Fortune’s Favor

Title: Fortune’s Favor
Author: Cassidy Ryan
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Short story (40 pages/15500 words)
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

A Guest Review by Aunt Lynn

THE BLURB

Hayden is a big time chef who wants to come home to his small town and open a restaurant. He’s excited, because he’s had an on again, off again relationship with town Sheriff Cal, and he thinks they can become a real couple.

Cal doesn’t seem to agree, worried that coming out will ruin his life, so he tells Hayden to hit the road. Hayden tries to get on with his life by returning to the city, with disastrous results. Can Cal put aside his fears and take Hayden back?

THE REVIEW

Fortune’s Favor packs a lot of story and character development in a short book. Celebrity television chef Hayden returns to his small-town roots to open a restaurant and with the hopes of taking his several-year casual-ish relationship with closeted Sheriff Cal to the next level. Hayden’s announcement is really a surprise for Cal as they had never talked about a future together.  Having no intention of coming out for and with Hayden — nor anyone else for that matter — Cal ends their relationship. He’s worked too hard and suffered too much for that to happen. Hayden, humiliated and unsure of what to do next, heads back to the city to regroup and ends up in a bad situation, giving Cal a wake-up call he never imagined.

I liked this short story with well-drawn characters, deep emotion and a big plot for its length. Hell, even the dogs had personalities. There is just enough angst and smexxin to make it interesting, but not enough to overwhelm us. I felt like I got a very good understanding as to why Cal is the way he is, and I liked watching him work his way through what he needed to to get to the end. Though I suspected what was going to happen to Hayden via subtle foreshadowing the author provides, it didn’t spoil it for me.

My only niggle: I admit that the ending felt a teensy bit abrupt to me.

OVERALL

Another nice, short story in the Single Shots series. Readers who like contemporaries would like this one.