King Perry by Edmond Manning
This was a Bittersweet Dreams title (this is the definition from Dreamspinner website: Bittersweet Dreams, stories of M/M romance with nontraditional endings), and so I was not expecting from it to have a standard romance development. And indeed the story develops almost like a fairy tale.
Perry is a man with potential, but all that potential is hidden behind a layer of sadness. He is not aloof or else, and when he is approached by Vin at an art gallery, he is willing to maybe share a pleasant chat and why not, a night of mutual, enjoyable sex. But that is not what Vin is thinking to give to Perry.
Vin is like a gay fairy godmother, he sees the potential in men and allows them to spread it around, becoming from Cinderfella to King, cloaked in their own greatness. Vin does that in an unconventional way, asking to Perry to give up power to Vin for an entire weekend, granting him that, at the end of the weekend, Perry will remember the king that is in him.
I think the author picked 1999 as year for his story since the www was still at the beginning, and the world was still defined in the land you can reach by foot; Perry and Vin’s weekend is spent around San Francisco, and the magic of San Francisco is right up the alley with the fairy tale atmosphere of the novel. San Francisco becomes a main character like Perry and Vin, and Vin will use all the city tricks to allow Perry’s unleashing.
Perry and Vin are not fated to be together, Vin is preparing Perry for his bright future and he is priming him for someone else, but maybe Vin will always remain Perry’s fairy godmother, someone who will be always there ready to remember to Perry that he is a king.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2802
Amazon: King Perry
Amazon Kindle: King Perry
Paperback: 350 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (February 27, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1613723784
ISBN-13: 978-1613723784
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading_list&view=elisa.rolle
Cover Art by Anne Cain