Going to the Chapel

Title and Link: Going to the Chapel
Authors: J.J. Massa, Alexa Snow, Jenna Jones
Publisher URL: http://torquerebooks.com
Genre: Contemporary M/M
Length: Novel (178 pages)
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

THE BLURB

Who doesn’t love a wedding? The three stories in Going to the Chapel prove that everyone has a special day. In Don’t Ask by JJ Massa, Captain Zachary Smith has always wanted to find out what boils behind Agent Falk Thayer’s calm exterior. Falk, on the other hand, isn’t looking for anything long-term. Never has. Never will. When things get hot and heavy between them, Captain Smith has to decide if he’s willing to take less than what he needs or sacrifice everything.

In Building a Life by Alexa Snow, when Levi goes to his best friend Cooper’s engagement party, he doesn’t expect to meet someone fascinating — and he definitely doesn’t expect that someone to be Cooper’s five-year-old niece Ashley. It comes as an even bigger surprise to find that Ashley’s father Philip is both fascinating and hot. But Philip is married, even if his wife is mysteriously out of the picture, so this ready-made family can’t possibly have room in it for Levi… or can it?

Finally, in Apples and Gin by Jenna Jones, country singer Sawyer Shaw loves photographer Noah Kingston and is tired of hiding it. He’s kept his sexuality hidden for the sake of his career and his family, but over the past ten years Sawyer has come to realize what matters most to him is Noah and his happiness, and Sawyer is ready not only to make it public but also to make it permanent.

THE REVIEW

Don’t Ask by J.J. Massa  2.5 stars out of 5

Zack Smith always had the hots for Federal Agent Falk Thayer and was quite happy when Falk requested his assistance, through his Commanding Officer, on a federal project. Zack and Falk had worked on other projects before but nothing untoward had ever happened between them. After receiving his orders Zack left for Minnesota to commence his investigations. When he completed the job he decided to take a time-out and spend the evening at one of Minnesota’s alternative lifestyle bars.  He was trying to get up the courage to enter the bar when he was propositioned by a man waiting outside. As they enter the bar together Zack was shocked to see Falk standing by the door. Falk grabs and kisses him and convinces Zack’s new “friend” that they were lovers who had had a fight, and they left the bar together. To Zack’s surprise Falk invites him back to his room where they have sex, except this was no intimate interlude between two lovers by any stretch of the imagination. Falk made it clear that Zack’s role was to service him and treated him like a hooker, even though this was Zack’s first real sexual experience with a man.

When they return home, Falk continues to treat Zack as his personal sex worker, once even ordering him to  give him oral sex in an office at Army Headquarters, right next door to a conference room, with no regard to the fact that had anyone walked in on them their careers would have been over. Here’s a bit of the prose  which provides some indication of how Falk thinks of Zack -

“Smith was a plaything, a toy. If he wanted to, he could order the other man into the men’s room and jerk him off, fuck him against the sink, whatever he felt like.”  

The plot for Don’t Ask defies credibility and the characterizations are even worse. Zack is a Captain in the Army, a respected position, yet in Falk’s presence he becomes this milquetoast  ”boy,” as Falk orders him to perform and service him and calls him “Captain Smith” during sex and Zack says “yes Sir”!  This is not a BDSM book so there’s no reason for this type of dialogue. Falk is hard and uncaring and uses Zack and his position and the fact that Zack  is in love with him and he ignores him in public. But worst of all, Zack allows himself to be treated in this manner, and in  Falk’s presence undergoes a personality transformation. There were so many unanswered questions in this story that I don’t know where to start; one glaring question that was left unanswered – why was Falk in the bar in Minnesota in the first place, and how did he know that Zack would show up there? Also,  he told Zack that his career would be over if anyone saw him there, but shouldn’t he have been just as concerned about his own career in the FBI if he were found at the bar?

I found nothing credible in this story. The writing was almost amateurish and at times the plot reminded me of a Harlequin Romance except HR’s are way better. The end is just as incredible and unbelievable, as Falk does a complete reversal or has a personality transplant and becomes a totally different man. I would skip this one.

