One kiss can change everything.So far, Detective David Gallagher has managed to keep his private life . . . well, private. There has always been some gossip about his sexual orientation, but it’s nothing the even-tempered cop couldn’t handle. All that changes in a flash when a new fire inspector joins his task force. With a few unfortunate remarks, the openly gay Travis Sommer outs David in a bar … David in a bar filled with their colleagues. Suddenly David can’t even get coffee without people whispering. To make matters worse, the two men have to work together for months to bring down a dangerous arsonist.
Finally, the case is closed. It’s New Year’s Eve—perfect time for a new start, but David’s anger burns as hot as ever. Rumors have reached his family, and after a tough day, David is ready to blow off some steam. But all bets are off when he runs into the one man who seems determined to cause havoc in David’s life.
There is just something about Travis Sommer that makes it hard to stay away, and David has to decide if he wants to hold on to his anger or give the new year a chance.
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Awesome enemies-to-lovers short story. A cop, a fire fighter and an unexpected kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve. I love David and Travis. The two main characters are well-written and believable, with great dialog. I enjoyed that they’re both alpha. It make David’s struggle between attraction and justified anger oh-so-very real. Even though it’s a short story, there are some great secondary characters, which makes Perfect Kiss a fun and entertaining read.
This was just an OK read for me. Two men, one out and proud, the other still in the closet, both in careers that tend to be filled with alpha-like men struggle with their attraction for each other, for different reasons. They had an attraction from the beginning, but with one trying to hide who he is, thus pushing the other away, made for more tension than necessary. After word gets out that he is gay, the closeted (or ex-closeted at this point,) suffers in the aftermath as co-workers ridicule him and family turns their back on him. There are lots of powerful and deep words spoken between the characters (which could be helpful to people in the real world who may be going through similar situations,) but it was hard to really connect with the characters. It felt fake. Part of the time it felt like they were teens, when in reality they were in their 30’s. They both had jobs which required some knowledge and smarts, but at times they came across as juvenile. The story takes place over the course of three days. It was a quick read (just a couple hours,) so that was a plus. It’s written from one POV (the closeted man.) There is some sexual content. Not much, but a little bit. It is, obviously M/M.
*I received an ARC from Netgalley.
Perfect Kiss was a very cute story without much angst that’s not bad for a light read but has some clunky grammar, moves very quickly, and doesn’t hold a whole lot of depth.
I didn’t really pay attention to the page number, but based on the synopsis I was expecting to see much more of David and Travis’s working together to bring down this arsonist in present time. Perhaps I misinterpreted the synopsis, but I was expecting more details. You know, tense silences and bitter arguments mixed in with begrudging admiration, slowly building respect, and sparking chemistry… The best elements of a slow-burn. Unfortunately, the story begins after the case is over and the last four months are already history. While we get a few flashbacks, there’s nothing in depth that would have built my anticipation. In fact, at the point the story begins, David is already tired and nearly ready to put the past behind him.
It could also have been longer on the other end. There was a side story that had room for more developement, and without giving away any spoilers, I would have liked to see how things progressed for David.
In addition to those wonky aspects of the storyline, there was occasionally some clunky writing as well that came across awkward and distracted me from time to time. Too many simple sentences all in a row, for instance. A little diversity would have been beneficial.
However, in spite of those problems, Perfect Kiss was a very easy story to read, with a hunky cop and an even hunkier firefighter for your mind’s eye candy, a couple of cute side characters, and even a growl of possessiveness in there that had me warm all over. Perhaps it wouldn’t be the first story I’d recommend to someone, but if I know they’re in the market for something light and sweet, this would be a great read for them.
**I received this book free courtesy of NetGalley and Riptide in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion.