Destiny Drops In/Destiny Goes Spare

Title: Destiny Drops In/Destiny Goes Spare
Author: TC Blue
Publisher: Torquere Books
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: Sip
Rating: 4 & 4.25 stars out of 5

A Guest Review by Jenre

DESTINY DROPS IN

THE BLURB

Andrew’s lost when he walks into the Dew Drop Inn. Raj isn’t lost at all, and when he sees Andrew, he knows exactly what he wants. He hopes that he can convince Andrew to give him a chance, and he’s willing to take the man home and show Andrew how good it can be between them. Will Andrew understand that destiny has dropped into his life?

THE REVIEW

This short story is based around one of those themes which readers either hate or love: Love at first sight.  Raj is a British man who is living in Maine.  His favourite drinking establishment is The Dew Drop Inn, a quaint little bar where the owner is willing to turn a blind eye to the fact that, at 20 years old, Raj is underage.  Whilst playing pool at the bar one evening he sees Andrew and is instantly in love – even before he’s seen Andrew’s face.  Andrew is lost in more than just the literal sense as he is recovering from a supposed broken heart.  He feels the sexual electricity that crackles between him and Raj and is more than happy to step out in a different direction and act on that attraction.

I have to say that I don’t usually like ‘love at first sight stories’ as I often find it hard to believe that you can have deep feelings for anyone you’ve only just met.  However, this story was so well written that I could believe it.  There are a lot of factors against these guys making it: a large age gap; a different focus in life (Raj is a drifter and Andrew is steady) and Andrew’s lack of self confidence.  But by the end I was cheering for the two men all the way and looking forward to the sequel.  The only slight niggle I had was with Raj’s dreadful faux Cockney accent which grated terribly on my nerves but as Andrew finds Raj’s accent a turn on, I can hardly complain too much about it.  Rating: 4 Stars.

DESTINY GOES SPARE

THE BLURB

Andrew and Raj have had a beautiful relationship since the night they met by chance and knew they were meant to be together. To celebrate Raj’s twenty-first birthday, Andrew throws him a magnificent party and invites everyone on Raj’s email contact list. Raj is thrilled, and so is Andrew, until a pair of unexpected — but very much invited — guests arrive. In one fell swoop, everything goes to pieces. Raj and Andrew are sleeping apart for the first time since they met. Are they really going to end it, or does destiny have something even better in store?

THE REVIEW

In this sequel to Destiny Drops In, we rejoin Raj and Andrew just over 3 months since they met.  Andrew has arranged a surprise birthday party for Raj by inviting everyone in his ‘friends’ email list.  This turns out not to have been perhaps the best policy when two people turn up and bring to the fore all the differences between the two men.

This story is slightly shorter than the first one, but is much more emotion rather than lust based.  Andrew has admitted that he loves Raj and they are enjoying the lovely ‘honeymoon’ period which occurs at the beginning of most relationships and perhaps ignoring some of the realities of their lives.  I have to say that Andrew seems to spend most of this story in a state of utter confusion which I found quite endearing.  He has no idea how to act when the mystery guests turn up and is baffled as to why they mistrust him, other than the fact that there’s an age gap.  Raj allows himself to be influenced by the guests (I’m being deliberately cagey so as not to be spoilerish) but I never felt there was any real tension or that the two men wouldn’t be able to overcome their problems.  The two secondary characters were interesting and as well rounded as can be for a short story.  They added an extra dimension and quite a lot of humour which was missing from the first story which focused only on Raj and Andrew.  Destiny Goes Spare was another nicely written story by TC Blue.  Rating 4.25 Stars.