Bachelors Party
In this installment I felt more than in the others that I was reading two separate books. Brandt and Donnelly have only a minor role in James and Oliver's story and I missed seeing them really work together, but Oliver's experience here does have quite a resemblance to Brandt's.Oliver is adorable as the straight bartender in the gay bar. James is a regular at his end of the bar. A huge tipper, with a bit of sadness in him, Oliver looks forward to their conversations during his weekly visits to the club. What Oliver doesn't know is that he's about to be caught up in the ugliness of James' life in politics and the lies that have been told. I have to say I really disliked James for what he did and had a bit of a harder time forgiving him than Oliver did. As the two hideout together things go from hate to love in the blink of an eye as they try to figure out damage control. I enjoyed their story, but it was a little too sweet and for me missing some of the Brandt and Donnelly involvement I was hoping for.
Brandt and Donnelly have become one of my favorite couples. I enjoy how Brandt has been really questioning how to define his sexuality and whether he even needs to (and it was nice to see Will again). Here again it is brought up as Brandt begins to panic over the impending clash of straight and gay men at the bachelors party his brother insists on throwing. The only solution to making everyone comfortable (or epically uncomfortable)? Have his brother work with Bryce to plan a party that everyone will love. Frankly, anything that gives Bryce more page time works for me. I enjoyed everything about Brandt and Donnelly's part of the story, especially meeting Brandt's brothers, and I really wanted more of the focus to have been on them. I'm hoping next will be the wedding story. Now that all the arrangements have been made "What could possibly go wrong?"
