Genre: Contemporary
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Xanthe, Paranormal Romance Guild
Get It On Amazon
About The Book
Clement Constantine Church is a hot mess. With deadlines to meet. Whereas the striking Viking redecorating his seaside cottage is simply hot.
As a precocious teen, Clem wrote a best seller. Now he writes for other people. Too busy contemplating his bleak career and panicking about pretty much everything, he doesn’t notice that the gorgeous surfer slapping paint across his bedroom walls has a top-notch flirting game. Nor that the body hidden underneath his white overalls should come with its own government health warning.
Anyhow, apparently the Viking is straight.
After one too many unwise hookups, Ragnar Aleksander Sigurdson Eggebraaten needs to lay low and avoid romantic entanglements. Which means there is zero chance he’d ever fall for a lonely writer. Not even if they pretended to be fake boyfriends during a weekend trip to London. Not even if there was only one bed. And especially not if he’s planning on leaving England at the end of summer to fulfil his dream of setting up a surf school.
Can surfer Vikings fall unexpectedly in love? And are failed writers allowed to write their own happily ever afters?
Brushed With Love is a warm and funny romance set in the UK. Trigger warnings include cosmic lizards, feisty octogenarians, and a spoiled shih tzu.
The Review
I became a fan of Fearne’s after reading her Rossingley series, and Surfing the Waves doesn’t disappoint – opposites attract with a fake romance between two men who are in need of care and attention, all set on the beautiful Cornish coast.
Clem is quite the introvert stereotype when it comes to how he lives, alone in the house he has inherited from his grandmother, whilst working on his writing with little to no social life. It’s not until Eggy, or Ragnar Aleksander Sigurdson Eggebraaten to be precise, enters in his painter’s overalls to decorate the house that things get a little shaken up.
Eggy is confident in himself, loving his life, travelling to where the best waves are, and saving up for his plans to open a surf shop in Fuerteventura with his best friend, Fifty. He is also someone who enjoys no attachments to his partners, sticking to one-night stands. However, that all changes when he meets Clem. He’s instantly drawn to his new client, and is finding himself attracted to more than just his body.
Their attraction ignites once they take that next step, and it is definitely hot in the bedroom with those two, and the hallway, and the kitchen, etc. What brings trouble to their door is the looming date when Eggy and Fifty will be leaving to start their new business, meaning one will have to decide if they are brave enough to take the big step of either staying or going.
Together, they make for quite the odd pair, but they work so well together. Clem’s calming influence and Eggy’s positivity draw the best out of the other as they take the time to build up a relationship that starts as a fake boyfriend ruse when a client of Clem’s visits the house and in need of help to stop her setting him up with someone. Eggy steps up and plays the role brilliantly. It’s a lot of fun to read but they have some quite serious moments as they recall their childhoods, past relationships and how they came to where they are today. Both have struggled with family problems in the past and Eggy’s story especially tugs on the heart as he recalls what’s happened.
Clem doesn’t have any real friends, just his ex-boyfriend/publisher who really doesn’t come across well…. very selfish, always looking for the next best thing and happy to drop Clem at the first sign of weakness and someone better. Whereas Eggy has Fifty, Yas and Zen. Fifty is his best friend whom he travels the continent with as they surf, work and save for their future dream. He is so lovely, and in need of his own HEA as it’s easy to feel the heartbreak that he experiences in this story.
This is another wonderfully written story by Fearne Hill. She has a wonderful way of describing the setting – it’s so easy to imagine the natural beauty of the Cornish coastline and the small town they’re in. There’s a great HEA for both MC’s, with a small dose of angst, and I especially loved the final scene for Eggy.
I’m looking forward to hopefully hearing Fifty’s story next!
Four stars.
The Reviewer
Hello all, my name is Xanthe and I am excited to be a reviewer for the PRG.
I read a lot, every night for at least 4-5 hours and I love to get lost in the world that an author has created. The best ones leave you wanting more and at a loss for words to describe just how good it is but I’ll try my best.
I live in a small town in South West England, just me and my dog Bonnie. I work part time in administration and really enjoy my job and the people I work with which I am very aware is not always the case!
I’ll read pretty much any sub genre within the mm genre. Since discovering it a few years ago, I rarely read anything else. One thing I won’t touch is horror, a definite no no for me!
Never ask me what my favourite anything is as I’ll have to give you a list of about ten or twenty things. How am I able to pick one food, book or film out of so many that I love?!
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