“There are worse addictions than reality TV, chocolate and coffee.” ― Sarah Dessen
Author: L.A. Witt
Publisher: Amber Allure
Pages/Word Count: 73 Pages
Rating: 4 Stars
Blurb: Ever since Reggie’s garage became part of a popular reality show, business has been booming. As much as he hates playing games with the network, at least he doesn’t have to worry about his bottom line anymore.
As the show’s lowest-ranking producer, Wes is tasked with proposing a new spinoff show to Reggie. He has a hard enough time looking the sexy mechanic in the eye on a normal day, but this time, he’s holding cards he can’t show. With execs breathing down his neck, he’s there to pitch a show he knows Reggie will never agree to do, even if his refusal puts his existing show on the line.
The network is counting on Reggie refusing to sign. But they’re not counting on their messenger falling for the man they’re trying to fire…
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Review: Wrenches, Regrets, and Reality Checks is apparently part of a series of stories set in the same universe and at the same garage as Normal Enough by Marie Sexton. I wasn’t aware of this when I read it, and it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the story at all having not read any of the other stories. This was just as advertised: a short, hot, sexy and sweet romance.
Reggie’s auto garage is part of a reality television show that pits one shop against another of the network’s stable of four regularly featured garages. For some reason, unknown to the reader, the network wants to remove this particular garage from the series. Since Reggie had a great lawyer negotiating his contract back before the show started over four years ago, there is only one way for the network to legally get out of the contract. Reggie has to refuse to do a spin-off reality show offered to him by the network.
Reggie knows his garage won’t survive long without the additional income garnered by the publicity the show generates. He is also in the closet as a gay man. So when the network sends a sacrificial lamb to offer Reggie a dating show similar to The Bachelor, they have no idea what they are stirring up.
Wes is one of the producers of Wrench Wars and is the unlucky man selected to propose the idea of a dating show to Reggie. Unknown to each of them, they have both been lusting after the other for years, not knowing whether either man was gay. Wes is not happy about being forced into this position because if Reggie refuses to do the dating show, his garage will be cut from the show and both he and Wes will be unemployed. And they will no longer be able to see and look longingly at each other, even if from a distance.
When the two men come together to discuss the proposed show, Anything to Marry Him, they discover their shared lust. Women find Reggie insanely hot with his bad boy attitude and tattoos, so the network brass thinks they have the perfect way to oust him. They fully expect him to refuse to do the salacious show, thus violating his contract, and ending his association with them.
Well, Wes and Reggie come up with a plan guaranteed to surprise the network executives attempting to tank both of their careers. In the process, they burn up the sheets. Wrenches, Regrets, and Reality Checks is a nice little summer read. Not a lot of angst or heavy dialogue. It’s a great story about David beating the crap out of Goliath. With the help of his sexy male lover.
You can buy Wrenches, Regrets, and Reality Checks here:
