Brief Encounters

Title:  All Work and No Play
Author: Anah Crow and Dianne Fox
Length: 6,000 words (21 pdf pages)
Publisher: Amber Allure
Genre:  m/m contemporary
Rating: B-

Blurb:

Joshua has planned every detail of the vacation he’s going to take with his partner, Ciro. All Ciro has to do is show up. They’re headed for Dear Lake, Michigan, a tiny town built around a modest resort that’s been serving up peace and quiet for more than fifty years.

Showing up is harder than it seems. The day their vacation begins, a big client finally decides to move ahead with a project Ciro has been trying to get for months. Joshua is livid, angry enough to leave without him, but there’s nothing Ciro can do about it.

Or is there? Alone in his office before the meeting, Ciro finally sees that he has his priorities mixed up. This meeting is important, but not more important than Joshua. He postpones the meeting, to hell with the consequences, then takes off for Dear Lake to make things right.

But when he arrives, the cabin they were meant to share is empty and Joshua is nowhere to be found. Is Ciro too late to fix what he’s broken?

Review:

This story jumps into the life of opposite-couple Ciro, the workaholic ad agency owner, and Joshua, a more free-spirit surfer dude type. Joshua has been tolerating his lover’s attachment to work, but has finally convinced the man to a four-day weekend. Of course when a client who has been stringing Ciro along finally makes an appointment for the day they are to leave, Joshua’s had enough. He’s going on the vacation, whether Ciro comes or not. He’s finally realized he’s never going to be number one in the relationship. The fact that Joshua finally stands up for himself, motivates Ciro to look at his life and decide what is important.

I liked both guys, although men like Ciro make me nuts, and I always wonder if they’ll really change after one fight. I also liked that when Ciro finally makes it to the country resort, Joshua doesn’t just roll over and let him back into his bed right away. There are lots of descriptions of the country resort they are at which is very much like a small town, where everyone knows everyone, and chats with strangers, and that’s something that Joshua needs in his life and would like to share with Ciro, if he’s let him.

Of course this is romance and you know they are going to make-,and live happily ever after, but it seemed natural to me. They had only been living together about six months, so I think it’s natural for things like this to come up after the blush has worn of, and I appreciated that Ciro took it seriously. So when you’re in the mood for a fairly uncomplicated story centred on relationships and priorities, with a lovely setting at a lake-side resort, I would recommend this one.