One More Try

by J.M. Snyder

Six years ago, Evan Alexander played first base for Richmond's minor league baseball team, the Rebels. His best friend on the team was pitcher Charlie Madison, a sexy man Evan couldn't help falling in love with. When he finally admitted his feelings, Charlie seemed to feel the same.


But the season ended and Charlie left, breaking Evan's heart. Now the divorced father of a little girl, Evan has just started putting his life back together again.


Then Charlie shows up, looking for a second chance.


Can Evan give their relationship one more try? Or will his broken heart keep him from letting Charlie back into his life?

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Short Stories, M M Contemporary

41 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 26, 2012

About the author

An author of gay erotic/romantic fiction, J.M. Snyder began in self-publishing and worked with Amber Allure, Aspen Mountain, eXcessica, and Torquere Presses.

Snyder's highly erotic short gay fiction has been published online at Amazon Shorts, Eros Monthly, Ruthie's Club, and Tit-Elation, as well as in anthologies by Alyson Books, Aspen Mountain, Cleis Press, eXcessica Publishing, Lethe Press, and Ravenous Romance.

In 2010, Snyder founded JMS Books LLC, a royalty-paying queer small press that publishes in both electronic and print format. For more information on newest releases and submission guidelines, please visit JMS Books LLC online.

Reviews

[LaShonta · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading this, the only thing I can say is WTF? Evan was to damn whinny. The whole book he whines about Charlie and the one night they had and how he loved him and Charlie left him without a word. It got on my damn nerves.

Charlie was a damn douchebag! He just shows up at Evan's door after six years with a dufflebag over his shoulder and a can I come in. If I were Evan, I would've said "hell no!" and slammed the damn door in his face. He comes in a wins over Evan's daughter, Kasey.

I can't believe I'm about to say this but I absolutely LOVED Meredith. Normally, I don't like the bitter ex-wife but damn was she right! She was the only adult with common damn sense. She had every right to be bitter. He loved Charlie. Hell, not loved still does! He married Meredith just to fill space. He actually told her when she said you don't love me anymore "You're right. I don't think I ever did." What a bastard. She actually loved him. I think she said it best when she told him," I was married to two men- your body and his soul."

What was Charlies excuse for being gone six years, you wonder? It was, "I needed to think." WTF??!!!!! It took him six damn years to think. No phone calls, no emails, no letters. Not even a damn carrier pigeon!
Again, what a bastard!

So why am I giving this 2 stars instead of one? Kasey!!! That little girl was freaking adorable!! She pretty much stole the whole book.

Will I read this again, hell no! Both MCs were, and I quote Bubbles here, TSTL!!!!!

Now keep in mind this is my opinion. If you like J.M. Synder's books then you might like this. It just wasn't for me.

[Gabriel · Rating 1 out of 5]

No.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

I could continue writing the word 'no', shaking my head every time and it still won't change a thing about this little short story of a 'romance' book, I guess.

In one word I was disappointed.

I have read a lot from J.M. Snyder over the past couple of years and in general I really like this author. The writing is beautiful, the stories captivating and the characters are some you really come to care about.

I'm afraid to say this did not happen in One More Try.
The two main characters had no sense of what being an adult actually meant and the whole love seemed to shallow, I had to quit. I got a little more than half through the book, when I had to put it away.

But, what really made me throw everything down was the annoyance to Kasey.
Like others, I usually take a step away from M/M books with kids in them, but I have read some good ones here and there, so I decided to give it a shot.
I shouldn't have, as stated. Kasey was such an annoying brat, I'm amazed no one yelled at her before Evan raised his voice against her. And yet she just acted like a brat and pouted, because she didn't get her way.
Now, I have a younger sister and I experienced her when she was five and a behaviour like Kasey's was not being accepted. And did someone raise their voice against her behaviour, she quited down and knew she had done something bad and would try her best to apologize for it.
None of that happened from Kasey and that made her seem untrustworthy and like the personality was just thrown in with no regard of how most 5-year-olds act.

I am going back to read some of the older J.M. Snyder novels. This one left a bad taste in my mouth.

[Cole Riann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review posted at Brief Encounters Reviews.


In six years of pining for his best friend Charlie, the man who left him after professing his love and a night of passion, Evan has gotten married, gotten a divorce and had a little girl named Kasey. But guess who shows up at the door with an overnight bag during his weekend with his daughter? Yep, and Charlie seems determined to work his way back into Evan’s life and his heart, instantly winning over Kasey in the process. But, should Evan take him back? He knows that he can’t deny Charlie anything, which was always been the problem. But Charlie seems to have changed. Can Evan trust him not to leave him again?

