What’s In A Name?

Title: What’s in a Name?

Author:  Pat Henshaw

Publisher:  Dreamspinner Press

Length:  90 pages

Rating:  B List

Quad Shot of Love

Blurb: Barista Jimmy Patterson thinks it’s a good idea to get rip-roaring drunk on his birthday after he’s dumped by his boyfriend. When the burly owner of Stonewall’s Bar rescues Jimmy, the night starts to look up.

Now Jimmy just wants to know the bartender’s first name since he’s worn a different name tag every time Jimmy’s seen him. “Guy” Stone gives Jimmy seven guesses, one for each night he takes Jimmy out on a date.

While Jimmy’s trying to come up with his name, he’s distracted by the destruction of his coffee shop and what looks more and more like a hate crime.

Review: Short and sweet and full of romance. There was a fun little mystery and a whole lot of friendship, kindness, hope and love triumphing over homophobia and harassment.

Jimmy is a sweet twink who doesn’t always know his own worth when it comes to men. Sassy and smarter than he at first appears he is a savvy business owner and a good friend.

Since his true name is a mystery to us and a game between the men I will simply refer to him in the same way that Jimmy does – as Guy. It’s much simpler for all of us. Guy is big and tough and sexy as sin. He knows what he wants and he goes for it. When he sees the chance to spend time with the cute man he’s had his eye on for a while he doesn’t let any of the small details get in his way. And he ends up playing the hero and stepping into a situation that benefitted from his brand of no-nonsense attitude.

At first glance things move quickly between Jimmy and Guy. It reminded me of a Max Vos blog post I read a several months ago. Max talked about the fact that men tend to be simpler in their needs and desires in relationships. We see that here with these men, they liked each other, enjoyed spending time together and the sex was great. What else does a relationship need? And as they spent more time together and opened up to each other more I realized that they had been developing a friendship and emotional connection for a while and that was allowed to blossom once they started dating. That development before and after initial sexual contact was sweet and sexy and they had fun while dealing with some heavy things. There was a tiny bit of a mystery in the story that they had to solve.

A fun read full of romance, humor, silliness and new love. It had me smiling and chuckling throughout.

Reviewed by Nina