A Full Plate

(I bought this audiobook long before I heard anything about the problems at Dreamspinner. Please don't consider my review an endorsement of their recent practices.)

I enjoyed this book much more than I expected to. I wasn't wild about Kim Fielding's Dreamspun Beyond title, Ante Up, even though I usually enjoy her books. But this one is pretty good. It isn't earth-shattering, but I liked it.

The plot is very similar to her book Housekeeping, but the characters are somewhat different.

Tully, a hard-working corporate lawyer, acquires a roommate, Sage, who is very talented at cooking and is going through a rough time. They become friends right away and slowly fall in love.

There's no real conflict between them, just a big misunderstanding which gets resolved before their romance really gets moving, and a complication in the form of Tully's ex. He's a super-rich tech guy, and I found him pretty amusing, in how divorced he seemed from normal human life. But he isn't written as a mean-spirited caricature or anything.

The misunderstanding was pretty contrived, because I can't believe Carrie wouldn't tell Tully about Sage's family, or that he was gay. This is not gay-for-you.

As is usual with this author, the story is about two men finding not just each other, but their places in the world. It's a really solid HEA, and as is also usual with me & this author, I got a little teary at their happiness.

I have one more of these Dreamspun Desires books from this author to listen to, and I'm feeling optimistic about it.