Title: Always MJ
Series: A Mind is a Sexy Thing
Author: S.J.D. Peterson
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novella (98pgs)
Publisher: Silver Publishing (28th April 2012)
Heat Level: Low-Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥4 ½Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: Matthew Jonathon Parker, Matty to his friends, never did anything spontaneous. Yet six months ago, during a ‘poor-me’ moment, he entered an online chat room and may have met the man of his dreams.
Matthew Jonathon Parker planned every aspect of his day. From the time he woke up until the exact minute he crawled back into bed, his day was set. He wasn’t the kind of man to seek out other men in chat rooms. He certainly wasn’t the type to fall in love with someone he only knew from typed words.
After a six-month online affair, Matty agrees to meet Jay in Florida for a weekend getaway. Only Jay isn’t what Matty expected; although, perhaps he should have known it was too good to be true.
After all, Jay’s screen name AlwaysMJ stands for ‘Always making jokes’–or does it?
Part of Silver Publishing’s “A Mind is a Sexy Thing” anthology
Purchase Link: https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/products_id/1050/?zenid=d350f9e31495e91e487aed638d28ae1f
Review: Matty thinks he has found the man of his dreams. After speaking to him on-line for six months, he is finally going to meet him face to face. But, when he gets to the rendezvous spot, the man he finds is the last one he’d ever imagine.
This is an emotion filled novella that will pull you in two directions as you empathize with both characters. Matty is predictable. Everything he does is planned down to the last detail, but now he is doing something totally out of character for him… he is meeting the man who he fell in love with on-line. Matty is still of two minds when he gets to his hotel and starts to suffer from a panic attack, as the full weight of what he is about to do hits him. But, as always his best friend Jared is on the end of the phone to pull him through and get him to relax. But, when Matty finally sees ‘Jay’ for the first time there are some things that even Jared can’t smooth over.
As always S.J.D. Peterson has given us angst, frustration, anger, confusion, forgiveness and love. Giving us the experience of feeling as the characters do, of conflicting our emotions as to how to feel about these characters as we try to decide who we should empathize more with. Matty, as he discovers that his dream man is not the stranger he thought he was, the betrayal he feels when he thinks it was all a joke, the anger that someone he thought so highly of could do that to him and then eventually forgiveness as he realizes how much this man truly means to him. then we have ‘Jay’ who has been trying to find a way to tell Matty how he feels about him and comes up with the on-line chat so he can show Matty a side of himself that he keeps hidden. To show Matty that he is the man that he can rely on. Then, we have his horror as to how Matty reacts and the realization that Matty had taken it the wrong way. His desire to get it through to Matty that he is serious and his frustration when Matty won’t listen, his determination that Matty will listen and give them a chance. Every emotion shines through.
A well-crafted story that is a fantastic friends-to-lovers plot, but doesn’t take the easy way of them just falling into each other’s arms. They both have to work at it and it makes it a more enjoyable read for its readers.
I recommend this to those who love friends to lovers, angst, some erotic loving, great characters and a happy ever after, after a few bumps in the road.
Sold!! my kind of story!!