Book 24, 2023
Off Plan by May Archer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I spent a good part of the weekend reading Off Plan by May Archer. This is the first book in her "Whispering Key" series of male/male romances. Once again, story is told in alternating points of view between the main characters, Fenn Reardon and Mason Bloom.
After getting dumped by his fiancée, Mason decides to shake up his orderly, planned life. On a whim, he accepts the job as the resident doctor at a tropical resort in Florida. For once, Mason is going to do something spontaneous, something for himself. What he hadn't counted on was that the resort is falling apart. It seems Mase hitched his dreams to someone else's dream and now he's stuck here until the mayor, Big Rafe, can find a replacement and Mason can land another job. He hadn't counted on the zany characters peopling the island or that he'd come to care for them, nor had he counted on his undeniable attraction to tour guide Fenn Reardon. Especially since Mason is straight...right?
Fenn didn't appreciate being sent to collect the new doctor from the airport, especially when he sees Dr Bloom. Everything about him reminds Fenn too much of the last time he made a mistake and hooked up with a "straight" guy. Plus, Mason intends to bail at the first opportunity...right?
If two people ever needed their heads knocked together, it was this pair. I give Mason credit, however; he went into a quasi-relationship with Fenn with thoughtful deliberation. He'd never thought of himself as being attracted to guys, but he's definitely attracted to Fenn. As for Fenn, he kept pushing Mason away when things got too intense, but if the two dunderheads had just talked to one another, there wouldn't have been so many misunderstandings and confusion and hurt feelings. Guh. Characters were fully realized, including all of the secondary ones. I especially liked Fenn's cousin, Beale. It was also fun to see how the author is tying this series to others: Fenn's cousin, Gage, is in "Sunday Brothers", while Mason's brother, Micah, is part of the "Love in O'Leary" series.
Favorite lines:
♦ Nobody ever told you Florida was the gateway to hell until it was too late.
♦ "Sounds like an episode of Scooby Doo. You're basically asking for mysteries and hijinks."
♦ What a clusterfuck of enormous, never-before-seen-proportions of clusterfuckery.
♦ "Don't touch another man's knob, Loafers."
♦ "It's either going to be glorious or horrifying."
♦ "Try asking yourself if it's better to be a little important to a lot of people, or to be really really important to a few people."
♦ I was done giving headspace to how other people viewed my life.
Funny, touching, hot--checks all the boxes for a romance. Five stars from me.