Genre: Contemporary
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Xanthe, Paranormal Romance Guild
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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
Clem and Eggy are polar opposites. Clem is a ‘cultured’ writer and Eggy is a dyslexic surfer boy. Clem is petite and dark, while Eggy is a golden son of Odin (not literally, but close enough).
Eggy is definitely a people person from Norway. That would be a people-in-his-bed person, regardless of gender. If you’re willing, Eggy’s your man. He chases good surf around the world, and finances his lifestyle with any work he can get. Decorating seems to be his preferred choice when he’s in Devon.
Clem, on the other hand, is more ‘reserved’ – that is, if being reserved involves tight jeans and eyeliner. He is an author with one success to his name, and is currently experiencing writer’s block and a rather uninspiring relationship with his agent. He has inherited a cottage that is in need of updating, and that brings him into contact with the Norwegian surfer in full decorator mode.
We get to follow the two as their attraction to each other blossoms while they navigate their ‘normal’ lives and their relationships with their friends / acquaintances.
This is definitely a case of opposites attract, and has a lot of fun moments – and moving ones as well. The characters are not particularly realistic, but they are enjoyable company. There are ups and downs in abundance. with a heartwarming HEA to round things off.
Give it a go!
