Brief Encounters by Cassidy Ryan
Have a Little Faith by Cassidy Ryan
Kieran is an hopelessly romantic. He believes in Mr Right and he is willing to wait for him. Oh he has desires. In fact he lusts for Gavin, his boss' son, but the man has a reputation worst than Don Juan, and so Kieran doesn't want to be another notch in his belt.
But during the company Christmas party Gavin reveals a side of himself that makes him very similar to Kieran, and maybe there is hope for them. If Kieran is willing to be a little more open to gamble with his heart.
This is a really short story, 20 pages, but it warms the heart. The characters are well developed and the atmosphere is really tender. It's a perfect reading if you want good feelings and a prove that waiting Mr Right is the "right" thing to do. And I will be glady to read more about Kieran and Gavin... will Kieran brings Gavin to his family for Christmas brunch? :-)
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=115&products_id=726
Suddenly, Finally by Cassidy Ryan
Casey is in love with his best friend Josh, but he has never had the courage to confess his love to the man.
Josh is a womanizer, and more time Casey spends near him, more his heart aches. So Casey decides to move on living on the beach, far from eyes maybe far from heart? But one day Josh rings to his doorbell and he is not alone: he has Noah with him, a son he has never known to have and that the mother chooses to leave with him. And the first person he thinks to ask help his Casey, his best friend... but only a friend.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=115&products_id=1214
What the Heart Wants by Cassidy Ryan
Jamie is a 24 years old guy trying to live like he feels he has to do. Five years before he gave up to family pressure and left his lover Nick, to try to be the good son his family wanted. But now he is no more willing to pretend and has left the family's comfort to live alone and pursue his dreams as an artist. He also adopts a stray cat, Hellion, who is all up to his name.
When he brings Hellion to the vet, he discovers that his former lover Nick is the vet. And after a first cold moment of embarassment, Nick seems willing to restart from where they were five years ago. But Jamie did a terrible thing to Nick and he is not sure that Nick could ever forgive him.
This is a sip, less than 20 pages, but very sweet, even if, truth be told, the real main character of the book is Hellion, the cat. He has all the more interesting scenes, and he remembers me all my past experiences with cats and vets.
Jamie and Nick are very young, and they have all the time to get back all the waste time of the past five years. The story is short and not all the untold questions are straightened between Jamie and Nick, but they have some good basis to start over.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=115&products_id=1255
Cry Wolf by Cassidy Ryan
In a medieval village, probably in England, Leandro is a young guy too clever for his own good. Orphaned after the death of his mother, a cultured woman who wanted for him a different life, he has never known his father, and to top all, he is too pretty to be considered a "real" man. In that village he will always be the boy with the head in the clouds.
The only bright light in his situation, is the friendship with Cale, the apothecary of the village, a man arrived two years before and since then his only friend. But also this friendship is creating trouble in Leandro's heart, since he has feeling for his friend that he shouldn't have.
One night while he is alone in the woods around the village, Leandro makes the most extraordinary of the encounters, a being half human, half beast, a werewolf. Obviously when he, scared, bursts into the village, villagers only think that this is one anther oddity of that lunatic boy. Leandro knows that it's time for him to leave the village, even if leaving means not having more the chance to be with Cale.
The story is really short, less than 20 pages, but it's light and sweet. Usually an historical romance has always a "weight" upon it, a feeling that, to be good, it needs to be big and important. This is not the feeling I had reading this short story; it mixes well the paranormal elements with the historical setting, it gives enough details to build the atmosphere, but they don't seem forced, like sometime happens when authors try to ennoble their romance with useless information.
The only lack I found is that it's too short, and so both Leandro than Cale are only hinted, we haven't a real development of them. It's a lack but it's also a compliment I have to do to the author, since I think that both characters are worthying of more, above all Cale.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=115&products_id=1459
Stories include:
Fortune's Favor
The Handyman Can
What the Heart Wants
Cry Wolf
Best of Enemies
A Perfect Match
Have a Little Faith
Suddenly, Finally
The Gift of Love
A Family Secret
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2468 (print book)
Amazon: Brief Encounters
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading+list&view=elisa.rolle