Like Coffee and Doughnuts by Elle Parker
The quality of some new authors (new at least for me) it's always amazing, Elle Parker's first book has the feeling of some old classic spy story, like those B/W movies with Humphrey Bogart, but at the same time the sparkling atmosphere of a sunny beach in Florida, that I read is one of the "gayest" place in United States. Like Coffee and Doughnuts I believe refer to the two main characters, Dino Martini (yes, yes, not so hidden reference to Dean Martin), and Seth Donnelly: Dino is like an expensive but full of savor coffee mix, the one that when you open the pack smell like paradise and sunday morning, and Seth is like a chocolate doughnuts, all messy and unhealthy, but you can't avoid to eat them and then lick your fingers. Coffee / Dino is old fashioned like the real Italian coffee (sorry, American coffee is not the same...), and like the coffee, you have to stop and savor it, you can't drink it while hurrying somewhere else; Doughnut / Seth is a burst of energy, hyper-calories that you have to run a marathon to digest. Can two men as different match and love? yes, as well and good as coffee and doughnut go together.
Dino and Seth are best friends; it's not clear how two men as different, also in age, Dino 42, Seth 33, met, but now they are buddy friends. Dino always goes to Seth when he needs an helping hand, and Seth never denies his. Apparently Dino is the safe and steady friend, but actually, if you think at it, it's always Dino who is asking for something and it's always Seth that is putting out (no pun intended) for Dino. Dino plays the role of the "adult" man, the one who doesn't do flings and who is probably waiting for the real thing, man or woman is not important, Dino is more looking to the right soul mate, regardless the gender. Seth instead is for the "now and soon" theory, and everyone is willing is good; again man or woman doesn't matter, even if probably Seth has a penchant for men.
On the outside, not Dino or Seth are the typical gay out and proud, but actually the one who is less flickle, is the one who seems gayest to me: Dino, with his Martha Stewart's attitude, the tendency to build a nest everywhere he poses, is the one who more seems to me the perfect poster boy for the flamboyant gay guy. Dino is the one who can cook, who spends a lot of time in front of the mirror deciding what to wear, who actually knows the difference between dress for work and dress to date. Dino is the wine and homecooking type, Seth is more the beer and takeout one.
From all of this, you will expect from Dino to be the one to make the first move, to be adult enough to recognize that Seth is the perfect man for him, and that, above all, Seth is years that is waiting for him to make that move. And instead, even if younger and sluttier, it's again Seth who proves to be the more open with his feelings. I believe Dino has some inner complex still unresolved, he is buying himself with the story that he is not the type for flings and that he wants a real relationship, but I think that it's more the case that Dino fears to commit. Maybe Seth is rushing a bit the thing, maybe with all his bursting energy, he is scaring away Dino, but all in all, I like his approach to life, he is like a thunderstorm, and you can hardly stop him.
As usual I was carried away from the characters and how much I like them and I said pretty nothing on the story... well I started saying that this book remind me an old PI movie, and it's true; all the right step to have a good PI story are there, and Dino plays well the role of the unwilling hero, he is more the PI to do the job behind a laptop, but when faced with a real case, he knows his things around it. The crime sub-plot is nice, even if remains down-tuned, like all the story: this is not a novel for gunshot and car-racing, this is more a novel for quiet shadowing and nice morning after in bed together.
http://www.lyricalpress.com/like_coffee_and_doughnuts
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle