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Wicked Cool (Working Stiffs)

by Val Kovalin (Goodreads Author)

3.32 of 5 stars 3.32 · rating details · 65 ratings · 20 reviews

Junk removal specialist Stu Van der Meer has been burned before in love affairs with corporate professionals who underestimate him as a blue-collar guy who's good with his hands. When he meets property manager Brian Hawthorne, Stu knows he shouldn't get involved with him, especially since he senses that Brian might be in serious trouble.

Stu, however, can't ignore their i

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ebook, 85 pages

Published September 19th 2010 by Amber Allure

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Gay Romance Working Class Heroes

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Gay Romance Fiction Featuring Interesting Jobs

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Oct 20, 2010 Jordan Price added it

I flew through Wicked Cool in a couple of readings, which is unusual for me in a story that doesn’t have paranormal elements. While I’d classify it more as a contemporary than a crime, thriller or mystery, the love interest Brian is still a puzzle. He has something going on with his past where he won’t tell Stu anything about himself, and where he’ll make up a lie if he was cornered. What’s this thing he’s running from? All we can tell is that it was really bad.

The need to escape the mysterious,...more

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 07, 2010 Tam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

Stu is a junk removal specialist who takes a job for project manager Brian. They are attracted despite their differences and Brian’s refusal to speak about his past. Finally Stu can’t stand it and forces the issue without much success, but Brian starts getting paranoid that people are following him or in his house and he makes Stu teach him to shoot a gun. Stu’s not sure what the heck is going on until he finds someone in his own house. I won’t say much more, I suspected Brian’s secret, but that...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 21, 2011 Elisa Ramblings added it

A quick and little wicked white-collar/blue-collar romance turns suddenly in an adventurous plot and all in the span of a novella.

When Stu meets Brian, he is not sure he likes the guy; sure Brian is cute, and with hungry eyes all focused on him, but Stu has already had a bad past experience trying to have a love story with a white collar: people like them only see the drop-out from college blue-collar and don’t think he can have feelings or being above average clever.

But Brian is different fro...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 01, 2011 Jenre rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, m-m, romance

I really liked this author's previous book Trinity Trespass which was an urban fantasy romance, so just after I read that book I bought this one feeling pretty secure in the fact that she'd passed that tricky first book stage and that I was in for a good read. This book is a contemporary and is part of a series at AA which deals with romance stories between blue and white collar men. I have no personal preference for this type of story, but I have noticed that most m/m romance involve white rath...more I really liked this author's previous book Trinity Trespass which was an urban fantasy romance, so just after I read that book I bought this one feeling pretty secure in the fact that she'd passed that tricky first book stage and that I was in for a good read. This book is a contemporary and is part of a series at AA which deals with romance stories between blue and white collar men. I have no personal preference for this type of story, but I have noticed that most m/m romance involve white rather than blue collar characters, so again I looked forward to seeing what Val was going to do with such a set up. In the end, I didn't enjoy this one as much as Trinity Trespass, but it was still a very good read overall.

The story begins as we meet our third person narrator, Stu. He runs his own junk haulage business in Albuquerque. Whilst on a job he meets Brian who is the property manager at a motel which is in the process of being renovated. After a bit of dancing around they get together and Stu is happy to have found a guy he really likes. He's not so happy about the fact that Brian won't talk about his past and that he seems to be keeping a big secret from Stu.

I'll start with a minor disappointment. As the series is supposed to be looking at two characters from different social roles, I was expecting there to be a bit more of a gap between them in terms of ideals and education. In fact the two are quite close in their social positions. Stu owns his own business and although it's a junk removal business, it's still enough for him to match Brian's job as a property manager - which is almost like a glorified site foreman. Now, obviously this is not the author's fault as she wasn't the one to put the 'working stiffs' label on her book, but it still puzzled me as I was expecting one type of story and I got another - again not the author's fault, but mine for coming to the book with preconceived ideas.

Apart from that slight disappointment this was still a pretty great book. The characters are both very likeable men. Stu especially is a sensible sort who was willing to overlook some faults in Brian to make their relationship work. I did feel a little sorry for Stu as the book progressed. He seemed to be the one making all the effort in the relationship and also having to put up with Brian's increasingly erratic behaviour. I think I would have been much more alarmed than Stu was at Brian's secrecy, but I suppose the fact that Stu was willing to let things go rather than push Brian too much showed that is in general a laid back person and that he felt his feelings for Brian were more important than knowing the truth. Brian's secret wasn't too difficult to guess - in fact I'd worked it out long before the end - but that didn't detract from the story for me.

