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Beneath the Surface

by Kate Sherwood (Goodreads Author)

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 · rating details · 175 ratings · 33 reviews

When Peter Carr's company sends him to Southwestern Ontario to sweet-talk the town into agreeing to a gravel quarry proposal, he welcomes the challenge. Technically he's a lawyer, but really he's a problemsolver. He just never expected the problem to be Caleb Sinclair, the passionate but introverted artisan carpenter who lives next to the proposed quarry site.

"Know your en...more

ebook, 200 pages

Published August 20th 2012 by Dreamspinner Press

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Aug 30, 2012 Akansha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m, romance

2.5
Even though it was a slow burn romance,the romance felt under developed and rushed through in the last third. Also, the chemistry was lacking a little too. I don't know, I guess it was okay, the main premise was actually pretty promising at the start but soon lost my focus and I was skimming over pages just to reach the end. So, nothing outstanding but a sweet read nonetheless.

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 22, 2012 Ami rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mm-romance-or-erotica, mm-contemporary

This story hits me in all the right places. And because of it, this review will be pretty rambling. Sorry in advance...

I love the contrast of the two men. Peter Carr, the company man/the city boy, is all smooth and charming and extrovert. He might not be extravagant, but he really enjoy being with people and talking to them, trying to make the community happy. Meanwhile Caleb Sinclair, the artist/local farmer, is quiet, reserved, shy, and introvert. Since he's the only out gay man in the small t...more

7 likes · like · see review

Oct 14, 2012 Jess Candela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m, jessewave-reviews, read-in-2012

4.25 stars out of 5
Review Summary: Delving beneath the surface results in what appears to be Twu Wuv, if it lasts past the initial excitement.

Review: The title for this book is wonderfully apt. Peter starts out as a rather surface sort of guy, one who enjoys the thrill of The Game and basically sees all of life as part of that game. At the beginning of the story, his business partner and best friend asks, “Is this all there is?” Peter pretends to misunderstand her, not wanting to go below the su...more 4.25 stars out of 5
Review Summary: Delving beneath the surface results in what appears to be Twu Wuv, if it lasts past the initial excitement.

Review: The title for this book is wonderfully apt. Peter starts out as a rather surface sort of guy, one who enjoys the thrill of The Game and basically sees all of life as part of that game. At the beginning of the story, his business partner and best friend asks, “Is this all there is?” Peter pretends to misunderstand her, not wanting to go below the surface to the extent a real answer would require. But the question haunts him throughout the story, and eventually he discovers the answer.

Since it’s a romance novel, I don’t think I’m spoilering anything to tell you the answer he finds is that no, this isn’t all there is. In fact, there can be a heckuva lot more if you meet the right person and allow yourself to develop a relationship with them. And despite their obvious differences, it’s clear that Caleb is the right person for Peter. I’m a little less certain that Peter is the right person for Caleb, though he’s happy enough while we see him. Caleb has a real depth, which I think contributes to Peter’s desire and ultimate ability to delve beneath the surface.

Caleb is a delightfully complex character and I fell in love with him almost immediately. He’s painfully shy, but honesty and doing the right thing are so fundamentally important to him that he pushes past it when necessary. Even when he’s uncomfortable, because he’s pushing his emotional comfort zone, he has a talent for saying the right thing and making other people feel better. At one point he makes a bit of a speech to his best friend’s wife that brings her to tears. He’s alarmed that he said something so horribly wrong as to have that effect. But I’d gotten rather teary myself, because his words and the emotion behind them were so heart-felt and beautiful.

It took me a bit longer to warm up to Peter, but he won me over as he fell for Caleb and changed as a result of that. I’m not sure how much I’d have liked Peter if I’d spent much time with him pre-Caleb, so I don’t think it was just getting to know him better that made me like him more. And I still never liked him as much as Caleb, though I think he actually became a better man as he got to know and care for Caleb. I could see how Caleb could have that effect on people, so I found that completely believable.

