grindREVIEW

A sweet, sexy tale from E. Davies, and sixth book in the Riley Brothers series although this can be read on a standalone basis. Don’t be put off by the title, which suggests Grindr-related shenanigans (or at least, it did to me…) Nothing is further from the truth.

Ryan is the carpenter wanting to set up his own business. He is good with his hands but the accountancy and marketing side leaves him floundering. Enter trans man James, in debt due to putting his top surgery on his credit card, and in desperate need of a job. Fortunately, he has all the knowledge Ryan needs in order to make the business a success. Sparks fly between them, but both are wary of mixing business with pleasure.

A sugar-sweet love story, with enough spice and angst to save it from giving the reader tooth-ache. I had to check to see whether this was written by a man or a woman. Not that it should matter, but for such a lush romance, I was intrigued. This is written by a male author (something I only found out after reading it) who pours his heart and romantic soul into this book.

Shy and cute Ryan doesn’t have any misgivings about his attraction to James. He is eager not to screw up when talking to him, ensuring he does just that, and makes sure he does his homework, using the right terminology and pronouns, etc. A cynic would say he was too good to be true but what the hell, the world needs genuinely nice people. The the awkwardness when he gets it wrong made me squirm with embarrassment for him.

And slender, twinky James is totally bowled over by Ryan’s musculature. (That chest! Those thighs!) I would have liked to have known a little more about him. It felt as if an opportunity to explore his new-found masculinity was lost. After all, being on T isn’t just about growing more hair. Emotions are on a rollercoaster and that didn’t really come across. He is described as flamboyant but I wasn’t feeling it. Possibly, these issues have been addressed in the previous books.

So there was lots of insta-love going on, if not insta-action. When the action does happen, it delivers. I liked that they didn’t go at it straight away, but engaged in a great deal of teasing and what we English quaintly call “heavy petting,” the first few times they got it on. Cute and far more realistic.

And kudos to the author for not throwing in a boy meets boy/boy loses boy/boy makes up with boy trope. Ryan has great friends. Both characters have complicated family situations. James’ mother is … I’m not sure but I wanted to slap her. I’ve seen her type before in a lot of M/M fiction, so there was an element of “here we go again.” But maybe that’s the point. It is a depressingly common problem. Ryan’s nemesis was a work colleague, Roger, a would-be rival to his fledgling home crafts business, but in the end, the worst thing he did was stomp away. The people who weren’t bigoted and disgusting were terribly nice and very supportive, providing a warm, happy glow. And why not?

Look, I’m straight, so I can’t say for sure whether the conversations and situations for trans people are true to life in this book or not. For me, it was a cosy read with characters that were slightly different from other M/M romance books. The homophobia rang depressingly true and the author wasn’t afraid to tackle it, which was another plus point.  Grind is well-written, as enjoyable as a slice of chocolate cake on a cold winter’s day. It was such a feel-good read, I am tempted to check out the other books in the series, and I don’t say that very often.

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