Building a Life by Alexa Snow 4 stars out of 5

 This is actually a good story with a lot of family interaction – maybe a bit too much at times. The story revolves around Philip, a single father, and Levi, a friend of his wife’s brother, Cooper. Our two protags meet at Cooper’s engagement party and hit it off immediately; even Ashley, Philip’s daughter, seems to like Levi and they get on like a house on fire. That evening after Philip and Ashley leave the party Levi realizes that he still had Ashley’s toy dog that she had left in his care and he decides to drop it off at Philip’s house on his way home.

On arrival he and Philip start chatting over a glass of wine, and Levi spills everything about his life so far, including the fact that his family had disowned him because he was gay. He finds out that Philip was also gay and had only married Meg, his wife, because they had sex one night while drunk and she became pregnant. Levi and Philip end up in bed that night but Levi is concerned the next morning because he still isn’t sure about Philip’s marital status and whether he should invest any more time in him; all he knows is that Meg is not in the picture. However, later that day Cooper confirms that his sister was bipolar and had left Philip and Ashley 2 years ago; everyone in the family believed her to be dead since she was also heavily into drugs at the time and no one had heard from her since. It appeared that Levi was being given the green light from the family, so he continued to see Philip and they become more involved with each other. But at Ashley’s birthday party a week later everyone gets a big surprise when Philip’s wife drops by the party and everything goes to hell in a handbasket in an instant  in terms of any future plans for Levi and Philip.

Philip and Levi were  good together and Ashley tied the story up with a great big bow. This story is told in flashbacks from the time when Levi and Philip first met 3 years ago to the present day and provides a bridge to where their relationship is currently as Levi ponders love, life and wedding bells.  I thought that the author did a credible job on the secondary characters, including Philip’s wife, as well as the protags who were well drawn. The story was very sweet and the ending was what I expected, with a lot of family “moments” but none of them over the top. I think readers will like this story.

 Apples and Gin by Jenna Jones 4.5 stars out of 5

This is a wonderful story about Sawyer Shaw, a country singer, and the love of his life, Noah Kingston. They first met 10 years ago when Sawyer at 19 is just starting out on his career. Sawyer was a green country boy and his record company sent him to the famous Noah Kingston, a well known celebrity photographer,  for some publicity photos. Sawyer took one look at  Noah and was hooked, but Noah was in a relationship, and he did everything he could to discourage Sawyer, especially since the singer was deep in the closet due to his contractual obligations. But Sawyer never gave up on Noah, especially since he knew that his relationship with his boyfriend was very unhappy, and as the years go by he tries every so often to tempt Noah into his bed, without success.

Three years later Sawyer is every country fan’s dream. His popularity leads to men and women throwing themselves at him and he takes full advantage of his celebrity until one night when Noah, who was on tour with the band to take more publicity photos, walks in on him being given oral sex by a young man. Noah is furious and hurt – even though he and Sawyer don’t have anything but friendship going on during this time, he is concerned that someone could blackmail Sawyer and end his career. That night Sawyer breaks down his barriers because by this time Noah had split with his long time love, and they end up in bed. For 7 years they have a discreet love affair, even though Noah does not want to live his life in the closet he knows that Sawyer’s career would be ruined if word leaks out about them. He loves Sawyer so much he decides that half a loaf is better than nothing so they spend all their spare time together and Noah joins the tours whenever he can. Then one night a tabloid photographer takes incriminating photos of Noah and Sawyer togeher and it’s game over. Or is it?

I loved this story best of the three because of  the characters who were so well drawn, vibrant and loving together I was totally pulled into their world. There are glimpses of them throughout their 7 years together as well as wonderful backgrounds of the tour. This book also used flashbacks as a technique but they worked very effectively in showing how Sawyer’s and Noah’s relationship had evolved and how Sawyer had grown from the green country kid of 19 to a man of 29. The fact that Noah was 10+ years older made him a steadying influence on Noah in many ways. I think you will love this story as much as I did as well as Noah and Sawyer. Great job Jenna!