I found their relationship believable, but would have found it more so if it had happened over a bit longer period of time. They start out basically opponents, on opposite sides of the quarry issue. They struggle with developing a relationship under the circumstances. This results in an instant attraction which results in some push-pull for a while, then a decision to take a chance and see where it might go, and ultimately to a HEA.

Overall that’s a great development pattern, it just seemed to happen a little fast for my taste. Especially considering where Peter started out and where he ended up, I’d have liked to see a bit more time elapse so I could better believe the change would last. They seemed to get from what seemed an impossible situation to a settled HEA too quickly for me to be confident it really would last once the initial shine wore off.

I also thought Caleb’s brother was a bit too over-the-top, unredeemed and unredeemable, more caricature than character. And it cast Caleb’s past behavior with him into a bit more of a martyrish light than I’d have liked. But aside from that I thought the characters were well-developed, complex, and mostly likable. The story was engrossing, and I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

This review was originally posted at Reviews by Jessewave, where I received the book for free in exchange for an honest review.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 21, 2012 MandyM rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m-romance

3.75 stars. Interesting story of two men on opposite sides of a controversial decision. Peter, a lawyer with a big industrial company, is sent to a small town to win the locals over about a quarry being built on prime farming land. His main opponent is Caleb, a local farmer and cabinetmaker, whose land adjoins the proposed quarry.

Peter and Caleb's attraction is slow growing and seems to fill a need in both men for companionship and a more meaningful life. Their decisions are influenced by the tw...more

9 likes · like · see review

Aug 31, 2012 Serena Yates rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

A very modern and contemporary conflict is at the root of this story, and it makes for some very interesting reading. On the one hand you have the smooth-talking professional corporate man who is charged with making sure a quarry gets started in an otherwise peaceful, quiet village. On the other hand you have a local guy whose family has lived there for generations, and even if he isn’t exactly loved by his neighbors, not after he came out as gay a few years ago, he is rooted there and loves the...more A very modern and contemporary conflict is at the root of this story, and it makes for some very interesting reading. On the one hand you have the smooth-talking professional corporate man who is charged with making sure a quarry gets started in an otherwise peaceful, quiet village. On the other hand you have a local guy whose family has lived there for generations, and even if he isn’t exactly loved by his neighbors, not after he came out as gay a few years ago, he is rooted there and loves the land. Sit back and watch the sparks fly, right?

Caleb is attached to the land he lives on, cares for the environment, and values the house that he lives in. It was built by his great-great-grandfather, and there are some very touching scenes where he tells the story of his family and why he loves the place so much. He is an artist who works with wood, and that skill plays a major role in the fight later on. He is stubborn, but not immune to Peter's charms and I loved watching him struggle with figuring out what the right thing to do might be at each turn and twist of the plot.

Peter started out as 'just one of those corporate guys', good at his job, and totally uncaring about who he crossed to get it done. Everything is a game to him, at first, but he truly liked the opposition. It is also clear that he likes winning. His character grows an amazing amount as he gets more deeply involved with Caleb. The change is almost imperceptible at first, and the developments at each twist and turn, much like Caleb's story, are very well done and utterly believable.

As much as I expected this to be all abut the controversy, and in many ways it is, this isn't about two bull-headed machos fighting to be right. Their confrontations with each other and with their ways of life are much more subtle. And I was totally fascinated by that. If you like novels with characters who have real depth to them, who grow and change so slowly that you almost miss it if you blink, and if you like delving 'Beneath the Surface' of situations and people, you will probably like this book as much as I did.

NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.(less)

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Nov 18, 2012 Tam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

So the gold stars are not so much for the story itself, although it’s perfectly cute and enjoyable on its own, it’s for an aspect of the story. But first we’ll start with a brief outline. Caleb is an introverted gay man in a town that would rather he wasn’t there, but he’s not going to leave his family property and minds his own business. However when a company buys the neighboring land and plans to put a gravel pit on it, (bringing noise and possible pollution to the town), he decides to take o...more So the gold stars are not so much for the story itself, although it’s perfectly cute and enjoyable on its own, it’s for an aspect of the story. But first we’ll start with a brief outline. Caleb is an introverted gay man in a town that would rather he wasn’t there, but he’s not going to leave his family property and minds his own business. However when a company buys the neighboring land and plans to put a gravel pit on it, (bringing noise and possible pollution to the town), he decides to take on the company with the help of his best friend’s wife. Peter is the company’s rep and is there with his partner, an engineer, to make the town see reason.

This is a pretty typical opposites attract. Peter thrives on the challenge. He loves people and the puzzle of how to turn people’s opinions around. Caleb is the opposite in every way. The physical attraction zings, but they don’t get together until the end, so it’s always simmering there. There are of course some bumps on the way to true love. Caleb’s partner, Riva, is starting to wonder if this is life. Traveling from town-to-town convincing people they are doing something good. She’s engaged and questioning her life. Peter loves it and has no desire for anything else, he’s not really relationship material…. Of course we know how that goes.

Anyway, as I was reading it, Riva and Peter have been working the same schtick in a number of towns for years. They are friends and colleagues, and at one point they were bantering back and forth as he suddenly had a crisis and was deciding what to do about his job, since it conflicted with his feeling for Caleb, and I just though … I love this woman. She was smart and capable, she’s an engineer, she’s East Indian, she’s reasonable, she was snarky with Peter, she cared about him and gently pushed him to look at his own life, but she never said “Don’t do this” or “You have to do that.” She let him find his own way and whatever he chose, she was behind him. Too often the female best friend treats the guy like he’s 8 and without a brain cell.

So then I looked at the other female characters. The best friend’s wife. Nice woman, teacher, friendly, likes our main character, works with him against the bad guys. (They’re not really bad.) The aging celeb who comes on board to back the town – lovely woman, very gracious. Even the big boss lady of the company was decent enough. Wow, not a bitchy vindictive female in the bunch. Hallelujah. I am so sick of women always being irksome and as I said, Riva was a great character who I think kept Peter from flying off the rails, she was like his calming influence.

So if you are tired of annoying female characters, I suggest you pick this one up. Fun story and with female character who won’t make you want to scratch someone’s eyes out, possibly your own. Gold stars all around for the ladies today.(less)

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Aug 20, 2012 Sherry rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.75 stars

Another well written story by Kate Sherwood. Peter and Caleb are on opposing sides of the planned gravel quarry in a small Canadian town. Peter thrives on the conflicts that go hand-in-hand with his job while Caleb is an introvert who feels compelled to speak out for the town as well as his multi-generational acreage.

Sherwood does an excellent job of expressing the environmental concerns that would come with the possibility of a gravel pit being dug in "your back yard", ie water contam...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Josie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Another wonderful book by Kate Sherwood. Beneath the Surface is the story of Caleb, a furniture maker/farmer who lives a quiet life surrounded by nature, he’s not fully out of the closet, but happy with his life, and his dogs. Peter is a man used to cites, the kind of corporate believer whose job is to persuade communities to let bigwig corporations have their own way. In this case Peter is sent to Caleb’s town to woo the locals into accepting a Gravel quarry in their backyard, right next to Cal...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Sadonna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mm, pdf, contemporary

Another really good solid story from Kate Sherwood. This story is not a fast-paced whirlwind, but more of a slow-moving stream that pulls us along in the flow. Caleb owns a farm in small town in Ontario and a large multinational plans to turn the neighboring farm into a rock quarry. Caleb's farm has been in his family for 5 generations and needless to say he is not happy about this. His best friend Matt's parents owned the farm and they were retired and sold it thinking it would be turned into a...more Another really good solid story from Kate Sherwood. This story is not a fast-paced whirlwind, but more of a slow-moving stream that pulls us along in the flow. Caleb owns a farm in small town in Ontario and a large multinational plans to turn the neighboring farm into a rock quarry. Caleb's farm has been in his family for 5 generations and needless to say he is not happy about this. His best friend Matt's parents owned the farm and they were retired and sold it thinking it would be turned into a ginseng farm. Enter Peter Carr, beautiful lawyer/PR man for the quarry company. Caleb of course is attracted to Peter, but he is the only out gay guy in town and he does not need any additional attention.

As it becomes clear that Peter and Caleb will be on opposite sides of this issue, Peter is determined to smooth things over because he is a "fixer" and he wants to do his job. At the same time, he is beginning to have niggling doubts about what he is doing especially since his business partner is having doubts as well about her part and in all of these deals. Caleb tries to remain distant but when Peter show up at his house, he relents and tries to explain to him why it's so important to him that his farm remain the peaceful haven it is.

There are some additional pressures including Matt's wife's pregnancy and Caleb's ne'er do well brother Trevor that contribute to the turmoil. The townspeople begin to fight back against the company and they get some high profile attention just as Peter is trying to get to know Caleb outside of the quarry project. As they are trying to see if they could at least be friends, there is an awful turn of events that throw them together and leave Caleb vulnerable and Peter and his motives under scrutiny.

I really liked the way this story unfolded and remained true to the characters of Caleb and Peter. Caleb is a bit shy and unassuming. He has not had an easy time of it - from his family life to his coming out to his brother's various dependencies. It would have been completely out of character for him to just fall into bed with Peter regardless of how attractive he found him. His grandparent's home was the grounding thing for him and he has his carpentry business there and his animals and his land and he is connected to that. Peter is much more "worldly" and has traveled and worked many places, but somehow he is coming to the realization that putting down roots wouldn't be such a bad thing and maybe what he's really looking for. He is attracted to Caleb but also afraid of what that might mean and he really does not want to hurt him at all. He sees the vulnerability and the strength in Caleb and he very much wants to explore that - whatever that means. The development of their relationship was very believable and felt authentic - one of the things I like best about Kate Sherwood's writing. It doesn't feel forced or rushed. I would have liked to read even more about Peter and Caleb, but sometimes it's good to leave the audience wanting more.

(less)

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Sep 20, 2012 Kaje Harper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

The two men in this story are worlds apart. Not only are they on opposite sides of a land use issue, but they are temperamentally very different. Peter's smooth, blithe, somewhat superficial attitude is hard to like at first. He seems to think that nothing matters enough that it can't be negotiated and compromised and massaged into an agreement. The love of home, and history, and beauty, that makes Caleb oppose the building of the gravel quarry is something Peter at first blithely rides over. On...more

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Apr 19, 2013 Becky Mrs Condit Reads Books rated it 5 of 5 stars

Kate Sherwood has a way of weaving a plot that draws you in, makes you adore the characters and want to live in their world. She doesn't add in loads of sex, she doesn't need to, with Kate it's all about the emotions, and of course a wonderful plot. The writing flows easily and the ending is exactly what the reader wants.

See Josie Goodread's complete review on April 20, 2013 at http://mrsconditreadsbooks.com/index....

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Aug 21, 2012 Meggie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance

This story is solidly written, but I missed this hot charismatic passion between Caleb and Peter. Sure they were sweet for each other in kind of a "I have crush on you" way. And seriously that's all what I felt. Anyway, this couple is to passive for me. But hey, they fell in love and understood that the most important thing is to fight for their love. Kind of sweet!

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Aug 20, 2012 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own-them

This was so awesome!! it's usually hard for me to give 5 stars to a contemporary romance but this earned it. The characters are brilliant, the setting perfect, the romance is hot, and the DOGS!!! oh!! I want those dogs so bad, they are probably what pushed me to give another star! All I can say is that Kate is brilliant and never dissapoints, EVER!!

