OMG! OMG! OMG! deep calming breathsThe existence of this book and the lack of it's widespread availability is patent proof of our screwed-up world. I'm not being hyperbolic. Quite frankly I should't be surprised. I've loved everything I've read by [a:Anah Crow, Dianne Fox 5455783 Anah Crow, Dianne Fox https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. These authors decoded my DNA a while ago, before I knew about them. Now I spend my days hunting down as many of their books as I can, digital or paperback, and basking in the goodness of their stories. The best way to describe this is as purely and simply a love story. A perfect and exquisite love story. The details are that Jack Corson, a well known, irascible, and gruff writer, think a modern-day gay Hemingway, has been semi rusticating in suburbia after abandoning his past life. And here's one of the countless little details that make this book great: we find out all we need to know about Jack's past not as an info dump but rather in the normal course of conversations & remembrance. Here's a snippet of who Jack is and why I love him with the intensity of a thousand burning suns:”Because I'm too old to appreciate the romance of stumbling into having sex at random and not knowing what the other person is thinking or doing, I'm going to take all the fun out of this.” Jack tapped the ash off his cigar and took a pull on it, then exhaled, looking thoughtful. “Also, I like you too much to make it a game.” He reaches out and ran his thumb over Ricky's lips. “I'll tell you if I'm not interested, temporarily or indefinitely. And trust me, I'll probably tell you at some point, but it'll likely be temporary. I work hard. People piss me off. Even unbelievably pretty people like you. Got that?”What a novel idea. Adults behaving like adults. Into Jack's life comes Ricky Talbot, the boy from across the street all grown up. Ricky is 18 and home after his first year away at college. He gets a job mowing Jack's lawn. The rest is a beautiful love story: perfectly paced, organic, and natural.Jack is 30 years older than Ricky and yet you never doubt the rightness of the relationship. There is no insta-love. Lust sure. Delicious and reciprocated. Ricky has had a crush on Jack since he was 14 y.o. and not even a thought in Jack's mind. After a lawn mower mishap and a rough outing at a bar, Jack and Ricky embark on a fling for the summer which naturally evolves during the course of a year, at first reluctantly for Jack, into so much more. It's beautiful.I love how Jack is with Ricky: patient but not weak, kind, giving, and unselfish, while keeping to his outward though guy vibe. He wants Ricky to succeed and thrive even if it's without him. He's not jealous. Not in the obvious ways. He's present for Ricky in all the ways that matter. And Ricky ... sigh a sweeter, more generous, an open lover would be hard to find. He embraces all of Jack unabashedly and wholeheartedly. He's brave and adorable and yet still his age. Jack & Ricky both are kind to each other and try to please each other without ever being syrupy. I believe in their HEA and am rooting for long healthy lifespans for both. As for the other particulars there are some pretty dresses, lace panties, a lithe swimmer's body, a silver haired bear, a spanking or two, and lots and lots and lots of kissing, petting, and licking in all the right places. The summer is idyllic and the rest of the year is all that our romantic hearts can ask for. My heart is still a pitter patterMy only complaint is that the alluded to sequel hasn't materialized, but this works perfectly well as a whole, contained story. The rest of Jack and Ricky's love story we can dream up without too much difficulty. I'm already re-reading.