This was a pretty good story about a man with a broken heart that doesn’t seem to heal. I liked that the characters are pretty average, meaning that they are pretty realistic to this situation, with major flaws and all. Evan, in a way, is a masochist. But he’s always been in love with Charlie, even after he broke his heart, so he can’t even imagine not letting him back in his life, no matter how much he wants to deny him. Meredith, Evan’s ex-wife, has a pretty substantial role in the story as a woman who is still having to reconcile the breakup of her marriage to the man Evan always loved instead of her. And Charlie, while we know less about him and really only what we see through Evan’s perspective (which is obviously biased), seems to be at least a man who is trying to admit to his cowardice six years ago.

While Evan’s choices did annoy me quite often, I couldn’t deny that he acts exactly as I’d expect someone to act in his situation. He admits freely that he’s never been able to deny Charlie, and he’s still in love with him. It’s pretty obvious that he’s going to accept Charlie back into his life without much effort on Charlie’s part. The one problem I did have, and the biggest reason why this story didn’t quite come across to me, was that I never felt as if Charlie was different at all. Sure, Evan says he is, but that’s just his wishful thinking. We don’t see Charlie really do much to show that he’s changed except give an apology and not push Evan into sex, and we don’t know enough about him in the past to measure his character in the present and come out feeling more comfortable that in a few months he won’t take off again, this time leaving behind a brokenhearted Evan and a brokenhearted Kasey, who loves him already. So in that sense, I didn’t really feel as if much of the relationship had changed, and it made me a bit uneasy to see Evan throw away all caution and delve once again into something that seemed to me to have a high likelihood of blowing up in his face.

So, while I wasn’t too keen on the relationship, I still found this story to be written well in the way that JM Snyder does best, though without any sex. The situation and actions were pretty realistic, even though they’re a bit difficult to see in a romance where I want to believe in the HFN at the end. So, I’ll give this one a solid C rating.

[blub · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually try to steer clear of stories with children in them unless it's about the main characters but once in a while I decide to give such books a try. This is the first book I've read by this author and it seemed promising from the blurb but frankly I was disappointed..it's possible my opinion was clouded by what mindset I was in when I read it.

What bothered me about the story?

I found Evan to be a bit annoying with his soliloquies. Yeah..okay, he loves Charlie and can't ever say "no" or give up on him and is willing to hand him whatever he wants on a silver platter. It was a bit depressing to read Evan berating himself over it again and again.

Charlie is so self-assured, he just waltz right into Evans life again. He goes through the motion of apologizing to Evan but it doesn't feel at all sincere (that's my perspective on it anyway). I also disliked it when he used his charm on Evan's daughter, I felt like he was just using her to get his way.

Kasey, Evan's daughter was not at all endearing to me at all. She was a brat and when I reading this story I just wanted to smack her. I've practically raised my baby brother and now help take care of my 18 month nephew and I generally like children. But this story just makes me never want kids. Kasey makes Evan look like a push over and she was a very bossy and disrespectful 5 year old. The way she treated adults would never be allowed in any of the households I know.

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say, when it comes to short stories, I can't get enough of Ms. Snyder's. Even with a theme that has been written often, I think she can always make it interesting. So yes, I'm biased :).

This one plays with my emotion, just right. Written from Evan's perspective (3rd person), his inner-turmoil regarding Charlie's return to his life after 6 years is well-played. He is confused and hurt, but at the same time, he knows that he hasn't stopped loving Charlie. Even all the time they were apart, and he is married. I like it that he's not immediately letting Charlie back though Evan admits to himself that if Charlie as so much as kisses him, he might not be able to say "no".

I also like the bitterness shown by Evan's wife, Meredith. It's easy to dislike her attitude, but I can understand. Charlie has been the "second man" during her marriage to Evan, without even being there in person.

I do wish there's more to Charlie's reason for being away and why he is returned now. The conversation between them is thick with emotion though and gosh, how I love it.

PLUS, there's a five year old daughter in the story ... that's always a gem for me *sigh*

[Morgana_lefay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am really not good at doing reviews, so sorry if I don't make much sense. Basically it's a story of a divorced man (Evan) with almost 6 years old daughter and one day the man he loved shows on his doorstep six years after he left him. It was a short story so there could't be much development, but the daughter liked Charlie in like 5 minutes and in those 5 minutes paird him with her dad. And even though Charlie left Evan brokenhearted, even after those 6 years he can't say no to him. Don't know, I just could't get into the story.

[Anke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice story, but besides having difficulties to relate to Evan sticking to his love for Charlie for the last six years, I would have appreciated to get some kind of explanation from Charlie for his long absence. Still, the writing was very good.

[Linda-Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok,

[James Pullman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Only thing lacking was a passionate love scene, but it was still great.

[melek · Rating 4 out of 5]

reread still agood read evan still loves charlie and charlie is back will he give him another chance.