Book Review: Dazzle Me by Ophelia Gränd

Dazzle Me
by Ofelia Gränd
M/M Contemporary/Short Story
5 Stars
Beaten Track Publishing
Part of "Summer Bigger Than Others - A Summer Anthology" from Beaten Track Publishing. 

Tom has been planning for months, but in those plans he never once found himself on a spa table in Bangkok on his and Santino's one year anniversary. He doesn't do aeroplanes, doesn't like the tropical climate, and he does not do spas.

Yet there he is, without a stitch of clothing, and with a man he's never met before. He'll do his best to enjoy his day and then he'll give Santino the best anniversary imaginable, even if it means he has to be covered in chopped-up veggies on him for an entire day...

...if only it were veggies.

***

Tom has been planning a big anniversary surprise for his lover Santino for months. He has booked them time away at a romantic hotel suite and he intends to propose on their anniversary.

But the path of true love never does run smooth and Santino has to take a work trip to Thailand when their anniversary would fall.

Tom doesn't like planes, doesn't like flying and he wilts like a flower in tropical heat. But he can't turn down Santino's invitation to accompany him on the business trip, even if it means doing things he'd rather not do.

Things go from bad to worse for our luckless lovers. Tom's bag goes missing, the bag with the engagement ring in it and then their reservation is lost and they have to put up with a single room at the hotel. Santino has booked a full day at a spa for Tom while he's off working, and Tom agrees, if only to keep his lover happy. He soon wishes he stayed at the hotel.

This was a fun, light-hearted read. It's told from Tom's point of view, so we only get to see Santino through Tom's eyes and it is pretty obvious from the start that Tom is madly in love with him and will do anything for him. Even if it means enduring some rather unorthodox spa treatments. I was squriming along with Tom at some of them, especially the fish pedicure. I have a phobia about fish, but it didn't panic me too much as it wasn't my feet in the tank, thank goodness.

A very enjoyable, romantic story.

Book Review: From All of us to All of You by Ofelia Gränd

From all of Us to all of You
Story from the Boughs of Evergreen Collection
by Ofelia Gränd
M/M Romance/Contemporary/Christmas/
Length: Short Story
Heat Level: Low
4 Stars

About Boughs of Evergreen

Boughs of Evergreen is a two-volume collection of short stories celebrating the holiday season in all its diversity. Penned by authors from the UK, the USA, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, these are tales of the young and the not-so-young from many different walks of life.

Themes of family, friendship and romance take readers on a journey through some of the major holidays, both past and present, including Thanksgiving, Advent, St. Lucia Day, Hanukkah, Eid al-Fitr, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice, Yule, Christmas and New Year. In each we find at the very least hope, and often love, peace and happiness.

Each story will also be published individually as ebooks on 1st December, 2014.

Proceeds from sales of this anthology will be donated to The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is the leading national organization [USA] providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24.

For more information, visit: www.thetrevorproject.org.

Review

Simon is a young gay man in Sweden in a dead-end job as a cashier in a supermarket. If there's one thing he hates more than his job it's Christmas. His holiday memories are filled with two lingering things: the smell of whiskey surrounding his father and his mother trying to put on a brave face for it all.

It's a small town and everyone knows Simon's father is a drunk and a wastrel, and Simon hates the pitying looks he gets from people. He wants to meet someone nice, go on dates like normal people, but in a town so small, will he ever meet the man of his dreams?

One of Simon's workmates ropes Simon into helping her son move into his new apartment. She knows that Simon is gay, so he mistakenly thinks she's setting the both of them up on a blind date. But Simon's life had never been that easy and Hannes tells him he's not gay.

This was a sweet, slow-building romance where Simon gets more and more confused the more time he spends with Hannes. Hannes keeps saying that he's not gay but he keeps doing things that are giving off mixed signals to Simon. Movies and pizza at his apartment (musicals, no less) and everything they do seems to be like a date. Simon is so adorable, I just wanted to give him a hug.

Despite it being a short story, there is a full tale here and you don't feel anything has been glossed over or not added. It was also interesting to read about a different country's holiday traditions, like the St. Lucia festival, which I'd never heard of before. It all adds to the background of the story.

Very well-written, the pace is fairly slow, but it suited the story and the characters. A tale to curl up in an armchair and read as the winter evenings draw in.