Title: Ditched
Author: Lucy Felthouse
Length: 5,234 words
Publisher: Resplendence Publishing
Genre: m/m contemporary romance
Rating: B
Blurb:
Private Damien Stone is living in a nightmare. He’s out on exercise on Salisbury Plain with Lance Corporal Michael Scott—who also happens to be a huge pain in the arse. He’s a teacher’s pet who seems to delight in bossing Stone around. But that’s not the real reason Stone appears to dislike him so much. It’s because Stone—who’s bisexual—is seriously attracted to his superior, but he can’t do anything about it, because Scott is straight. Or is he?
Review:
Those who like stories with military guys in them are going to like this one. It tells of two British army guys who are on practice manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. They hole up in a ditch to await a late pick up, sniping at each other all the way. Things come to a head when Scott catches Stone staring at him in a lustful manner.
At just over 5,000 words there’s not much to this story but I really got a good flavour for both characters despite the short time we spend with them. Both are strong men, stubborn and used to getting their own way. Scott is the superior officer, but Stone treats him with the bare minimum of respect. The testosterone and the sexual tension rolls off these guys as they fight frustration at having to wait for the helicopter, and their own sexual frustration with each other. It was nicely played.
It isn’t long before the sparks start flying, followed by a sex scene which was hot, but realistic, given the setting. I liked the distractions of the rain and cool weather and the contrast between that and their hot skin. I also liked that the scene is peppered with good-natured teasing which shows that once the men let their guard down they could be friends as well as comrades and lovers.
My one niggle about the scene was the lack of condom – obviously neither of them carry any condoms on manoeuvres so it would have been strange for one of them to suddenly produce one – but it still left me feeling a little uncomfortable when they could have avoided penetrative sex altogether. It actually had me scurrying to Google to look up STD testing in the army, but as far as I could tell, there isn’t anything regular. Maybe someone has better information than me. Maybe other readers will just go with the fantasy of it all and ignore the cold reality of a possible STD!
That niggle wasn’t enough to spoil the story for me and I greatly enjoyed this piece of erotica. There’s not really any romance involved at this stage, other than a hint at the end of more encounters between the pair, but this didn’t bother me either. If military men are your thing then this story could be just right for you. I enjoyed the story and would recommend it.
Reblogged this on Urban Fictive.
LOL I love how you went looking for that info. Sometimes I do find myself wincing a bit and have to just let things go.
Well my thought process went something like ‘wait, he’s not using a condom. Hmmm, I wonder if they have regular checks for STDs in the army, in which case I don’t have to worry about the lack of condom’. Half an hour later, I still hadn’t found anything definitive, although I did find out lots of interesting stuff about STDs in the military and how military personnel who are posted overseas have a much higher chance of getting an STD and passing it on. I also found out that mandatory STD testing is difficult to monitor and is generally resented in the armed forces.
Yeah, that would’ve pulled me out of the story, although maybe not to the point of researching it.
LOL! I was curious
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