Lorix

wife, mother, book lover

Like Coffee and Doughnuts (Dino Martini Mysteries, #1) - Elle Parker 4 and a half stars.

This book definitely made me hot under the collar. Our two heroes are best friends but a world apart in personalities.

Seth is 33 and he likes sex, a lot. He doesn't care if his partner is male or female as long as he is getting some - the trouble is he's gone and fallen for his best friend Dino. Dino is a 42 year old private eye who'd never kissed a man until his best friend decides to change that. The story follows them working out where the hell to go from there, whilst also coping with a few bad guys along the way courtesy of Dino's job.

I liked the flow of the story and I loved the characters. Seth's exuberant and sexy personality was matched perfectly with Dino's more old fashioned values. Seth wanted to speed it up and Dino slow it down - together it just really worked.

Dino had just moved to a new apartment building that was otherwise occupied by 4 elderly ladies, I couldn't help but picture the Golden Girls when I read them, classy and sassy whilst managing to be genteel. The spirit and interaction between all these characters was great.

The only reason that I haven't given this five stars is the injury factor. Seth in particular was beaten up a few times but, apart from a few token words about him being in pain (mostly from Dino), he seemed to just carry on, seduction, chasing the bad guys, none of it seemed too difficult despite cuts, bruises and badly injured ribs. Maybe I'm just a major wimp (I am, I admit it) but this just did not ring true for me. Everything else though was fantastic.

Oh and the part when Seth tells Dino he loves him, that bit was stop your heart hot! In fact it deserves a half star for that alone. Again another new author for me to be checking out.