Darius Cooper, Maitre d' of upscale Montgomery House, isn’t entirely pleased when owner Rhys Montgomery decides to allow the Gourmet Network to use the restaurant for an episode of a reality show. But if he thought that was bad, discovering the show’s director is his former lover, Max Boyd, is nearly catastrophic. Max is the only man Dare has ever loved, and he’s spent seven years fruitlessly trying to erase Max from his mind and heart.
Max was young and immature when he and Dare were together, but now he’s a different man, and ready to settle down into the kind of relationship he wasn’t prepared for back then. He’s never found anyone else who affects him the way Dare does, and he wants Dare back in his life. The only problem is Dare isn’t the forgiving sort. Between dealing with bridezillas and Executive Chef Stephen Pierce, Max has his hands full. Fortunately he has a ninja-Cupid in the form of Stephen’s PA Robert Logan on his side – but Max still isn’t certain if Dare will forgive him, or if he’s blown his only chance at true love after all.
Ari McKay is the professional pseudonym for Arionrhod and McKay, who collaborate on original m/m fiction. They began writing together in 2004 and finished their first original full length novel in 2011. Recently, they’ve begun collaborating on designing and creating costumes to wear and compete in at Sci Fi conventions, and they share a love of yarn and cake.
Arionrhod is an avid costumer, knitter, and all-around craft fiend, as well as a professional systems engineer. Mother of two human children and two dachshunds who think they are human, she is a voracious reader with wildly eclectic tastes, devouring romance novels, military science fiction, horror stories and Shakespeare with equal glee. She is currently preparing for the zombie apocalypse.
McKay is an English teacher who has been writing for one reason or another most of her life. She also enjoys knitting, reading, cooking, and playing video games. She has been known to knit in public. Given she has the survival skills of a gnat, she’s relying on Arionrhod to help her survive the zombie apocalypse.
WHAT I LIKE + They don't jump each other bones' on the first 'reunion'. I'm glad that Darius still bears hurt and anger and he doesn't want Max to return to him easily
+ They do talk it out -- I love 'talking' scene
+ The conflict that drives them apart is about different needs at different stage of life. It happens, especially since they're 10 years apart.
WHAT I DISLIKE
+ Lots of "tell" not show. Like, what happened at the end of their or when Dare asked Max to lunch and then the next chapter is days later. I don't like that. It feels choppy. It's okay to read different time frame in different chapter, but I want the hint scene to end properly first.
+ With all those talks about him not easily trusting Max again, and BECAUSE of the choppy 'tell not show' events, I feel like the forgiveness becomes rushed and blah
+ I also don't like the idea that Max doesn't even TRY to contact Dare in 7 years. Sure, he says he is afraid, but if he claims that he still loves Dare after all these years, why not at least check? It can give them both closure in a way.
+ The ending is meh ... doesn't really care about
All in all, better than the 1st book, but still not as good as the first story I ever read from them. I do, however, have a tiny hope with Stephen and Robert's story. Their story has been built-up since Bay Leaves and Bachelors! So please, PLEASE BE GOOD!!
Forgot to add Dare's choice of endearment is "Brat". I know one friend who dislikes this word so much *coughMandycough* ["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
THREE & A HALF STARS--"Fennel and Forgiveness" is about second chances, not through excessive sex but honest to goodness communication and romance.
Forty-two year old Maitre d’, Darius is working at an upscale restaurant in Charleston, SC, still reeling from a breakup with his younger lover seven years ago. He moved from Atlanta leaving the then twenty-five year old Max, his friends, etc. for a change. So consider he surprised to see that Max is in charge of a reality show being taped at his restaurant. Now Max is 32 and he knows what he wants...Darius and the white picket fence life he once turned down.
A lot of times in romance with this theme, a highly sexualized plot device is used. You know the heavy panting, slobbering, bulging pants being rubbed on the target of their affections, etc. And then somehow sex is used to solve the two main characters' problems fairly quickly and not much talking happens afterward between the couple unless it's about lube or condoms or what position/room would you like to bang.
Don't expect that in "Fennel and Forgiveness". :)
What was a refreshing change of pace was the mature way Max and Darius went about mending their broken hearts and internal angst. These two talked. (quite a bit) Yes they wanted to jump each others bones but that was not the major point, their love for one another was. It was nice.
What didn't work for me: While I applaud the talking through their issues like grown adults, Darius and Max analyzed each of their issues and hang ups together (it was fine), sometimes it dragged which made my interest wane...just for a small number of spots. And of course the HEA, the story dived directly into Sugar Mountain. Watch out you might get a cavity from reading.
