The Bachelor and the Cherry By V.L. Locey
Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM
Tropes: Large age-gap, drag queens, slow-burn
Released: April 20, 2022
Publisher: Self-Published
Series: Campo Royale, Book 2
Length: 215 pages / 63,000 words approx.
Cover Design: Meredith Russell
Is he brave enough to stop hiding behind his persona and give love one final try?
Jordan Stevens has crammed a lot of living into his fifty years. Some of those years have been good, some bad, and some he would just as soon forget. The world isn’t always kind to an aging queen. Lovers begin to scamper into forbidden fields, your padding tends to slip, and you spend more time with egg whites than most pastry chefs. Heartache is nothing new to the man who embodies the acid-tongued Sitka Patel on stage every night, which led Jordan to vow to never trust another man under eighty again. He has his club, his drag family, and his Bombay cat Heckle. Who needs the hassle? That philosophy had served him well, until a stunning young thing with dark chocolate eyes shows up at the back door of Campo Royale with a suitcase, a sad story, and a dream.
From the time he was old enough to spell the word sequin, Yampier Perez knew that someday he’d be wearing them. One of three children born to Cuban immigrants, Yampier was always a little glitzier than the other neighborhood boys. His love of fashion design and performance arts was barely tolerated at home and even less so in the hallways of his rural Georgia high school. Yet, Yampier never let his light be doused, not even the day his older brother caught him modeling his sister’s prom dress. Beaten, disowned, and on his own before graduation, he found himself having to work seedy jobs doing even seedier things, until he saved enough cash to head to the Big Apple. That money has now run out, leaving him stuck in Wilmington with no food, no place to stay, and no family. Little does he know that stumbling into the Campo Royale Club, half frozen and weak from hunger, is about to bring him everything he has yearned for.
The Bachelor and the Cherry is a slow-burn gay age-gap romance that features an aging drag queen, a virginal newcomer, lots of sass, wigs galore, hurt/comfort, family found, and a richly sequined happy ending.
Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003
Witty, snarky and tender, too!
I enjoyed this story about a snarky older drag queen and the young man who melted her frozen heart. Jordan/Sitka is 51 and has had his heart broken one too many times. He’s content to run his drag club and play mother to all of the queens who perform there. He also rescues and cares for homeless young men who need help.
Twenty-year-old Yampier was kicked out of his home when he’s caught trying on his younger sister’s prom dress. He’s alone with very few clothes, no money and a dream to perform on stage as Trixie Belle, lip syncing to Dolly Parton songs. He ends up at Campo Royale where Jordan/Sitka takes him under her wing.
The dialogue for Jordan/Sitka was snarky and witty and maybe just a touch too much for me but I still enjoyed reading this book. Jordan acts like he is cold hearted and doesn’t want to get close to anyone but we know that’s only a face he puts on, just like his drag outfits. Yampier had to work hard to convince Jordan that he was truly attracted to him. The age gap of over 30 years was a bit large for my taste but these two made it work.
A lot of the story takes place at Campo Royale and I enjoyed the descriptions of the costumes and performances. I also liked Jordan’s friend and housekeeper/cook, Babacar. He was one of Jordan’s rescues and he is very protective of Jordan.
All-in-all, this was a good addition to this series and I’m looking forward to reading the next book, The Barkeep and the Bookseller.
♥♥♥♥
O Factor: Scorcher
USA Today Bestselling Author V.L. Locey – Penning LGBT hockey romance that skates into sinful pleasures.
V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, Torchwood and Dr. Who, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.)
She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, a pair of geese, far too many chickens, and two steers.
When not writing spicy romances, she enjoys spending her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in one hand and a steamy romance novel in the other.
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