I can't believe this is a debut collection!
Let Your Heart Be Light By J. R. Lawrie
Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM
Released: December 13, 2019
Publisher: Carnation Books
Length: 49,000 words approx
This holiday season, celebrate with a trio of festive gay romances by debut author J. R. Lawrie. This anthology features three stories sure to warm the heart and captivate the senses. Full of romance, humor, sweetness, and the perfect amount of heat, this collection is perfect for an evening by the fire.
FOR SERVICES RENDERED
Dr. David Christmas has heard every joke in the book when it comes to his name. Weary of the festive season and from his long shifts in the emergency room, David is also tired of his lonely single life. His only hope for Christmas is a glimpse of the shy but gorgeous neighbour who lives above him.
Christmas-loving Julian has nurtured a crush on the grumpy man downstairs for years now. Still hurting from his ex-boyfriend’s cruelty, he hasn’t yet dared to say hello. When an injury on Christmas Eve puts Julian directly into David’s careful hands, a little healing might be on the way.
KIND OF A BIG DEAL
and
THE FARRINGDON CLUB
Up-and-coming comedian Zack Wynn splits his time between the stage and the London pizza restaurant where he works, until life hands him one hell of a Christmas present. Richard Garston is the handsome and clever older man of Zack’s dreams, but what exactly is it that Richard does?
Soon, Zack learns the truth: Richard’s classified role in the British government makes him a much bigger deal than he claimed.
Is Zack ready for the politics and power of Richard’s world?
And is Richard’s world ready for him?
Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003
I can’t believe this is a debut collection!
I love discovering new authors – especially when their writing is as good as this one. I’m a pretty easy reviewer, and usually generous with my star ratings, but it’s sort of rare for me to give a 5-star rating to a new or new-to-me author. J. R. Lawrie deserves every one of the 5 stars and I would probably rate it higher if I could.
I knew going in that Let Your Heart Be Light is a collection of three novellas but I must not have read the blurb all that closely…because I was very pleasantly surprised to find two stories about Zack and Richard.
To explain it a bit better – I read the first story, Kind of a Big Deal, and was blown away by the writing. Then I read the second story, For Services Rendered and was again charmed. Then I came to The Farrington Club and, at first, had no idea that it was another story about Zack and Richard; it was a very welcome surprise.
Kind of a Big Deal is a slow-burn story about strangers who meet at an art show, where one of them feels completely out of place and is only there because of his sister. The witty repartee between Zack and Richard was delightful to read. I absolutely felt the intense connection between them. The story has a great happy ending – thus my pleasant surprise to find the third story was also about Zack and Richard.
For Services Rendered is about two neighbors who don’t know each other but finally meet when Julian makes a visit to the ER after a fall. Both men are surprised to see each other here and realize that they are neighbors. This story is kind of an insta-love one but I love those. Again, the writing just sucked me in and kept me fully engaged. This one has a HFN (happy for now) and I wouldn’t mind reading more about Julian and David.
Now for the wonderful surprise that was The Farrington Club. I didn’t think Richard and Zack’s story could get any better but this one is cheeky, a bit irreverent and just a fantastically good read. Richard belongs to a stuffy gentleman’s club and, as his husband, Zack is granted membership, too.
At first Zack feels very much out of place when he goes to the club. With his pink hair he is not the usual kind of man found at the club. Richard has a LOT of clout at the club and he makes it clear to everyone that Zack is to be welcomed into the fold or else they might live to regret it.
Zack shakes things up at the club and soon has other members fawning over him. Richard is never embarrassed by what Zack does and the outcome of some of Zack’s shenanigans is really good. I laughed out loud more than once while reading this story. Here’s an example: Zack and Richard are eating at the club for the first time and other members are listening to their conversation. Zack realizes this and…
The entire room seemed to be hanging on this single conversation. Some people hadn’t turned their page in five minutes. “So,” he chirped, “new topic. Do you think I’m the first ever Farringdon member with nipple piercings?”
As a nearby diner began to choke on his soup, the waiter reappeared with their wine.
In conclusion, I can’t say enough good things about this author and this collection of stories. I will certainly be watching for more of her work.
♥♥♥♥♥
O Factor: Spicy
Available to borrow from Kindle Unlimited.
Follow The Tour
J. R. Lawrie graduated from the University of Leeds with a BA in English Language and Literature in 2011. She believes queer readers deserve a wealth of interesting stories, not just familiar tales of self-loathing. She practices what she preaches in York, UK, with her wife and their three spoiled guinea pigs.
For news and updates, you can follow her on Twitter or Facebook.
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