Love on Site by Neil Plakcy

18468305Title: Love on Site

Series:   N/A

Author: Neil Plakcy

Genre: Contemporary

Length:   Novel (230 pages)

Publisher: Loose ID (October 7th, 2013)

Heat Level: Explicit ~ LOTS of action between the Main Characters

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥ 3 Hearts

Reviewer:   Eli/Mandingo

Blurb:It’s mid-May, and Manny Garcia has just graduated from Florida University (FU) with his bachelor’s degree in construction management and landed his dream job, working for handsome Walter Loredo on a warehouse project just west of downtown Miami. He’s living in a condo on South Beach with two of his brothers from the gay frat at FU, Lambda Lambda Lambda.

Manny has a thing for older men, particularly construction workers, and he’s got a real crush on Walter, even though he thinks the boss is straight. At first Manny’s able to keep his South Beach life and his work separate. Then he runs into one of his co-workers on Lincoln Road when he is out with his roommates, and he’s outed. Can he keep his job and win his boss’s love?

Purchase Link:   http://www.loose-id.com/love-on-site.html

Review: I love the title of this novel. I just wish I could connect more with the story.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with the story line. There is a clearly developed plot and characters and they are laid out very simply and methodically for the reader.  The writing is very clear, clean and well constructed. It’s a very easy story to follow. The problem I had was that I kept waiting for the ‘oomph’ to jump off the page at me and to connect with the characters. For some reason I couldn’t find that elusive connection with the men.  The story was laid out for the reader rather than allowed to develop and enfold the reader.  And, while Manny and Walter feature heavily in the story, you don’t feel them as characters – they don’t do anything to really resonate with the reader so that their personalities are not just described but rather also shown. For a book to sparkle, it must ‘show’ not ‘tell’ the reader.

Halfway through the book, my strongest connection was to a reprehensible character, Camilo, because his actions and speech while that of a douchnozzle, was clearly designed to have an impact on the reader and it did.  I really wanted to care about Manny and Walter, but I kept feeling like I was on the outside looking in, rather than being side by side with them in their love affair. Case in point was their first elicit trip to Naples which should have been fraught with tension and excitement for both them and the reader, but instead it was flat, even their sex seemed slightly wooden (no pun intended).   

There are several great plot developments. On paper this is a flawless story with good characters, even paced development and while there’s no major crisis, there is enough conflict woven through the storyline to keep the reader interested in wanting to know what would happen.  The issue is the ‘sizzle’ – there simply isn’t any, even though there is LOTS of action between Manny and Walter. There is a lot of reference to ‘Cuban drama’ and the plot does call for that drama, but it’s never delivered.