guy he wants to notice him does.  But Marcus’s job might just get in the way of Pips keeping his.  Again.  But Marcus finds Pips to be much more than Pips thinks he is and together, the look for a path forward – both in life and their careers 😀

Dev’s fun Gay Ninties shopping night is hilariously unexpected.  Seth thinks it’s a Gay thing.  It’s really a 90s thing 😉  He’s shocked by all of the senior citizens shopping for groceries and dates 🙂  Dakota, the store manager would love to find a date himself.  His employee Brooke loves to give him the business.  Also Dakota and Seth act as matchmakers for former lovers as a side dish 😀  There are some hilarious moments with the seniors getting into a bit of trouble and I laughed out loud!

I don’t want to spoil Kim’s story at all.  Let’s just say that nothing is as it seems.  It reminds me in some ways of my favorite TV show maybe of all time starring a character named Eleanor.  I’m not spilling here because it will give too much away.  I absolutely adore this story.  Beautifully written.

I highly recommend this anthology.  I really hope that these authors do something like this again in future.  I love novellas and I look forward to each of their books 🙂  It’s a treat when favorite authors get together!

RATING: 

BUY LINK:

Amazon