Tuesday, September 2, 2014

A Serving of Love by Andrew Grey


Synopsis From Publisher:

Sebastian Franklin has waited a long time to prove himself as front of the house manager at Cafe Belgie, but his first night in charge while Darryl, his boss, is on vacation is less than a success.  The restaurant is robbed at closing time, and the Good Samaritan who foiled the robber comes with his own complications.  Robert Fortier is the county's newest judge, and a reluctant one at that.  He is well aware that a public life is not always easy, especially when your personal life makes you the target of a media frenzy.  Still, Robert enjoys Sebastian's company, and Sebastian is never without a serving of happiness and flair for his favorite public figure.  But Sebastian is not without his issues either-- family chaos and an ex in trouble will put the pressure on as they struggle for even footing in this new romance.

Because I've read so many m/m romances since I got my NOOK, I could do a review a day, and still not get through all of them in a year.  I'm been kind of randomly picking one every once in a while, without any thought behind it.  That will change with this review.  A lot of the books I've been reading are part of a series, so I figured it would make sense if I were to review them in order, without jumping around on my NOOK.  Since the last book was A Taste of Love by Andrew Grey, it's time for A Serving of Love.

We actually met Sebastian in the previous book, and he was an okay guy.  A little immature at first, he quickly grew on me, and I ended up really enjoying him by the end.  Well in A Serving of Love, it's his time to shine, and boy does he.  What I find the most interesting about this kind of series, the type that sets up the next protagonist in the previous book, is how much the character changes once they are the center of attention.  What starts off as a well rounded, two dimensional, quickly becomes a fully fleshed out three dimensional character.  While I may have enjoyed Sebastian earlier, I loved him by the end of this one.

He's still a little immature, but he has such a stable head on his shoulders, and has more backbone in him than I would have thought at first.  He is fiercely loyal to his friends, even helping an ex that has hit rock bottom.  And when his current beau Robert gets into a pickle, Sebastian, along with Billy (one of the leads from the first book), jumps into the thick of things to fight back.  He fearless in his love, and fearless in his defense of those he considers his.  He is the type of man I would dearly love to have as a friend.

Robert, what can I say about the gentle giant.  First of all the man is tall, and when I mean tall, I mean tall.  I'm 6'2", and I would have to stand on my tippy-toes to kiss him.  I've only dated one guy that was that much taller than me, and I must admit, I rather liked it.  He also has such a steely sense of duty and honor.  He is the kind of guy that would give you the shirt of his back, and ask you if you needed anything else. In addition to the outing portion of his story, there is a side story line concerning his father, and I have to admit that at first I was sure about the way he handled it.  After rereading the book, I'm a little more understanding of the way it went down, and it makes sense with who Robert is.  And did I mention that until now, Robert was a virgin.

Together, I think the two of them are smoking hot, and compliment each other beautifully.  They create such a solid foundation for their relationship, and they deal with so many outside stresses, that I'm almost positive nothing could break them up.  I think I still like Darryl and Billy a bit more, and I'm always grateful for the page time they get in this, and the proceeding books.  And just to give you guys a hint, look for Sebastian's ex to have his own story, two books from now.

And by the way, and I'm pretty sure everyone else on the planet already knew what steak frites were, but it's not something I've ever heard of.  It's apparently considered the national dish of Belgium and France, but I have never, in my life, had fries with my steak.  I'm only bringing this up because it's the most popular dish at Cafe Belgie, and apparently the only thing Robert knows how to order when he goes there.  So one day, I'll have to try it.  I have no idea why, but the idea of eating fries with my steak, bugs me a bit.  Maybe if I can have it with sweet potato fries, it wouldn't weird me out so much.


2 comments:

carol said...

I don't eat steak, but steak with fries seems totally reasonable to me. Around here we have "steak salads" which are regular salads with steak strips and fries on top.

Heidenkind said...

Yum.