One thing I liked in particular about the book was the setting of Albuquerque. The city was well described and I got a realistic taste of what it must be like to live in that city. The desert setting, the heat, the houses and also little things like the layout of the city was interwoven with the story giving it a real sense of place. I love books where the setting is an important factor and so this book didn't disappoint in that regard. The setting was also used to show a difference between the men - mainly in the way that Brian speaks. Stu seems to be fascinated by his accent and comments on it a lot in his narrative. I had mixed feelings about this. Part of me thought it was a nice quirky way of showing characterisation and also a growing fondness for Brian on the part of Stu, and part of me found it a little distracting as it would pull me out of the story every time the author put in Brian's dialect.

The pace of the book is very swift and I read the book quickly, the pacing propelling me through the pages. There were a number of well written sex scenes which were also used to show something about the character of the men. There's hints that Brian likes his sex a little rough, and Stu worries about that and I thought that maybe this would be made more of later in the book. It wasn't and I wondered why not. I also found the sex scene in the garage a little difficult to concentrate on because they left the main garage door open. All the way through I worried about them being seen, especially as they had the lights on, and it detracted from my enjoyment of what would have been a very hot encounter between the men.

Overall I enjoyed Wicked Cool. It was a nicely written contemporary with well rounded characters and a tightly paced plot. I may not have liked it as much as the author's prvious book, but it still showed that Val Kovalin is an author to watch out for and I shall be picking up any of her subsequent books.(less)

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Aug 23, 2012 Tami rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

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Jun 28, 2011 Lady*M rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, m-m-romance

I like Val's writing (I'm still praying for Trinity Trespass sequel), but I really disliked Brian.

I liked the humor centering around Brian's accent, but I really disliked Brian.

As a former sport shooter, I know the scene at the shooting range was spot-on and it was a nice story spice for me, in addition to other details Val incorporated into novella (that bug creeped me out though), but... yeah, not so hot about Brian.

You can say that I liked pretty much everything about Wicked Cool except one...more

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Nov 01, 2010 Feliz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, m-m, cops-detectives

Stu Van der Meer may be working junk removal, but there's more to him than his heavy-lifting abilities. Brian Hawthorne is from New England, somewhere, but he won't reveal more than this. The two men hit it off on the spot although Stu has been burned before in relationships with professionals and Brian seems to hide something serious. But as they get closer, things take on a faster pace until Brian's past catches up with them and their relationship literally becomes a matter of life and death a...more

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Oct 28, 2010 Lily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, m-m, shelf-a-thon-2010-to-11, what-i-read-in-2010

Stu Van der Meer and Brian Hawthorne meet when Brian hires Stu's junk removal company. The men are attracted to each other but neither is ready to act on it due to their working relationship. When the job is done though all bets are off and they began to see each other. As they spend time together feelings develop but their new relationship will be tested many times by Brian's secretiveness and Stu's need for the truth. Will Stu be able to trust in Brian despite not getting all his questions ans...more Stu Van der Meer and Brian Hawthorne meet when Brian hires Stu's junk removal company. The men are attracted to each other but neither is ready to act on it due to their working relationship. When the job is done though all bets are off and they began to see each other. As they spend time together feelings develop but their new relationship will be tested many times by Brian's secretiveness and Stu's need for the truth. Will Stu be able to trust in Brian despite not getting all his questions answered and when Brian's past finally catches up with him will they survive it?

Wicked Cool is a well written and fast paced story. Stu and Brian are likable and interesting characters and their story kept me engaged throughout. Since it's told in Stu's third person POV he's the more well drawn of the two but that works well to keep Brian's mysterious past a mystery. I particularly enjoyed the fact that they don't immediately fall into bed instead the author lets them get to know each other a bit before they get physical. But when they do, watch out, it's smoking hot! Another thing I enjoyed was the humor throughout the story. Stu's obvious enjoyment of Brian's Boston accent and some of their interactions had me chuckling, especially an early scene with the men and a potato bug.

The mystery of Brian's past was handled well and while it's not too hard to figure out the truth the actual reveal and suspenseful action scenes at the end came together really well. If there's one complaint that I have about the story is that I would have really liked to have seen them dealing with Brian's real life together but I'm sure that was more a product of word count requirements than anything else. I did enjoy the quick peek of them a year later but I would have liked more.

