Yolande Kleinn, $0.99, ISBN 978-1-946316-04-2
Contemporary Romance, 2015
I love it when an author can grab me by the sleeve—we’re all polite people here, so no grabbing by the throat—from the very first line of the story and has me holding my breath for a few seconds, as I can’t help but to anticipate a bloody good story in the pages ahead.
All of the most awkward conversations of Jason’s life had happened on this couch.
Coming out to his parents when he was so young it almost hurt to think about. Breaking up with his first girlfriend, the puppy crush of his youth, around the same time. Telling his best friend Max that he was leaving town—that he might never come back—because there was a school out of state and a full-ride scholarship. There was a bigger world; there was any excuse at all, as long as it got him out of the tiny-minded town that was slowly strangling him.
Fifteen years and nine apartments later, he still owned the damn couch. It was bulky and gray and had followed him through more living rooms than he cared to fathom, though it never quite matched the décor in any of them. It was too nice for some of the hell holes he’d landed in over the years, too old and clunky for the pricier places he could afford now.
More surprising than the couch, Jason still had Max.
They are so going to frack for oil on that couch, am I right?
Anticipation is, of course, about Jason and Max. He’s back in town, and he may have let the cat out of the bag when it comes to wanting to pitch up a flag and claim some territory in the land of Max and plenty. How will the supposedly not-into-men Max react to this news?
Of course, there is a happy ending here, so there’s no worry about awkward silences and broken friendships. Instead, I get the most sexually explicit story that I’ve read by Yolande Kleinn to date. Okay, the author doesn’t do acrobatic primal sex or anything of that sort, so this story isn’t that explicit, but compared to the other author’s stories that I’ve read, this one appears hardcore.
This is also the most complete story from the author that I’ve read. This may not be a long story, but it feels whole and satisfying. It starts and ends in a way that leaves me perfectly happy that these two are into it and will be okay for the long run. I’m perfectly content not to read anything else about these two, because their story here is just, absolutely, right. Knowing anything more may ruin the high note of the ending (Swordspoint has entered the chat—it’s absolutely near bloody perfect, but my god, all the sequels and prequels crash everything).
So, this one may not have a startlingly original or different story, but it captures a beautiful, idealistic moment when two people fall in love, get horny, and have the best sex ever. It’s great.
It’s too bad real life isn’t as simple and straightforward as this, but hey, that’s why I read stories like this. As a plus, it’s a ticket for a fabulous vicarious getaway for less than a dollar.
