Just My Style (J.M. Snyder)
3.5 stars
Early in my first couple of years of reading MM romance, I consumed J.M. Snyder books. Her writing style, her stories, and her characters just CLICKED with me. The stories were usually light and not overwhelmed with sex scenes (and when they did, they didn't felt smut, you know what I mean?). However, over the recent years I practically stopped reading hers. Mostly because, well, she releases short stories in a price that I think a little bit too expensive if we're doing words comparison. BUT, I bought this one during ARe's 25% store sale, and it is around few hundred words short of 20k. So why not.
Immediately I remembered how I enjoyed her story. Just My Style was light with no angst in sight (I made a rhyme!). The story itself happened in ONE day (well, one in a half-day, but Jai and Duane's interaction happened in one day) but I wasn't annoyed because they didn't promise love forever and after. Jai, a salon owner, meets Duane when Jai's salon stops having hot water. Duane the plumber is not like any men Jai has previously dated but Jai's best friend, Kiki, thinks that he should start seeing men outside of his usual style anyway.
Jai and Duane started around 30% mark -- the first third was Jai moaning about the lack of someone to warm his bed while chatting with Kiki. I thought this felt real and down-to-earth, two best friends who talk about things in daily life. Then when Jai met Duane the next day, it was quite adorable how Jai ogling Duane's ass while the plumber was working, and even took photos of his bun.
Their conversation was easy and fun, and didn't feel pretentious. It was clear that the two had chemistry so when they came back together to Jai's place to spend the weekend, I didn't even feel bothered about it. One note, the smut was fade-to-black, so only a couple of kisses happened on-page. This is one of the few times that I actually wish the sex is on page because I want to see the chemistry between Jai and Duane to be extended in bed.
All in all, I enjoyed it and it's a good read-in-between heavy stuffs.
5