Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Blair Clark has reached his breaking point. Forced to leave one job because of sexual harassment, he’s having difficulty finding another. Since no one believes what happened, Blair’s left with a stain on his employment record that he can’t get rid of. He’s had to move back home with his mother. As if that’s not bad enough, he realizes his crush, Travis, is simply using him. His romantic life looks as hopeless as his job search.

Jack Ross is sure he’ll never find anyone who’ll love him for who he is. All anyone sees is the port-wine stain on his left cheek—not the man behind it. Even his mother thinks he should get rid of it. But the procedure is difficult and painful.

When Blair applies for a secretarial position with Jack’s firm, both men learn that beauty is, indeed, in the eye of the beholder. It’ll take a lot of trust to chase away their insecurities, but if they take a chance on one another, love will find a way.

Book Review

‘Stained’ is the perfect title for this story. It is about two men who are each marked – Blair internally because he has been bullied all his life and now due to his unfairly bad employment, and Jack because he has a visible port-wine stain on his cheek. Both men have led difficult lives because of who they are, and it takes them meeting and “banding together” for them to begin healing and maybe even have a chance at a better life.

Blair, who tells the story in first person, is too different from the expected stereotype of macho manliness to fit the norm. He has been taken advantage of, his “boyfriend” is basically abusing him, and when he gets sexually harassed at work, the evidence vanishes mysteriously and leaves him looking like a troublemaker. And while his mother is somewhat protective, and his older sister “only means well”, I found them to be as inconsiderate as everyone else. Blair wants a quiet life, a man to love him whom he can love back, and to be left alone. It doesn’t look like he can do that on his own. He needs a protector - and soon!
 
Jack is an architect and the owner of a successful firm, but his personal life has never gotten anywhere because of his birthmark. Not even his mother supports him not undergoing the risky and painful procedure to remove it, and most people just stare at him because of it. It’s a good thing Jack is stable and secure enough to deal with that. He is attracted to Blair from the beginning, but he is too decent a guy to take the first step – particularly as he is the boss, and he knows about the sexual harassment Blair suffered at his previous job.

Their relationship changes gradually to being friends, then more, and I loved the slow burn. They’re a great fit, but it takes them a while to develop the trust needed to open up and even longer to realize their insecurities are not what defines them. Blair’s ex tries to make a comeback of the worst kind, and dealing with that is the real test for Blair and Jack’s burgeoning romance.
 
If you like office romances, if slow-burning relationships between men marked by their past are your thing, and if you’re looking for a gentle love story full of tender moments and a few dramatic events, then you will probably like this heartwarming novella.

 

 

 

 

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

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novella, 112 pages/32807 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	01-June-2016
Price	$4.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/stained-by-chris-t-kat-7037-b