August Ice by Dev Bentham

[gilda_elise]

It takes a special kind of person to work in Antarctica. Max Conway, an ex-Navy Seal, loves working at the bottom of the world. Like any other diver, he's tough and hard drinking. Half the year he's stuck in the States traveling the commercial dive circuit and hitting gay bars every night. The other six months he's lead safety diver at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, reveling in the cold blue Antarctic Sea. The only drawback to life way down under is that Max feels like he has to tuck his libido into storage while he's on station, stashing all those free condoms for use back up north.

That is until Andre Dubois, a gorgeous French scientist, shakes up his world. Not only is Andre out and proud, he's sober as the day is long. And the days are long during an Antarctic summer. Max must choose between his comfortable inebriated closet and a life in the sun with Andre.


I was stuck in a plane with only my Kindle for reading material (only?!), so I decided on this book, which is not on my Mount TBR pile. I'm glad I did, because I was pleasantly surprised at how much work went into developing an interesting plot to surround the story of Max and Andre. That’s not always the case with these types of stories. These two don’t just fall into bed, they don’t even fall into a friendship right away. There are the twists and turns that many relationships go through, so that, by the end, I was really rooting for these two men to get together. Add to that the side stories of the other characters, and you’ve got a book that will keep you turning the pages. I’ll be looking for more of Bentham’s books to enjoy in the near future.

Comments

[caffyolay.livejournal.com]

How nice to be pleasantly surprised that this one has characterisation and plot. Not always the case as we know. ;-) I don't read much gay fiction even though I'm a fandom slasher. That's a bit odd really. LOL

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

It could be that more gay fiction is better than I imagine, but unfortunately I haven't run across it! I suppose much of that could be because I don't read all that much of it. It's sort of a guilty pleasure.

I think you're probably more in the majority in regards to not reading gay fiction, at least from what I've heard. And I used to not read much gay fiction, but slowly got into it over the years.

[fansee.livejournal.com]

Almost as pleasant as a good read is finding another author whose works you want to dig into. Those are red letter days for me, and they don't come close enough together. FanSee

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

They sure don't, so, yes, it's a great pleasure to find one. I only hope the author's other work lives up to the promise. We'll see.

[tinny]

m/m romance with a plot and a rec from you? Woooot!

That goes right on my pile!

(so does the sodom and gomorrha one, btw.)

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear an interest in both books. While I have to say that Return to Sodom and Gomorrha was my favorite of the two, both books are worth a read. Hope you enjoy them!