Fanning the Flames by Eden Winters

Fanning the Flames by Eden Winters
Publisher: Torquere Press, Single Shot
Genre: Erotic Romance, M/M, Contemporary
Length: 58 pages
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Summary: The man of Barry's dreams has gone from a sugarplum fantasy to sweet reality, thanks to the GLBT dating site GetaDate.com. Introducing a new boyfriend to the family and settling into coupledom isn't the easiest thing in the world for a man with little dating experience, but the romantic demands of Valentine's Day are beyond Barry's imagination. His piteous cry for help brings all kinds of suggestions from family and friends.

Fully believing he's found the perfect ways to charm his sweetheart, Barry isn't prepared to hear "Achoo!" at every turn. Adam's allergic to what? And will sneezes and welts wreck Barry's painstaking plans for fanning the flames?

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Barry's back for another round of misadventures in love – we first met this adorable but romantically inept man in Eden Winters' The Match Before Christmas, where he found his delectable Adam. It's Valentine's Day, Barry's wild to make Adam feel loved and appreciated, but without a clue of his own, every suggestion he takes has the possibility to go wrong, and in Fanning the Flames, it does.

It's not for lack of trying – there's so much trying that Adam would feel overwhelmed if Barry's planning all came off. We don't see a lot of Adam in this story, aside from his descent into misery, poor thing, but you just know he's a great person if someone as good-hearted as Barry wants to please him so badly. Comic writing is hard to pull off, but Ms Winters does it well, with her characters at cross-purposes until all of a sudden they're on the same page. It's Adam's philosophy that guides Barry at last, and gives us the great big Aw! moment.

There are a lot of secondary characters, most of them introduced in the first story, but they all have their parts to play here. They appear with enough detail to know who they are without having read the first book, though I wouldn't recommend passing up that treat. One or two seem like they should have their own story – we can hope.

Some holiday-themed stories are best enjoyed in their season, but the humor and sweetness of this story make it welcome all year round. 5 marbles