Title: Wood (A PsyCop Short: Book 3.2)
Author: Jordan Castillo Price
Publisher: JCP Books
Pages/Word Count: 17 Pages
At a Glance: Wood simply proves that size doesn’t matter. Though, where this series is concerned, I’ve gotta say that bigger is always just a little bit better.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Victor Bayne might not be handy when it comes to carpentry, but if there’s one tool he does know how to wield, it’s the tiny metal doohickey that comes with ready-to-assemble furniture from SaverPlus.
The shelves aren’t for the cannery—Vic would never manage to sneak cheap pressboard and veneer past Jacob’s watchful eyes. Jacob’s Uncle Leon, however, is nowhere near as fussy. And since he’s only got one arm, he’ll need help putting together his new treasure.
It’s no surprise to find the instructions baffling and convoluted…but were they always so disturbingly dirty?
This PsyCop interlude is a cute, sexy romp that will delight readers who’ve enjoyed the series through PsyCop #3, Body and Soul.
Review: Don’t even try to tell me you didn’t immediately think of everything other than cabinetry when you saw the title of this short story. This is Jacob Marks and Victor Bayne we’re talking about, after all, and they have been known to behave in a most erotic way with each other throughout the PsyCop series. And yes, they do that here too, so euphemistically speaking, you might say Wood hits the nail on the head.
Anyone who’s bought put-together furniture and then been baffled by the extra screws, missing nails, and badly translated instructions is going to relate to this story—though I can’t recall a time when my own experience ever turned out to be even half as much fun as this. Mostly there’s just a lot of cussing… So the fact that it all ends in sex for Vic and Jacob probably only means they do it better than everyone else. We should all learn from them.
Because I love this series so, and I love its characters, and it sometimes feels as though it takes an eternity between new full-length novels (*not complaining), it’s so fantastic to get these intimate vignettes with Vic and Jacob. It’s wonderful not because there’s hinky ghost business afoot but because we get to see Vic and Jacob as nothing more than a couple of regular guys doing regular guy, ordinary couple stuff, even though we know they’re both far from ordinary. One of the things I think is most revealing in these ficlets, however, is the opportunity to see Victor Bayne happy. Or, at least Vic’s version of happy since he’s not what anyone would call an effusive sort of guy.
Jordan Castillo Price may not have fashioned a traditional love story in the PsyCop series, but she sure has created a believable and enduring and romantic sort of bond between these two men. Vic and Jacob will forever be a mainstay of my love of reading in general and of speculative fiction in particular. These little asides we’re gifted with, and the intimate moments we get to share with Vic and Jacob apart from their jobs, away from the things that make them something “other,” only endears them to me even more because it gives me a chance to see how well they continue to grow comfortable in that bond.
If you’re a fan of the PsyCop series, grab yourself some Wood. Sorry. In all seriousness, Wood is a story that proves size really doesn’t matter. Sorry. Wood is a sexy and fun little addition to the PsyCop-verse, but where Vic and Jacob are concerned, maybe bigger is just a little bit better. Okay, I’ll stop now.
You can buy Wood here:
