Wood, Screws, & Nails by Piper Vaughn, Kade Boehme Series: Hard Hats, #1
Published by Dreamspinner Press Publication Date: April 23rd 2014
Pages: 166
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Aaron Costa’s summer was all planned. Despite having to remodel the family lake house, it would be a vacation of sorts, and he had every intention of enjoying it—until the friend who was supposed to help him got injured and left him in a lurch. He decides to take the opportunity to bond with his son and hires Julian and his roommate, Malachi, to assist.
As a broke college student, Malachi could use the money, and spending the summer with Aaron for eye candy sounds like a dream. "Look but don’t touch" becomes his motto. But when Julian starts flaking on his responsibilities and Malachi and Aaron are forced to spend long hours alone together, their mutual attraction is impossible to resist.
Aaron can’t fight the temptation sexy Malachi presents. But more than their age difference stands in their way, not the least of which is Aaron’s semi-closeted status and the fact that he’s never openly discussed his sexuality with his son. He has no idea how Julian will react when he learns his father is not only gay, he’s also dating his best friend.
Cocktails and Books received this book for free from Manic Readers in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.
Frankly, I thought “Wood, Screws, and Nails” would be a formulaic older man/son’s best friend story, but I was pleasantly surprised. It had a nice, slow build up, an EXTREMELY sexy middle, and another slow, but satisfying ending. It held my attention from beginning to end, and I read it straight through.
Aaron has taken some time to restore his family’s lakehouse. His folks want to sell it. He had arranged for a friend to help him out, but the friend winds up injured and can’t go. So, he decides to ask his son, Julian, if he wanted to come help…do some work, and share some father son bonding. Julian asks if his friend, Malachi, can come along because he could use the money. It all takes off from there.
Malachi is an excellent worker, and Aaron is impressed. Julian turns out to be a loser, and I didn’t like him one single bit. He starts drinking and staying out late, and he never shows up to do any work. As you’ve probably guessed, both Aaron and Malachi are gay. They love looking at each other, and as they spend more and more time together working on the house, the temptation becomes stronger and stronger. Of course, their relationship becomes sexual, and let me tell you…it was AWESOME!! The sex scenes are smokin’ hot. Aaron is a dirty talker, which I absolutely love. There are some road blocks, though. Aaron isn’t exactly out, especially to his son. He’s also concerned about the age difference between him and Malachi. It all works up to an event that is traumatic for all three men. I saw it coming a mile away, and it still made me squirm.
This was a great story, and I enjoyed reading it very much. I read MM stories almost exclusively now, and this is one of the better ones. The characters are well developed and feel “real”. The plot is entirely conceivable, not silly or contrived. In fact, if you replaced the MM and made it MF, it would still be be excellent. It’s not just a gay story. It’s a love story. I highly recommend this one.
