True Nature by Jessica Freely at Loose Id
Genre | Gay / Fantasy / Erotic Romance |
Reviewed by | Sandra on 05-May-2014 |
Genre | Gay / Fantasy / Erotic Romance |
Reviewed by | Sandra on 05-May-2014 |
Lake Clearwater--conservation officer and water spirit--has just been appointed guardian of Gem Pond by The Powers That Be. It's the first time in eight years he's had a real home and he's determined to protect it, even if that means hiding his attraction to his sexy new partner, Forrest Oakwood.
Forrest is a native of the Gem Pond area and the guardian of its trees. He knows the land and its people are a crucial lynchpin in the natural order. He also knows that if he comes out, his boss in the DNR, Sgt. Dennison, will find an excuse to fire him. But ignoring his true nature was a lot easier before Lake Clearwater showed up. The man's a walking, talking wet dream.
Meanwhile, local residents--human and animal alike--conspire to bring Lake and Forrest together. The land needs its guardians united and at their full power. Dennison wants to cut down the trees to make room for water slides and tennis courts. If Forrest and Lake don't embrace their passion for each other, they'll be unable to stop him and that would be a disaster, not just for Gem Pond but for the entire natural world.
Ecology is at the heart of most people’s passion at the moment as more of nature and what we would like to conserve is threatened by those who would turn woodland into car parks and nature reserves into theme parks. Here the story isn’t just about two men who have an attraction to each other; it becomes imperative that they get to fall in love with each other as they must unite in order to scupper one man’s chances of destroying the beauty of the Gem Pond area.
As a Naiad, a water spirit, Lake had originally had his chance to merge with the lake in his previous job and lost it, but after such a long time the Powers That Be gave him another chance to be the Guardian of Gem Lake in the hope he will make a success of it now he was a little older and hopefully wiser.
As a direct opposite, Forrest is at his most comfortable when he is among the forest’s trees, animals, and flora. Being a Dryad he sees it as his responsibility to look after the area as he is its Guardian, and through most of the novel he wonders if Lake, his new partner, is a Guardian too. As they spend most of the time hiding their true natures from each other, I wondered if they would ever get together even though Forrest has a scene where he hugs (and hugs naked I might add) a hypothermia-struck Lake, when they first meet to warm him up.
In the hands of anyone else, the names would have had any reader laughing; Lake Clearwater, Forrest Oakwood, and Heron Greene are funny enough, but Jessica Freely writes in such a way as to make you believe they are real names as they match the characters. The humor value shows itself when Lake is uneasy about tripping over roots and unable to walk in forests or on land, while Forrest cannot get to grips with being in or around water. They have a clear attraction to each other, but it remains to be seen whether the hypersensitive Lake is a real match for the meat-eating, realist Forrest. They do seem to get on well, and others around them do well to steer them in the right direction—it does take them a lot of time to make a go of their relationship. I will say this much though, it is worth waiting for.
DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Loose Id for the purpose of a review.
Format | ebook |
Length | Novella, 34601 words |
Heat Level | |
Publication Date | 22-April-2014 |
Price | $4.50 ebook |
Buy Link | http://www.loose-id.com/true-nature.html |