Brief Encounters

Title: Every Minute (Max and Skyler 3)
Author: Acer Adamson
Length: 7,421 words
Publisher: M&VTailz
Genre: m/m contemporary, cross dressing
Rating: B

Blurb:
Another glimpse into the lives of Detective Max Fielding and his cross-dressing lover, dress designer Skyler Trent, takes us back in time to their first meeting. While acting as best man at a fellow cop’s wedding, Max meets Skyler at the fancy reception. He becomes instantly smitten, only to discover that the lovely Skyler isn’t exactly what “she” appears to be.

Fast-forwarding to their ten-month anniversary, Max gives Skyler a special gift and learns something surprising about his beautiful, self-assured lover in return. Another romantic, warm-hearted story for fans of the Max & Skyler series.

Review:
I was really pleased to see this new offering in the Max and Skyler series and popped off to ARe to buy it as soon as I could. This story fills in some blanks from the previous story – mainly how the guys meet each other – and then gives us a short scene where Max tries to plan something special for Skyler, only for things to go a little awry in the execution.

Like the previous books this short focuses heavily on the couple and their relationship. The first half is rather amusing and even comical and follows Max who’s at the wedding of his best friend. He sees a gorgeous woman and can’t understand why his friend is laughing at him, until it’s revealed that Skyler is a man. It’s funny because we know the outcome, and I thought Max acquitted himself very well once the surprise wears off. I smiled quite a bit as Max describes all the sexy attributes of the ‘woman’ who he is chatting up, and I liked the way we are shown that ‘zing’ of initial attraction.

The second half is more serious and we learn a few things about Skyler which adds to our understanding of him. What I liked about this second half was the way that Max has developed in his feelings towards Skyler. He’s come a long way from the hesitancy we saw in the first book, and it reminded me that, whilst he might be a little overshadowed by Skyler at times, he is still a great character.

As with all the books in this series, I love how the cross dressing theme is handled. In this story we hear Skyler trying to explain himself to Max, but we also see how his past has affected him as a cross dresser. I don’t want to give too much away but I thought the ending where Skyler has to face up to some things about his past was sensitively handled.

Any niggles come from the fact that these stories are just teasers in what I think is a fascinating relationship. They whet the appetite but don’t satisfy!  This one, as usual, left me hungry for more of these characters and their situation. More please, sir .

Those readers who have read and enjoyed the first two stories are going to like this one too. It’s worth reading to get the extra information about the characters, but also because they are such an unusual pairing that I can’t help but like these guys.