I would read more from this author duo. I like their ideas and there are some cool secondary characters with lead character potential. Hopefully there will be a story featuring the mercurial chef Stephen and his assistant Robert, that seems like it would be a fab book.
Seven years ago, Max chose his career over Darius. He did not cheat or anything, just told Darius that at the moment his career in TV industry was more important than anything else and he was not ready to have a serious relationship with anyone. Crushed, Darius left Atlanta and settled in Charleston. He worked at a monumental hotel/restaurant that catered to Old South memories.
When the TV Cable Channel where he worked assigned Max to direct a Southern-style wedding, he didn't expect to see Darius there. But he was glad. Max still loved Darius, and he asked for a second chance. Unfortunately, Darius was too scared to start anything serious with a younger man. Let alone with Max...
I liked reading this book. It's sweet, a bit low on angst level, but not everything is ponny and rainbow. It actually is about something that is very real in life: couple with different stages of life may encounter problem when their priorities are different. Seven years ago, their relationship didn't survive.
I love stories about reunions and second chances, and this is a particularly tough one. Seven years have passed since Max put his career above his lover's idea of a committed relationship, and Darius has never gotten over it. Neither of them have been able to move on, both have been miserable, and even though Max is willing to do whatever it takes, Darius doesn't trust easily anymore.
Darius has managed to survive, but he isn't happy. His career as maitre d' of an upscale restaurant is going well, but he's lonely. When Max suddenly reappears in his life, at the restaurant to film a show, Darius realizes he still loves him. The one thing he isn’t ready to do is trust him again and give him another opportunity to break his heart.
Max has never stopped loving Darius, and he is more than ready to grab the second chance fate seems to have given them and try again. He's ready to do anything, and since Darius doesn’t make it easy for him, it turns out to be quite the undertaking. Thank God his feelings are so strong. The fact he's stubborn also comes in handy!
If you like stories about men with a history figuring out if and how they can have another go at a meaningful relationship, if you enjoy reading about professionals trying to fit a bit of a personal life into their busy lives, and if you're looking for a read with a slow burning romantic tension that just grows and grows until the final culmination, then you will probably like this short book.
NOTE: This book was provided by Torquere Press for the purpose of a review.
Perhaps because it was mostly tell and not show, I don't get to see much of what happened when the MCs broke up the first time. It seemed like a gradual thing. How the relationship dissolved, at least in Darius' mind, after Max refuse to move it together. Also, we don't get to know how long they were together before Darius pop the big question.
Darius escaped the relationship from Atlanta to Charleston. However, we don't get see what were the final exchanges. It was simply stated that things became tense and stilt between them after Max refusal. Darius blamed Max for everything that was wrong with their first breakup. However, upon reflection, Darius was the one who runaway. Since he believed that he and Max will probably ended up hating each other if they stayed together.
I liked that the MCs tried to avoid jumping each other bones right after they met.
I liked Stephen quite a bit with his viciousness and the protectiveness he felt toward Darius. Robert was wonderful in his helpful way, too bad his crush wasn't resolved by the end of the book.
In the end, I felt it was a solid 3 stars. The writing was ok even if it felt a bit drag on at time but not a lot. I supposed I just did not get a good feel of how the MCs broke up the first time to judge whether they both ready or done enough to earn their second chance.
Fennel and Forgiveness by Ari McKay is about a second take on the love story between Darius Cooper, Maitre d’ of upscale Montgomery House and Max, a director of a TV reality thingy show.
It all began when Darius, or Dare, isn’t entirely pleased when owner Rhys Montgomery decides to allow the Gourmet Network to use the restaurant for an episode of a reality show. But if he thought that was bad, discovering the show’s director is his former lover, Max Boyd, is nearly catastrophic. Max is the only man Dare has ever loved, and he’s spent seven years fruitlessly trying to erase Max from his mind and heart.
Max was young and immature when he and Dare were together, but now he’s a different man, and ready to settle down into the kind of relationship he wasn’t prepared for back then. He’s never found anyone else who affects him the way Dare does, and he wants Dare back in his life, but the only problem is Dare isn’t the forgiving sort. Between dealing with bridezillas and Executive Chef Stephen Pierce, Max has his hands full. Fortunately he has a ninja-Cupid in the form of Stephen’s PA Robert Logan on his side – but Max still isn’t certain if Dare will forgive him, or if he’s blown his only chance at true love after all.
