Review: Bachelors Party by Xavier Mayne

Title:  Bachelors Party (A Brandt and Donnelly Caper: Case File Five)

Author:  Xavier Mayne

Publisher:  Dreamspinner Press

Pages/Word Count:  280 Pages

At a Glance:  I think the way Xavier Mayne takes a theme, or an idea, and is able to emphasize and intertwine it between two stories is amazing.

Reviewed By:  Karen

Blurb:  Med student Oliver Mitchell has discovered a way to make more tips as a bartender—put on ripped workout gear and serve drinks at the hip new gay club, Burn. The only catch is Oliver is straight. The staff and patrons don’t mind, though, and Oliver fits in well—until he meets James Buchanan Whitford, a local politician with a secret: he’s married. When James’s scheming wife attempts to catch him in flagrante with Oliver, they flee the city for the refuge of James’s cabin in the woods. There, Oliver faces a new challenge—he’s starting to feel more for James than friendship. Their new relationship must survive political intrigue and small-town politics before they can be together.

With their wedding two months away, it’s time for Troopers Ethan Brandt and Gabriel Donnelly to have a bachelor party. Ethan’s older brothers are excited, but Ethan is not. As a straight guy who fell in love with another man, the whole ritual is fraught with complications, and he struggles to reconcile newly granted marriage equality with old traditions. Brandt and Donnelly work to help James and Oliver find their way to happiness while pulling off the bachelor party of the year.

Review:  It is now time for the Bachelors Party!  No problems and everything will go smoothly…right?  Of course not. It is Brandt and Donnelly after all, and of course, there is going to be some kind of chaos.  Brandt, being unsure of how to have a bachelor party that will make everyone feel included, and his feeling unsure about himself because he doesn’t fit into a specific box, made my heart hurt.  That was, until he talked to his brother.  That may have been one of my favorite scenes I have read in a book in a long time.  The idea that as humans you should be able to love whoever it is you love without having to identify it or label it, that you’re falling in love with the person and not that you have to fall in love with a man or a woman, but that you love the person that completes you, is how it should be.  I have to say that as much as I love Brandt and Donnelly, I am pretty sure Bryce is still my favorite. I don’t think there has been a moment while reading any of this series that if Bryce was there, I wasn’t smiling. He is so much fun!

Of course, there is a story within Brandt and Donnelly’s story…Oliver and James’s.  I think the way Xavier Mayne takes a theme, or an idea, and is able to emphasize and intertwine it between two stories is amazing.  Watching Oliver and James let go and fall in love was kind of intoxicating, and I couldn’t put the book down.  There is really nothing about this series that I haven’t loved; the entire series, including Bachelors Party, is insightful, funny and super sexy.  Can’t wait for the wedding!

 

You can buy Bachelors Party here: