Bottled Up by Andrew Grey
Bottled Up is a full romance, with all the cliche of the good old romance (the hunky cop, the perfect family, the nice neighborhood), and it's also the proof that a man can write romance. Truth be told, it's more than a proof, since Bottled Up is way more romantic than any romance I read lately.
Sean is a nice gay guy. He is the owner of a winery, no apparently money issues, a bunch of good friends, a supporting family and even a boyfriend. Well this last is maybe the only thing not so perfect, since no one of his friends seem to like Ted, his boyfriend. And being Sean so nice and perfect, it's only obvious that, when he saves an homeless teenager kid for a rape attempt in the alley near his business, Sean has no courage to put him again on the street. But Sean suddenly interest and attachment to Bobby would have been strange or worrying, if a bad experience in Sean's past didn't explain his reactions to the event.
From that moment on, the story flows down steadily and with little bumps towards an happily ever after, even the only nasty thing, the bad boyfriend, is soon replaced with the hunky cop of above, Sam, a patrol officer who are trying to catch Sean's interest for months without apparently success. But I have the feeling that Bobby's rescue, other than awakening in Sean fatherly instinct that he even didn't know to have, also unveils some inner trouble that Sean was hiding from friends, family, but even to himself. The Bottled Up of the title is an obvious reference to Sean's business, but also to his attitude towards the world, he has everything bottled up inside himself, and when he decides to let it go, the result can be only one: he will explode like a sparkling wine shook too much, but the explosion can have also a positive side, since now Sean is ready to love again, with all himself, body and mind, and not only with a cool external behavior that didn't reflect the pain he had inside.
Side by side with Sean during his journey from good friend and aloof boyfriend (with Ted, the ex) to perfect father and lover, there is Sam, the quintessence of the Cop Dream Lover; nice, gay, out and proud, Sam has nothing to hide since he has no mean bone. Sometime when you write a character like Sam, you risk to make him nasty since too much good could be too much; but this is not the case with Sam, it's true, he never once fails or does something bad in the book, he is always willing and ready to help Sean and to love Bobby, even if it's clear that he is doing so for Sean's love. Sam probably was not thinking to become a father, but like a perfect man, if the object of his love has a son, there is no doubt that he has to include that son in his affection. No complain for the time they lose since they are not alone, as he doesn't complain when he has to face Sean's past, a past that it's still conditioning Sean's response to sex and relationship. As I said, Sam is perfect.
As I said the story is basically a romance with an happily ever after; true, it deals with delicate matters, but the author manages to not push too much on the angst bottom. More than make you cry, the author chose to make you smile, a warm and quiet smile, since, to respect to the delicate matter, he never even pushed too much on the light bottom.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/currenttitles/bottledup/bottledupbuynow.htm
Amazon: Bottled Up
Series: Bottled Up
1) The Best Revenge: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1730419.html
2) Bottled Up
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle