 | Every future has dirty roots. |
 | Where there's smoke there's fire. Since 9/11, Brooklyn firefighter Griff Muir has wrestled with impossible feelings for his best friend and partner at Ladder 181, Dante Anastagio. Unfortunately, Dante is strictly a ladies’ man, and the FDNY isn’t exactly gay-friendly. For ten years, Griff has hidden his heart in a half-life of public heroics and private anguish. Griff’s caution and Dante’s cockiness make them an unbeatable team. To protect his buddy, there’s nothing Griff wouldn’t do… until a nearly bankrupt Dante proposes the worst possible solution: HotHead.com, a gay porn website where uniformed hunks get down and dirty. And Dante wants them to appear there—together. Griff may have to guard his heart and live out his darkest fantasies on camera. Can he rescue the man he loves without wrecking their careers, their families, or their friendship?
|
Up
front, this is one of the best M/M romance I have read lately, even
more surprisingly since this a debut from Damon Suede. The author is not
new to the M/M crowd and so maybe he socked up a lot of do and don’t
about this genre, and he wonderfully displayed them in this novel.
The story is simple but hot as hell, the sex is so good I probably
for the first time in a long, long period, read it all instead of
“mentally” skimming it (yes, I do that, when the sex is too much, I tend
to do my own personal editing/cutting on the scene, without even
realizing it). The plot is so romantic that was almost (not too much)
bearable, and no, it’s not a complaint: it had that level of romanticism
that makes your heart ache good without thinking, all right, that is
not realistic. But there was also that right level of sadness, when the
author was remembering that telling a story about fire-fighters in New
York City is not possible without paying his homage to who died on
September 9, 2001.
As I said, there was a certain level of pink glasses perspective,
Dante is an Italo-American man coming from a conservative family, but
the conservatism of his family was not of the negative shade; the family
is tight knit like most of the Italo-American family you heard about,
but they were also supporting, and there was no opposition coming from
them, on the contrary, Griff, the man Dante loves, is almost like
another son to them. There is an hint of trouble coming from their job
environment, the NYFD maybe is not “gay-friendly”, but again, the author
chose to let the reader know he was aware of the issue, but he also
chose to not face that issue now (btw, in many point I had the feeling
Damon Suede was taking inspiration from a real-life case, a certain
Michael Biserta, firefighter, who got into some trouble since he filmed a
blatantly gay video, and then was the star of the NYFD calendars).
The main concept of the story is that, both Griffin and Dante had a
scaring face-to-face meeting with death during September 9, 2001, and
after that nothing was the same. They had to cling to what was safe, and
the only thing was the love they had for each other and for “their”
family. That love moved from friendship to real love without even them
realizing it, and than it was too late, too late to fight it, too late
to not acknowledge it. What I really loved of this novel is that both
Griffin than Dante are men in one piece, there is no half measures, or
you totally love or you don’t love, and when they take a decision, their
love is full and complete, without exceptions.
I strongly recommend this novel to all the romance lovers, I’m sure you will love it as much as I did.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1615819487/?tag...
 | 5+ stars… Desert Island Keeper |
 | Free novelette written for the M/M Romance group's "Hot Summer Days" event. |
BRIEF AUTHOR BIO:
Damon Suede grew up out-n-proud deep in the anus of right-wing America, and escaped as soon as it was legal. Though new to M/M, Damon has been writing for print, stage, and screen for two decades. He’s won some awards, but counts his blessings more often: his amazing friends, his demented family, his beautiful husband, his loyal fans, and his silly, stern, seductive Muse who keeps whispering in his ear, year after year. You can get in touch with him at:
§ email: Damon@damonsuede.com
§ DamonSuede.com
§ Goodreads
§ Facebook
§ Fanpage
Also Recommended:
