Dreamspinner Presents
https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/seven-minutes-by-grace-kilian-delaney-7854-b
Blurb
Can love be found in seven minutes?
Heavy metal singer Stone Manson never acknowledged his attraction to men. But when he meets sexy cross-dresser Devon at a party and spends Seven Minutes in Heaven with him, he can’t deny his reaction. His confusion leads him to mess up—big time—with Devon, but after some soul-searching, Stone decides to do whatever it takes to show Devon he’s worth the risk.
Devon’s got a thing for hot, tattooed rock stars—just not the sexually conflicted and closeted ones. Stone’s persistence has Devon warming up to the idea of the singer in his bed, and maybe even in his life, until a threat emerges from Devon’s past. Now it’s Devon’s turn to trust Stone or both their lives could be in jeopardy.
Review
This is a short story that tries to accomplish a lot in a few pages. That’s a tough job to do and I don’t think this really does all it sets out to do.
I liked the juxtaposition of the tough guy/ heavy metal singer and the ultra femme cross dresser. That really worked. It was great having Stone take time to research “sexuality” and just come out and ask Devon’s opinion and preferences. I appreciated the honesty in that.
What didn’t work for me was their insta-relationship which moved from a kiss to forever without much time actually spent together. There’s a lot of time in this short story with our MCs apart and not nearly enough with them together.
The side stories with Devon’s family and Stone’s best friend detracted from the time that should have been spent on relationship building – IMHO.
The writing was good, but the characters all felt a bit immature and I wasn’t sure of their ages. Stone has been in a long-term relationship and has an ex-wife and is clearly older than Devon but his maturity is on par with Devon.
If you look at this like a slightly long-winded fantasy sequence with a small “message” regarding sexual identification then I’d say it works. If you want to see a well-drawn short story about two men meeting, exploring their sexuality and falling in love, I think this falls a bit short.
3 of 5 stars
Copy Generously Provided by Publisher for Honest Review