I have yet to read anything from Lee Blair that I haven’t loved, and the stories from the Dahlia Springs world are some of my favorites! This book is a collection of 4 novellas that were all previously published as parts of different anthologies.
I’ve read most of these from their original anthologies, but I love that they were chosen to be put together in one collection. I hope to see some of these side characters get their own stories in the future - especially Myles’ friends from Pipe Dreams.
It Must Be Fate - Lex & Garrison
This has always been one of my favorites because Blair paints such a great picture of the meet cutes that I can’t help but chuckle as I read it. We have 4 separate meet cute moments before these two finally take a chance on each other.
Meet Cute 1: Lex and Garrison’s first meet cute is when Lex delivers a singing telegram breakup to Garrison’s office, but the telegram isn’t for Garrison. The imagery of someone dressed in a heart costume singing Bye,Bye,Bye with gusto cracks me up.
Meet Cute 2: Lex is working at a local deli and Garrison orders a sandwich from there. Lex says that he gave him something special with his sandwich and Garrison discovers it's extra pickles - when he had asked for no pickles.
Meet Cute 3 - At Garrison's bestie's bachelor party, another friend signs the bestie up for a lap dance on stage. Garrison takes one for the team and the dancer just happens to be Lex.
Meet Cute 4 (my favorite) - Lex is walking a dog named Scout, who manages to break his leash while chasing a cat and ends up on someone's roof. It just happens to be Garrison's roof and the description of them trying to lure Scout off the roof with steak has me literally laughing out loud.
Pipe Dreams - Myles & Brandon
When your plumbing goes wrong, who would think to turn to a dating app for help? Not Myles, but his friends do and it makes their D&D night a little more exciting. Brandon shows up and is slightly jealous of this crew playing D&D. As a football player growing up, he was always curious about the game, but never felt comfortable exploring it.
Meet cute 2: Myles is an ecologist and is there to ask the council to reconsider destroying the wetlands for a residential build. The wetlands is home to a specific type of frog that is not endangered, but threatened. His friends have frog costumes and even go with face painting to really drive the point home. Myles wants to melt on the floor when he sees Brandon is there. Brandon, thinks it's adorable and loves how supportive Myles' friends are of him.
Meeting Myles and his friends gave Brandon the courage to explore interests that he never felt comfortable with before.I would love some spin-off stories about Myles’ friends. They are so supportive, and give us great lines like, “The man rushed over to you like you were the last scoop of guac”, which show they know how to put things into perspective.
Under My Skein - Heath & Ben
Ben and Heath’s story is so heart warming. It's been a year since Ben's father passed away from cancer, and his mother is doing some home renovations so she asks him to come help her clean some stuff out. His mom keeps everything, while Heath usually keeps nothing. When they get to a closet, they find a bag of crochet supplies from his uncle who passed away when Heath was younger. The supplies are for a blanket he was making for Heath.
Heath decides to keep this and isn't sure what to do with it. He stumbles upon information for a non-profit that pairs volunteers with people who need a craft project finished that was either started by a loved one who passed or someone who now has a disability. He is paired with Ben, who is an oncology nurse, and the two hit it off. Ben even teaches Heath how to crochet a granny square so he can have a part of helping to make his uncle's blanket. In a fun twist, we find out that Ben was Heath's dad's favorite nurse.
This one hit me the hardest, and was the only one I had not previously read as part of an anthology. I wish a service like the Patchwork Project existed in my area to help me finish some of my grandmother’s projects I’ve held on to.
The Roommate Mix Up - Pablo & Sean
Pablo and his friends are out for Pride and he leaves his number for the waiter because he thought it was real flirting and not waiter-flirting. Turns out the waiter thought he was someone else, but the waiter’s roommate sends him a text and they hit it off. Bonding over their mutually nerdy interests, they decide to meet and learn the connection they had via text is just as intense in-person.
All of these stories in this collection seem to fit with my favorite line from this story - If you try to hide your weird to get someone to like you, you’ll have to hide it forever. I’m so glad that all of these characters not only embraced their weirdness but found partners who loved them for it.
Comments
Post a Comment