Hot Seat
Grade : B-

Early in January, I picked up a novella called Fireman’s Carry by Eli Easton in the Your Book Boyfriend’s Boyfriend giveaway (which I think is still going on – around 600 free m/m short stories/novellas), mostly because I was looking for new authors to try and also because I remembered that Em had enjoyed some books by Ms. Easton, so I thought this might be a good place to start.  It was;  an action-packed, fast-paced short story set during a wildfire with two likeable leads and excellent descriptive prose, Fireman’s Carry can be enjoyed as a standalone but also acts as the prequel to a new series being co-authored by Eli Easton and Tara Lain (also a new-to-me author) and I enjoyed it sufficiently to be interested in reading the first in the Hot Cannolis series, Hot Seat.

A quick recap of Fireman’s Carry.  Twenty-two-year-old college student Shane Bower is frantically driving to Crest Lake near Sacramento to persuade his stubborn grandfather to evacuate his home, which could be in the path of an oncoming fire.  On the way, Shane meets hot rookie firefighter Mike Canali, the youngest of the big, beefy, ultra-masculine Canali clan, all of whom are firefighters or law-enforcement or in some form of public service – and the two young men end up spending the day together, getting to know each other while racing against time to find and rescue Shane’s grandfather and also saving the lives of more than sixty people through their teamwork and quick thinking.  Shane and Mike are chalk-and-cheese; Shane is out, proud, fabulous and femme, Mike is deeply closeted and terrified of coming out to his traditional Italian family.  He’d never have thought a guy like Shane could ever be his type, but Shane’s confident snarkiness pushes his buttons like nobody’s business, and by the end of the story, they’ve shared a passionate kiss, exchanged numbers and Mike has promised to call Shane.

When Hot Seat opens, it’s been a month since that day and Mike has never called. Shane tells himself he was stupid to ever get his hopes up – the small glimpses he got of – and the dirty looks thrown his way by – some of Mike’s fellow firefighters should have told him it was never gonna happen, but he can’t help feeling disappointed.  He doesn’t expect he’ll see Mike again, until he receives an invitation from the California State Firefighter’s Association to an award ceremony honoring civilians and professionals who demonstrated exceptional valor during the recent Dixie fire.  He doesn't want to hope, but maybe he'll see Mike there.

Shane is as beautiful as Mike remembers and seeing him again is nerve-wracking.  He knows ghosting him was a shitty thing to do, but couldn’t see a way for Shane to be a part of his life – yet seeing him again brings the chemistry he’d experienced when they met roaring back to life, and he wants to apologise and try to set things right.

Shane’s initial reception is frosty, but they manage to find time for a quick chat after the ceremony and Mike is in the middle of asking Shane out when his mother appears and invites Shane to lunch the next day.  Mike panics and frantically tries to signal to Shane that he should refuse, but then makes a thoughtless and hurtful comment that clearly upsets Shane – who then accepts the invitation.

On the drive over the next day, Shane regrets being so impulsive – just because Mike pissed him off it doesn’t mean it’s okay for him to make Mike uncomfortable in his own home - but it’s too late to back out now.  Lunch with the Canalis – or with the Canali men, at least – is as awkward and unpleasant as he’d expected;  Mike doesn’t say two words to him, his father is polite but distant and his two brothers, Donny and Gabe make little attempt to veil their hostility and homophobia.  Thankfully, Mike’s mother, aunt and sister are far more welcoming, but fairly oblivious to the uncomfortable atmosphere, and Shane escapes as soon as he can, expecting to have nothing more to do with Mike or his family.   Except that Mike’s mother  has taken quite a shine to him and keeps thinking up excuses to invite him over in ways that make it impossible for him to refuse.

In case I haven’t made it clear, please be aware that there are strong expressions of homophobia in this book.  Mike’s family obviously loves him dearly, but he’s grown up in a household where there’s only one way to be a man and he’s terrified that coming out will mean they’ll cut him out of their lives completely.  It happened to Shane (his ultra-religious parents kicked him out at sixteen) and to others, so why not him?  The authors do a good job of articulating Mike’s fears, the strain he’s under as a result of feeling he’ll never be able to be fully himself and the pressure he puts on himself to be the perfect son.  My heart broke for him as the pressure mounted, and it’s easy to feel his turmoil of confusion and despair.  But with that said, I felt as though I was reading the same thing over and over in the middle section; Mike’s mother finds a reason to invite Shane over, Mike’s brothers spout homophobic shit and Mike is more and more convinced he can never tell any of them the truth.  That Mike’s father and two of his brothers are bigots was well-established and I could have done with reading a little less of them.

I really liked Shane, who is insightful and takes no crap, is unapologetically himself and not afraid of being vulnerable. He’s very supportive of Mike and makes it clear he has no intention of forcing him into something he’s not ready for; in the meantime, he tries to show him a little bit of a different life, one where he can own his truth, even just for a little while, in the hope that it may eventually give him the confidence to want to come out.  There’s a solid secondary cast, too – Shane’s grandfather, his “Pops”, took him in after his parents disowned him and loves and supports him unconditionally, and the Canali women are all accepting and obviously trying to do better than their menfolk.

But while I liked both principals – and really felt for Mike – the strength of their connection and bulk of their chemistry is established in Fireman’s Carry and I’m not sure I’d have been able to buy their attraction in Hot Seat as easily as I did had I not read the prequel.  While all the relevant information about their backstory is included here, the relationship is built ‘outside’ this book and because of that, we’re asked to take it on trust.   I’ve taken that into account when assigning a grade for this novel.

In spite of my criticisms, I did enjoy Hot Seat.  The writing accomplished, all the characters have their own, distinctive voices, and Mike’s heart-breaking inner conflict is very well depicted.  I feel able to recommend it, but with reservations and a reminder to read the prequel first if you can.

Buy it at: Amazon

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Reviewed by Caz Owens
Grade : B-

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : February 25, 2022

Publication Date: 02/2022

Recent Comments …

Caz Owens

I’m a musician, teacher and mother of two gorgeous young women who are without doubt, my finest achievement :)I’ve gravitated away from my first love – historical romance – over the last few years and now read mostly m/m romances in a variety of sub-genres. I’ve found many fantastic new authors to enjoy courtesy of audiobooks - I probably listen to as many books as I read these days – mostly through glomming favourite narrators and following them into different genres.And when I find books I LOVE, I want to shout about them from the (metaphorical) rooftops to help other readers and listeners to discover them, too.
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