Review & Giveaway - Broken Bones, Mended Hearts by William Cooper

William Cooper
Broken Bones, Mended Hearts
Dreamspinner Press - May 19, 2010 - 42 pages - ISBN 9781615814596 - $ 2.99

Genre & Keywords: Contemporary, M/M

Rating: êêê½ - êêêê
Heat level: ¹½


I received an ARC from the author for this review

Backblurb:
When Noah wakes up in the hospital, he's relieved to see his best friend Mark at his side. Mark's always been there for him—ever since a school bully tried to steal Noah's lunch money. Is it too much for Noah to hope that Mark will want to be a more permanent part of his life?

This is a short story (42p) so I try to keep this review short too, because I don’t want to spoil your reading pleasure by telling too much about the plot.
What I definitely want to share is that I read this story with a smile on my face from the first page to the last. Don’t expect your heart to be wrung, because this is not that kind of romance, it’s a nice, angst free read. Something you don’t always expect in a GFY (Gay For You) themed story – Noah is gay and his best friend Mark is straight, or so he thought. Until Mark has to take care of Noah, after Noah wakes up in the hospital with broken limbs.
I loved about Broken Bones, Mended Hearts that the guys, or boys if you want, are carefree and uncomplicated. I thought that was rather refreshing. Noah and Mark have a cute relationship that evolves from friendship into love. And Mr. Cooper does get you there in an unexpected way.
The story is told from Noah’s point of view (first person), which makes you feel connected with him. But at the same time I loved Mark, who is the best friend in the world, and whose open mindedness is appealing. Both protags seem rather young – they’re still in college – which adds to their cuteness and makes their relationship sweet and endearing. Hence the never disappearing smile on my face.
Besides these two main characters this story has a bunch of secondary ones, all part of Noah’s family. Their presence made the plot a bit overcrowded but they, like Mark and Noah, almost instantly felt like real people too, which caused me to long for more tales about this couple and their loved ones. Maybe we can get a sequel, Mr. Cooper? And maybe one with more pages so we can enjoy Noah and Mark even more? Because I would really like to learn more about their feelings for each other. I also would like to know if they’ll stay together and how their explorations in the smexing department go from here. And about that… I wouldn’t mind if the sexy scenes got a wee bit more explicit. We girls love that about m/m romance… *ahum*… or is that just me?


William Cooper's website
Buy the book here
Read an excerpt here

Broken Bones, Mended Hearts on Goodreads

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Giveaway:

William Cooper has generously offered an ebook copy of Broken Bones, Mended Hearts for giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. I much appreciate it when you follow my blog (via Google connect in my sidebar), but I leave that up to you. :)

Giveaway is open to everyone, I will announce the winner on May 19, the release day for Broken Bones, Mended Hearts. So be sure to leave your comment before that.


Good luck to you all!

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BTW My friend Chris @ Stumbling over Chaos is also hosting a contest for Broken Bones, Mended Hearts that ends May 18.