Book Reviews

Book Blurb

A chance encounter in a hospital waiting room between twenty-two year old Will Messina and sixteen year old Josiah Pinkerton ends with a gift of a stuffed dragon off the hospital gift cart and a memory neither of them can shake.

Five years later, when a lonely, buttoned-up Will ventures into a gay club, he spots a pale, leather-clad specter with violet eyes tracking his every move. Will realizes he’s being watched by the grown version of the boy who’s haunted his thoughts for years.

Joey recognizes Will, but he’s no longer the sweet, brown-eyed boy worthy of Will’s attention. He’s damaged and defective and lives in a different world than Will now. When his childhood crush makes his way across the bar, Joey doesn’t have time to decide whether to be enchanted or dismayed because, unless he turns and runs, those worlds are about to collide.

 

Book Review

Dragons and fairy tales go well together, but this story shows they can also play a role in very “normal” lives. Having said that, nothing about Joey and Will’s lives is normal, and especially not when they first meet. But that is the charm if this story: it all seems very bleak until a small ray of hope appears in the form of a stuffed dragon given to Joey when Will wants to cheer him up on the day they meet. And while they don’t see each other for five years, it is that small seed of hope that grows into a wonderful surprise and a very special relationship. It is a touching story, and as improbable as is sounds, it moved me like any modern-day fairy tale about shining knights and brave young men slaying their dragons.

Will can’t forget the young cancer patient he met when he was volunteering in the hospital. He was just a sixteen-year old kid back then, but when Will runs into him again five years later, he is just as fascinated by the young man. All grown up now, but clearly in trouble, Joey is fascinating and Will goes after him with single-minded determination and great sensitivity. Will knows what he wants, and he won’t take no for an answer.

Joy hasn’t had an easy life. His father died when Joey was young, he had to got through treatments fro testicular cancer when he was a teenager, and now sees himself as “damaged” and a freak”. To top it all, his mother disowned him when he came out. Joey cannot believe anyone as perfect and “whole” as Will could possibly be interested i him, but he has never forgotten the kind gift of a small stuffed dragon that helped him through his years of loneliness. Joey thinks he can hold it all together, but who could resist Will? Luckily, Joey can’t.

If you like sweet romances with a touch of drama, if men fighting for their lives and ending up the victor are worthy of your admiration, and if you’re looking for a read that is as deeply emotional as it is heartwarming, then you will probably like this short story.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Evernight Publishing for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Short Story, 42 pages/11085 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	15-April-2015
Price	$2.99 ebook
Buy Link	http://www.evernightpublishing.com/dragons-by-jaycee-edward/