Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Swiftly Dusted: Mini-review of Accidentally His by Shawn Lane


Shawn Lane:name
Title: Accidentally His
Series: Standalone, but I think I've read at the author's blog that it's the first of an A-to-Z series of 26 books that have 'His' in the title
Publisher: Amber Allure
Date: March 20, 2011
Word/page count: 14k words / ca. 60 pages

Backblurb/Goodreads link | author's website | buy link

Genre & keywords:
M/M, Romance, Contemporary, Bus accident, Recovery, Nerd as hero

Synopsis in short:
Kirk and Elijah ride the same bus to work a couple of times a week. When the bus crashes in a storm they both get injured, but it makes them to talk to each other for the first time. Their joint experience leads to a date and more.

Setting: I like the premise of an accident bringing two men together. It's inventive although perhaps not used to its full capacity by the author. The impact of what happened and their luck for surviving (as opposed to a few other passengers), could've been used for some more psychological conflict for one or both heroes. Now it was just something that helped them to finally talk and to get to know each other. No internal struggle or anything.

POV: We get both men's point of view, narrated in third person.

H/H & characterization: Elijah looks like a nerd and Kirk has the hots for him and always chooses to sit right behind him on the bus. Even though later on Kirk seems to be a very direct and open guy, he never dared to talk to Elijah before. Elijah is a really shy man, who thinks of himself as socially awkward. He has noticed Kirk but never even started to think about the possibility that Kirk might be interested in him. Although this is a sweet couple, they're a bit odd too. Their date and their first time in bed are on the awkward side, and I had a bit of a hard time feeling their connection or chemistry or whatever you want to call it. Nevertheless their pairing made me smile a lot and not only because it was all quite cute, but also because of the humorous moments they have going on.

Empathy level: These heroes didn't evoke a whole lot of emotions or feelings in me. Their relationship is only just blooming, they aren't actually passionately in love yet and their happy ending is really more of a HFN (Happy For Now) than a HEA ending. It was easiest to empathize with Elijah's insecurities about his love life, because of his past experiences with dates.

Heat level: The love scenes fell a bit flat for me, they were not much more than plain descriptions of the act, though sweet, hardly any feelings or emotions were shown which made these scenes lack some passion for me. 2 out of 3 flames

Angst level: This story is sort of angst free. There was a minor misunderstanding after the first date when Kirk didn't call back as promised, but their relationship was actually too new and young for deep feelings at that point. 0 out of 3 hankies

Overall entertainment level: For a short story (or Extended Amber Kiss as the publisher labels it) this has a good, entertaining plot, and it's featuring likable, sweet guys. It also seems to give a nice, tiny preview of the next book in the series (or so I'm guessing and hoping) which might be Elijah's famous brother and Kirk's friend's story (Lucas and Toby), who met in the hospital early on in the book. But even if this won't be a first in a series, I'd say it's a cute standalone story that I enjoyed reading.

Final judgment:
Great premise materializes into a cute story about a bit of an awkward couple that could use a little more passion. 3.5 out of 5 stars
~

7 comments:

  1. Great review, Janna! This sounds cute and interesting. And I'm very intrigued by the author's idea for a series -- similar to the Sue Grafton mystery series (A Is For Alibi etc). I love titles. I wonder what titles this author will do toward the end of the alphabet ... His Sexy X-Ray Technician? His Date at the Zoo? :)

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  2. Quick stop, nice review.
    Now, no more computer for me, I think I am getting the flu :(

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  3. I think we had similar reactions to this one. :)

    Oh no, Blodeuedd!! I hope you aren't getting the flu...

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  4. I've got this one on my wish list. Great review, Janna! :)

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  5. @Val: Lol, those are excellent suggestions.

    @Blodeuedd: I'm sorry to hear you're not feeling well, B! I hope you feel better soon! *hugs*

    @Chris: I'm not surprised. :)

    @Lily: Thanks, Lily!

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  6. Loved this cute book - definately agree with your thoughts.

    :)

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  7. @EH: It was a cute one, wasn't it? :)

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