Author: Daisy Harris
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Pages/Word Count: 140 Pages
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Blurb: A single bullet could take them both down.
Fire and Rain, Book 4
Detective Joe Klamath is used to guys falling on their backs at the arch of his commanding eyebrow. Yet he can’t seem to get a read on a cute, department-store sales guy. The vagrant who just walked in, though? He’s easy to read. He’s dangerous.
Joe’s training kicks in, but as he wrestles the gun-wielding man, he gets shot.
Raised in a conservative Ethiopian community, Elias Abraham keeps his natural attraction to men under wraps. But Joe’s heroism moves him to care for the man who saved his life. After all, Joe is hurt. Chances are slim he’ll demand the types of things boys in college always wanted. Sex acts Elias wasn’t—and possibly never will be—ready for.
Gradually, Joe’s easy confidence softens Elias’s resistance. But as Joe’s healing progresses too slowly for a man of action, and trouble brews in Elias’s family, Elias begins to wonder if he can handle the pressure. Because though he hasn’t given all of his body, he’s already given all of his heart.
Warning: Contains a sexy-as-hell cop, a shy virgin fifteen years younger, and an extremely intimate sponge bath. Underpants optional.
Review: I enjoy reading May/December and opposites attract stories. These are stories where you have an older, more experienced man who falls head over heels in love, or mostly in lust, with a younger, less experienced partner, and they somehow forge a future together. This storyline is pretty typical in M/M romance and November Rain is a book that falls into this category, but with a twist. Books like these, when done right, like November Rain, are a pleasure to read.
November Rain is a story about clashing cultures and experiences. It was refreshing to read this story because it drew me in and made me care. The book starts out at a department store, where Detective Joe Klamath is shopping, when his eye lands on a twinkish salesman named Elias Abraham.
Elias is not your typical twenty-something or, for that matter, a typical twink character you’d find in most novels. He’s Ethiopian and is of color. He grew up in America but still has strong roots in this Ethiopian culture, and his sensibilities are still tied to the old world. Being gay is a big taboo, and this shapes him and rules his actions. Joe is your typical cop and what you’d expect of a top. He likes to take charge and ask questions later. Some of his behavior towards Elias is questionable, but then he redeems himself and pulls his head out of his ass so he doesn’t lose Elias.
This is a character driven story about how these two men deal with each other. Joe and Elias meet at the store, where Joe thwarts a mentally disturbed man’s violent outburst and gets shot. Elias winds up taking care of him and, in the process, embraces his sexuality. Even though Joe’s initial intentions are just to hook up with Elias, in the end lust turns to love. Elias lives with his brother and his wife, and this situation creates tension for him because he’s afraid of his brother’s reactions to him being gay. There is a subplot of Elias’ sister in law’s attempted suicide and the aftermath. This brings the brothers and Joe closer together.
It was nice to see how Elias and Joe evolved from their first meeting to the story’s end. Their interaction, I thought, was very realistic; from Elias’s need to be loved and needed by Joe, or get any sort of attention from Joe whatsoever, to Elias knew that he should be treated better. But, his need overrode his actions, namely in Joe’s acting like an ass because he didn’t want to put himself out there again and get hurt, which was totally believable. But Joe’s heart was in the right place and he does change for the better.
The book was very well written. The flow of the story was uninterrupted. There were no awkward breaks, unless you count me stopping and saying to myself, “Why is Joe such an ass?” This is a very emotional story that will make you believe there is love for everyone.
I really enjoyed November Rain. It was a very good insight into the lives of two different men who have to navigate cultural differences and mature in the process to get their happy ending.
You can buy November Rain here:
