Greeting Cards

Title: Greeting Cards

Author: Tinnean

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Publisher URL: www.dreamspinnerpress.com

ISBN/BIN: 978-1-62380-107-6

Genre: {M/M} Contemporary

Rating: 4.5 Nymphs

Literary Nymphs Reviewer: Dragon Minx

Ben Haggerty’s devastated when his lover of nearly seven years moves out suddenly, leaving him to spend the holidays alone. Weeks later, with the help of a friend, he finds Richard’s address but the greeting card he sends ends up at the wrong house and with the wrong man, Jason Prescott.

Thinking the card he receives is from his sister, Jason opens and reads it. The message from Ben asking when Richard’s coming home pulls at his heart and he writes back. The two men correspond for months, all the time growing closer and they eventually spend weekends together. Learning Jason is even smarter than Richard makes Ben uneasy but Jason’s nothing like his snobbish ex. Can a scholar find happiness with a blue-collar worker and make a life together? Ben hopes so.

Greeting Cards is the first book by Tinnean that I’ve had the pleasure of reading and it won’t be my last. I’ll be looking for others by this talented author real soon. I suggest you do too.

From the blurb, you might expect the story to be filled with pain and angst, but nothing could be further from the truth. Instead it’s a heartwarming story of second chances that made me smile. Yes, it starts off sadly because Richard’s just dumped Ben and he’s hurting, but it moves forward pretty quickly and the author doesn’t allow the feeling of the plot to become maudlin. And I’m glad because I really like Ben. The amount of personal history explaining why he doesn’t have family to lean on during this time is perfect and makes Richard even more of a scum-bag.

Don’t worry; despite being a feel good holiday release, the story isn’t too sweet. It’s well written, Ben and Jason’s personalities are nicely developed and the plot progresses at a believable pace. I love the idea of using oddball greeting cards through the getting-to-know-you phase of Ben and Jason’s relationship. It’s a hoot. Ben and Jason build their relationship by communicating, so they know each other pretty well before they met. That means, in this case, romance and kisses but not a lot of blistering sex. And I didn’t even care. I don’t think you will either. Enjoy.