Okay, I know some of you are wondering where the spice "fennel" comes into the title. There are some who closely associated the fennel to forgiveness. Then again, fennel is also closely associated to procrastination which is considered a downfall. Combine these two and you get the meaning behind the title.
Max's procrastination to a committed relationship with Dare seven years before had been the cause of their breakup. His procrastination caused Dare to assume the worst and finally just give up and move on with his life. Seven years later, Max sees Dare once more and wants his forgiveness and this time he wants the commitment demanded previously.
This all sounds like a really good plot, right? So why did I rate this a 2 stars?
Well, I was quite excited to pick up this book after reading the blurb. It all started well enough and the story plodded along steadily with the plot slowly evolving and the character development going on steadily. There were even amusing incidents like that between Chef Stephen and the bridezilla, there was the establishment of a teaser soon-to-be-approved new reality show for said Chef, and even the unfolding of the re-romance of Max and Dare was kind of morantically cheesy.
Next page I turn, Dare has a miraculous epiphany to forgive Max, they have sex, then Max proposes complete with platinum ring, Dare is happy, they plan to live happily ever after ..............END
This book had a lot of promise. Though for me the "forgiveness" ones can be tricky. I liked this book (sort of). To be honest I liked it enough to give it 2.5 stars, rounded up. But not enough to give it more. Maybe others will connect with this story more than I did. Personally, this could have been amazing because the overall idea was better than most stories of their kind.
Darius and Max were together years before this story. Max wanted to further his career and left. Darius ended up bitter and alone, and afraid to date younger men. Both pined after each other, yada yada. And shockingly Max comes back for work. He and Darius meet again and that is where this story begins. Shocking I know, people would never guess what happens.
When the story started I could feel Darius' anger. That was the one emotion I felt from this book. The love, lust and forgiveness? Not one little bit. Even Max was just dull... I couldn't connect with them on the emotional level of the story. Then we got into the forgiveness.
The ending was okay, not exactly what I wanted to read, unless there was a huge time jump. It could have gone so much better and the story had so much potential. The whole relationship could have been more believable or something, but it was just dull.
Not one I would recommend, but others could like it.
An even better followup to "Bachelors and Bay Leaves" if only because the cast of characters is a little bigger and better known to us. Plus, there's an epically satisfying moment that I don't even want to begin to give away. I like how measured these characters are - there's a difficult, but not insurmountable, history between them, which they work through in ways that real, smart people would. My only regret is that Torquere's novella format sets a limit on characters and plots with which I'd love to spend more time.
Aaaand, once again, second chances is confirmed to be my absolute favourite trope! I loved everything obout this book: Max's will to prove Darius he's changed from the selfish, childish young man he was 7 years prior; Darius' reluctance to let go of the past in the beginning and the need to protect himself from a new haertbreak. But then, the thing I always love more in second chance romances, is that it feels like the MCs relationship is meant to be and they are fated to be together; and that's exactly what it felt in this book! Darius and Max reunite by chance and oncethey're back into each other lives, no amount of resistance, reluctance or wariness can keep them apart!
Fennel and Forgiveness: 4.5/5 stars Darius Cooper is the Chief Maitre D' at Montgomery House. He's strict but fair on the staff in the front of the restaurant. Rhys allows Southern Wedding Belles to shoot an episode in his restaurant, which brings the director Max Boyd along. Darius and Max were lovers 7 years ago and it didn't end well. Max has grown up a lot and wants a second chance. Darius has never gotten over Max but is reluctant to give Max a second chance. From bridezilla to Stephen and Robert helping again, it becomes a fun second chance romance. There's definite chemistry between these two.
Read in new collection. Second chance romance Low angst External conflict (previous split because Darius wanted more than Max could give) Internal conflict (age gap - 10 years) Lots of talking rather than jumping straight into a physical relationship HEA (although it was too much too fast for me YMMV)
I didn't really connect with either MC and I thought the story needed more showing, less telling. We are told how attracted they were to each other before and that the attraction is still there, but I wasn't feeling it. I also didn't like how fast Max was ready to commit to Darius after no contact for seven years.
I did like secondary characters Stephen and Robert and would like to read more about them.
Max and Darius were together 7 years ago. They dare wanted commitment but max choose a career instead that's was 7 years ago Darius left and they never spoke to each other till know.
Max comes in town to do an reality tv wedding at RHYS restaurant and he finds out dare works there. Max wants a second chance but dare cant forgive and trust. But max is willing to do anything he can to get the trust forgive and love he wants. Is there hope yet for these 2 guys.