Overall I found Wicked Cool very entertaining and from beginning to end I was engaged in Stu and Brian's story. Despite being only novella length the author did infuse a lot of details as well as emotional depth into the book. This is Val Kovalin's second published work and I eagerly look forward to reading more from her in the future. Recommended. (less)

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 16, 2011 Lil' Grogan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 4, m-m, rom-suspense

A fast-paced contemporary, with the plot driven by the mystery of Brian. Liked the character development - the struggle between them in a relationship where Brian hid his past. It was nice to see friendship and humour between them as well. Also appreciated that the sex scenes were used to develop the characters and their relationship.

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Oct 07, 2010 Wren rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-adventure, contemporary, m-m

I loved Stu, and I loved the way he enjoyed Brian's Boston accent. The story is told in 3rd limited from Stu's POV, which helped keep Brian's secret, never letting the reader in on what makes Brian tick. The ending was sort of abrupt, I suspect due to publisher word limits.

1 like · like · see review

Sep 13, 2011 Alina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Awesome book!
I really liked the characters and although the story was told mostly from Stu's pov, Brian's character's fleshed out really good. The book started hot, involved into mystery and ended as a tender and self-sacrificing love story. I loved every moment of it :)

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 01, 2012 Joy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

Novella about the relationship between a junk hauler and a lawyer-turned-property-manager who is hiding a deep! dark! secret! -- enjoyable despite the fact that you can see all the telegraphed secrets coming at you from miles away...

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Sep 19, 2010 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, gay, ebook, short, owned, romance, done

Very good short m/m romance about a guy with a junk removal business who becomes very intrigued by a mysterious property manager he meets while on a job. Can he deal with the unknown, or will all the secrets drive them apart?

1 like · like · see review

Nov 14, 2010 Ereader rated it 4 of 5 stars

As a Boston girl, I have to love a story about a Boston boy. Loved the phonetic spelling of the accent!

1 like · like · see review

Oct 11, 2012 Anke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Preparation for GRL 2012

3.5 stars

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Mar 20, 2011 Kiki rated it 3 of 5 stars

3.5

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Sep 27, 2010 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: gay-fiction

Gripping story with two wonderful protagonists - I loved it! I would have loved to know more about what happened after the grand finale though - it's wrapped up very quickly so I hope there's a sequel!

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Jul 16, 2010 Janna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: z2010-100plus-reading-challenge, z2010-m-m-romance-challenge, m-m

This is a very yummy novella about junk removal specialist Stu (who is from Dutch origin :)) and secretive property manager Brian. They meet at the job and feel attracted and start seeing each other, but Brian’s secret becomes a problem. It ended a little abruptly but although it was a short story it felt as a full-fledged one. And Stu and Brian are a hot couple.

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Jan 14, 2011 Eden Winters rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fast paced and full of action, Wicked Cool is just that -- wicked cool. The intrigue kept me riveted to the story, and what a hot sex scene! Yikes! The only thing more I could have asked for is that the story be a little longer. I would have liked to see Brian and Stu's debate over where to live, and would have loved to see Stu meet Brian's family.

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Aug 21, 2012 Anna rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

Meh, too short to like it...

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May 07, 2013 Ashlee added it

Apr 29, 2013 Diane rated it 3 of 5 stars

Apr 28, 2013 Boogie Wonder rated it 2 of 5 stars

Feb 17, 2013 Dena Jones rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m, mob-criminal, short-story

Jan 08, 2013 figuranta marked it as to-read

Mar 29, 2013 jules0623 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: relationship-m-m, cops-firemen-and-paramedics, criminals-or-jail-birds, defying-death, friends-to-lovers, genre-drama, genre-romance, illness-or-injury-strikes, on-the-run, violence-or-torture

Jan 01, 2013 Helle marked it as to-read

Dec 28, 2012 Strangecobwebs marked it as to-read

Oct 20, 2012 Lori Toland rated it 5 of 5 stars

Oct 11, 2012 Barb Gilmour marked it as to-read

Shelves: need-to-buy

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About Val Kovalin

As a reader, I like humor, strong plots, passionate attraction, vivid cultural details, and complicated characters, and as an author I hope to offer you the same. I review books because I learn a lot from analyzing them. Thank you very much for reading!

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Wicked Cool (Working Stiffs)

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