reviews_and_ramblings | Taking Chances by Fae Sutherland & Marguerite Labbe

Fortunate Son by Fae Sutherland & Marguerite Labbe

Fortunate Son has a double meaning. At the beginning of the story I believed that the fortunate son was Ricky; he is the second son of a not so wealthy country family. His older brother died in Vietnam and his parents sold part of the family farm to allow him to go to College and so, avoid to be a conscript. But Ricky is still mourning Randall's loss, and instead of having his mind on the study, he thinks on protest and getting high, since when you are high the world seems better. At college he meets Charlie; Charlie is a lover and an artist, he has all those great ideas in mind and in a way, he directs Ricky's rage in something more useful than sulking. And maybe Charlie is the fortunate son, the one who is against something for principle and not since it touched him like it did with Ricky. Being not so involved, allows Charlie to be a safe harbor for Ricky, allows him to be the steady figure Ricky needs to not drift apart.

Ricky and Charlie are young and sons of their time; being always high, not thinking at tomorrow, but always living the day, they are like a lot of young people in 1967, the year in which the story is setting. But during the March on the Pentagon, Ricky and Charlie start to think that having a tomorrow, and having it together, maybe it would be nice. They can't have a formal recognition of their love, it's so far from their time that the idea doesn't even pass in their mind, but they can have it with words between them; being aware of the world around them, make them more aware of who they are and what they want in life.

This is a really nice short story, 2 sex scenes and a night and a day in the life of two young men; you don't know what it will be of them, but you can have the feeling that they will be together and happy; I like the easy mood of the story, the feeling that, even if they are living in a dangerous period, they are somehow shielded by their love, life seems easy for them and I can see a future behind the corner.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/FortunateSon.html

Amazon Kindle: Fortunate Son

The Mask He Wears by Fae Sutherland & Marguerite Labbe

This is a short story that manages to be unexpected and surprising despite being short. Apparently the plot is simple, Ian has a secret crush on his boss, lawyer Stephen; being Ian his secretary and having the firm a strict no fraternization policy, Ian has never made any move on Stephen if not being always available for him and always with an eager to please smile on his face. Then at a office party, Ian eavesdrops another colleague asking Stephen about his wife, and Ian's world crashes around him.

Here is the unexpected element of the story. Usually the office affairs relationships among men are hot and dirty, little or not so little secret affairs almost always based more on sex than love. But Ian is a romantic soul, he believes in love at first sight and forever love. He wants Stephen, but he doesn't want him only for a passing affair, he wants him as his long term relationship partner, he wants him in full daylight.

On the other hand Stephen has always preferred to maintain his private life exactly like that, private. On the outside Stephen appears to be an independent and strong willed man, but in private he is insecure and not so strong. He always related to his friends advice and he was always willing to help them to resolve their romantic trouble but was never ready to resolve his own. Delay was the key, not facing the issue was the best strategy. Stephen's character is the other surprising element of the story, above all how different he is from what he appears; it's a nice surprise since he gives originality to the story.

If Stephen was one another alpha male boss, who is a boss both in office than in bedroom, this one would have been one another office affair story, nice maybe, but nothing more. Instead both Stephen than Ian are different from who you were expecting, they are both very emotional men, men that probably are not imposing and domineering, but that are lucky enough to find each other and to discover that, despite the difference in social status and career level, they have more in common than they thought.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/MaskHeWears.html

Amazon Kindle: The Mask He Wears

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/TakingChances.html

Amazon: Taking Chances (print book)

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