A Summer Fling Leads To Love In M.J. O'Shea's "Impractical Magic"

Title: Impractical Magic

Author: M.J. O’Shea

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Pages/Word Count: 206 Pages

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Blurb: Physics teacher Fenton Keene is looking forward to a summer of doing nothing but hanging out with friends and maybe getting into a little trouble. With his best friend out of town, trouble seems like the best option and it comes in the form of his building’s newest temporary resident, a gorgeous fireman named Kevin.

Fen’s been attracted to men before, but this is the first time he’s considered acting on it. And act he does.

Fen and Kevin have an intense summer fling. Just in time for Kevin to go home, more feelings develop than Fen can ignore, but they don’t stop Kevin from leaving. Once Kevin’s gone, Fen can’t stop thinking about him. That’s when reality sets in and Fen faces the difficulties of distance and fidelity, while Kevin balks at Fen’s reluctance to tell his friends and family. They just need to find a way to make their magic more practical.

Review: Impractical Magic is a tie-in to Newton’s Laws of Attraction. I suggest that you read Newton’s first as part of the story blends into this book, although you won’t be lost if you decide to dive into this story first, which is what I did.

Fen Keene is feeling a little out of sorts on his summer break from teaching. His best friend Ben is off teaching an art class out of town. He is still hanging out with his friends Rory and Jeremy, but it’s just not the same without Ben. Until he meets the sexy fireman, Kevin, while at the pool one day. Kevin is just in town for the summer months, covering for his uncle at the firehouse. Even though he’s never acted on his attraction to men, Fen is so into Kevin he goes for it this time.

Fen’s relationship with his friends is a major part of his life outside of teaching, and it really defines him as a strong character. Add Kevin to Fen’s life and it makes him complete, even though they both start this out as a summer fling. Neither says they want a relationship, however it gradually morphs into that without their realizing it’s happened. And then Kevin goes back home, and they eventually have to acknowledge that they mean more to each other than just a summer fling. As with any relationship it takes them a while, and in that time things happen that may be a deal-breaker for moving forward.

Fen is just sweet, goofy, klutzy, and a-dork-ably cute. Kevin is more of the smoldering sexy, younger man still figuring out what he wants in life besides being a firefighter. What really made this an enjoyable story was because it wasn’t just sex between Fen and Kevin; they put effort into getting to know each other. They had dinner every night together, they’d watch movies or TV and just talk about things. Yes, they still had hot, sheet burning chemistry, too. (Yes, I went there!)

Where they a perfect couple? No, they weren’t; both had issues and even some stupidity to overcome. Fen had to deal with coming out to his friends and family, which anyone who’s gone through that knows it’s a big deal. Even when it goes okay, it still stresses you out. Both had to learn to speak up, listen, and yes, communicate their wants to each other. Why they never had the ‘what happens next’ conversation before Kevin left is a mystery.

The story is thoroughly enjoyable, even the things that Fen and Kevin had to work through to get to the conclusion of their story. M.J. O’Shea has always been an author I’ve enjoyed due to her characters and the realistic storylines. She creates some of the best slightly flawed, kind of nerdy/dorky, or even socially inept characters. This book hit all of the right funny, romantic, and sexy moments for this reviewer.