The Birdman of Saginaw

by Jude Dunn

After a knee injury puts an end to his chances for a pro-football career, Dave hits an all-time low in life and he's not certain he'll ever climb back up. He's stuck in a rut, living at home and spending his days working in a pet shop.

Hope appears in the form of Lucas, a handsome, older, confident and well-established man who expresses an interest in far more than the birds that Dave delivers to his home. Though Dave is intrigued, he wonders if it's possible to be happy with a man who seems to be everything he is not.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary

51 pages, ebook

First published May 14, 2013

About the author

Jude Dunn is an author whose work spans a number of genres, including gay romance and erotica, science fiction, thrillers and adventure stories, and mainstream fiction. He is an editor for a specialty publishing house by day, but his passion is telling tales that entertain and inspire his readers. Dunn lives in Chicago and enjoys a number of pastimes, from gourmet cooking and sampling a variety of wines to jazz and performing his own music as a local pianist. His cat, who has yet to answer to any of the myriad names Dunn has tried, keeps him company in between his always anticipated and passionate visits to Toronto to spend time with his husband of nine years. Dunn’s work is sometimes subtle, sometimes fiery, but is always an entertaining and satisfying read.

Reviews

[Issa]

Maybe 1.5. Didn't work at all. To many issues, characters I didn't care about, and awkward pacing and writing.

[Riayl]

I liked this but I did have some issues. This is a short story, which is not an issue but how the space was used is. There are two somewhat long scenes at the pet store that would have been better left out or cut down as they don't really further the story. They do give illustration to how people treat Dave and how he reacts in return, but with the length of the story it was a little ambitious and took away from time with the actual couple. Throw in the issues with Dave's parents and the extraneous activity overwhelmed the story. Our MCs meet and then have one more scene together in the book making a sweeping decision to "see where this goes" with the feeling that they are ready to buck the world should it disagree and they don't even know each other at all. They've barely talked, know only superficial things about each other and have kissed. All of this would have been fine if the end of that chapter hadn't been the end of the book. I felt like I was only halfway through the story and that was with the idea that I was still going to be reading a short story and wouldn't get tons of detail or background. There was so much going on here that it really deserved a full length novel. We have Dave's injury, his relationships with his boss, coworkers, and parents. The age and status difference between him and Lucas (and of course, the lingerie, that so needed some exploration *grin*). Dave is lacking in self-confidence and sort of drifting with who he is and where he wants to go and seems to have no emotional support from those around him. I would have liked to have seen him stand up for himself and quit letting his parents and boss treat him like he was an inept failure. Honestly I just wanted to see so much more, the potential was here but the word count killed it. Which wouldn't have been so disappointing if I hadn't found something likable in the characters.

[Arthur]

Dave was once a promising athlete who had to drop out of college when he got into serious injury. Now he worked at a pet store. One day he was to deliver birds to Lucas, a young judge who liked birds. Lucas instantly fell for Dave, and invited him to a gathering he held with close friends in two days. Dave accepted, but would it be too much and too soon for them to fall for someone about 11 years older than he was?

The story is okay, but the pacing is really off. Partly because the author tried to put zillion issues in it (father-son issue, crush with co-worker, damaged athlete, rich-poor guys, etc, etc. The first 60% we read about basically one scene: Dave delivering the birds. Then, suddenly we are rushed with all kind of issues that do not move the story forward.

Plus, the insta-love on both sides. Usually, I am fine with it, but here it's just ridiculous. Their interactions were very limited and there's no chemistry between Dave and Luke beyond Luke observing Dave having a boner the day he delivered the birds.

[Suze]

Quite a short read that was perfect for an afternoon break.
It was shorter than I expected and the payment for that was very little background story on both characters, but particularly Lucas. Also, because the book ended at the start of their story, we didnt get any development on Lucas's surprise attire - i wanted more on that.
I did enjoy the story but I want a much longer version - this read like the link between a build up of two characters and then them together.
The bit that didnt work for me was Dave's dialogue (made me think he was a lot younger than 26), especially his thoughts which whilst descriptive, didnt ring true as internal dialogue.

[Rissa]

A really nice beginning for Dave and Lucas. However, there were many questions left unanswered, especially about their future. What of Dave's parents, their "relationship" or beginning of it? It's very open-ended.

[Gigi]

Going to pass because of lack of interest and terrible reviews.

[Cole Riann]

Review coming soon to The Armchair Reader.