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Nov 18, 2012 Elise rated it 3 of 5 stars

An enjoyable read although I found I wanted to know more about the characters -- what they were thinking what they wre going through. The end was too fast and I felt Kate Sherwood skipped through the most difficult aspect of their developing relationship. This surpirsed me as I am a big fan of her work and always click the 'buy now' button.

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Aug 25, 2012 Shannon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed

I'm feeling generous today, so I'll give it 3 stars. What I was through most of the book...bored. The first 90% of the book was spent in developing the "relationship" and not really all that convincingly. The last 10%, finally, some kind of action. Thank god for that. I did manage to finish it, so 3 stars. Has me rethinking reading the Dark Horse series that's for sure!

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Apr 09, 2013 Sunne rated it 2 of 5 stars

Just no my kind of book - it was neither very thrilling or intense in the storyline nor do the characters give me anything.
Actually - I found it boring.

So I'm torn to try more from this author - I loved her free story "In Over His Head" but this one didn't do it for me.

1 like · like · see review

Oct 26, 2012 Nadine rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this a lot.
The slow built-up for Caleb and Peter has the right pacing and I really liked reading about them falling for each other. It was believable and sweet.
Another thing that made this such a good book was the supporting cast. Most of them had actual personalities and felt real. Especially the two dogs and I'm normally not a big dog person ^^

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Aug 26, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: gay, ebook, romance, 2012, done

3.5 stars. Good m/m romance about an unassuming craftsman in a small Ontario who finds himself leading the opposition to a proposed gravel quarry next to his land. Too bad the spokesperson for the other side is so handsomely distracting...

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Nov 13, 2012 Mandy*reads obsessively* rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook-owned, m-m, crooks, cry-me-a-river, homophobes-abound, hurt-comfort-disability, pets

This is a nice story, nothing really exciting or different, but two nice guys on the opposite side of an issue, but still being attracted to each other.
Throw in a few cute dogs, some homophobes, good friends, evil family, idealism and a fire.
So, I won't be rereading this one, and I don't think it will stay with me long, but if you are looking for a easy nice story with very little actually going on, besides one twist this could work, but like in a lot of the stories I've read recently I didn't r...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Allybaba rated it 3 of 5 stars

I don't really have anything nice to say...sort of blah, liked the premise but it pretty much fell flat as soon as it started...more of an empowerment story than a romance...

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Mar 23, 2013 Hearts On Fire Reviews added it

Reviewed by: Kevin
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Rated: 4 hearts

Check out the review at: Hearts On Fire Reviews

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Sep 08, 2012 Idamus rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 23, 2012 Camille rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m-rom-erotica

Interesting enough story that is well-written but is sedate/unimpassioned and in need of some more chemistry between the MC's.

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 30, 2012 Cayce rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

3.5 but rounded up for the dogs :)

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Aug 22, 2012 Simsala*is getting slow* marked it as dnf

Shelves: m-m, contemporary, b-sn-oring

DNF 50%

*snore*

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Aug 25, 2012 Gaa-chan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, artists-performers

4.5 stars

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Aug 26, 2012 Candice rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: not-for-me

2.5 stars

While I liked both Caleb and Peter, this story just did not work for me and these two just didn't click as a couple. The pacing was just too slow and I found myself losing interest. The best part were the dogs, they were just adorable.

5 likes · like · see review

Sep 24, 2012 Bogusia rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have really enjoyed this book but it would be amazing to see more passion(yes to a one more sex scene) between Peter&Caleb :) and for me the ending seemed a bit rushed.

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Feb 06, 2013 Lily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m, contemporary, ebook, pub-dreamspinner, length-novel, 2013-challenge-books, 2013-what-i-read-this-year

I enjoyed pretty much everything about this book. The MCs, the supporting characters, the setting and the plot were all interesting and made for an entertaining and engaging story. The only thing I didn't like was (view spoiler)

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May 19, 2013 Madeleine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, m-m-romance-erotica, own-as-ebook, read-on-my-kindle

A sweet and nice read!

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