Brief Encounters

Title: Dinner and a Movie
Author: M. Durango
Length: 5,300 words (14 pdf pages)
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: m/m contemporary (twincest)
Rating: B-

Blurb:

Jeremy and Brian are best friends, roommates, and brothers; they’re inseparable and there are no secrets between them except one. When an old high school nemesis tries to start a bar fight with Jeremy, throwing around his usual insults about their relationship, Brian soothes Jeremy’s frustration and thinks that’s the end of it. But when Jeremy starts avoiding him, Brian has no choice but to push for the truth. Are they so close that they even share the same dark secret they’ve each kept from the other all these years?

Review:

The blurb pretty much says it all. In fact there’s not much left to write after that. The story is mostly told from Jeremy’s point of view, or I felt I got more into Jeremy’s head than Brian’s. He’s been lusting after his brother for years and feels guilty and shameful about it, however they are twins and all that it often implies for twins. He could never leave, but he decides keeping his distance will ensure that Brian doesn’t know how he feels about him.

The misunderstanding takes place when both wrongly assume why Jeremy is avoiding Brian. Brian believes it’s because Jeremy now knows he has the hots for him and Jeremy the same. Once the truth is out in the open, that they are both interested, they come to accept it pretty quickly.

I liked both characters. Jeremy seems the more angsty of the two, anguishing over his feelings and that’s where I felt that I was more in his head than Brian’s. Although Brian admits he has feelings too, I never really got the sense from him that he thought about it much beyond trying to keep it hidden.

It is a short story though, at only fourteen pages, so you don’t get too deeply into their relationship. There is a Valentine’s Day short which I will review tomorrow which gets even further into Jeremy’s head and the complexities of a relationship with your twin, whereas this is only the lead-up and beginning of their new status as lovers. Of course as with all twincest stories, this won’t be to everyone’s taste, but I did enjoy this little short visit with likeable characters as you get to know them and find out about their relationship.