Book Name: Despite the Odds
Series: Odds Are
Book: One
Release
Date: June 3, 2015
Blurb:
Never judge a
book by its cover.
Michael Campbell
can’t hold a job for more than a few days. He’s lucky his foreman is giving him
another chance with the solar panel project at a primary school in Atlantic
City. When he spies a man walking strangely in front of the school, Michael
laughs, assuming he’s drunk or high. Little does he realize that Joshua Stone,
a teaching assistant, has cerebral palsy, and he’s having a bad muscle control
day. Taking a tumble right in front of the handsome construction worker is just
his luck.
When Michael
learns the truth, he feels badly for his cruel behavior. He offers to give
Joshua—and his tricycle, the Racing Rhonda—a lift. Joshua accepts the help, and
suddenly there’s a gorgeous man breezing into his life, turning his world
upside down. But Michael has more issues than his inability to hold down a job,
and neither man is sure if they’ll be able to overcome their fears in order to
be together.
Pages or Words: 114 pages/32,000 words
Categories: Contemporary, M/M Romance,
Romance
Excerpt:
Henderson
bulldozed right into Michael’s personal space, surprising him with the action.
“You stupid son of a bitch!”
“Hey!
No calling my mother names, okay?” Michael tried to joke. He’d never seen
Henderson this angry. Neither did he care to have all this anger directed at
him. Sure, he could hold his own if necessary, but he was more a
run-away-if-there’s-trouble kind of guy.
“Do
you know who that was?”
“A
drunk who shouldn’t set foot on school property?” Michael hazarded.
Henderson’s
eyes narrowed to small slits when he replied, “His name is Joshua Stone, and he
isn’t drunk. He’s a teaching assistant who works here.”
“He
looked drunk to me.”
Henderson
closed his eyes, obviously trying to rein in his temper, before he put a bit
more distance between them. “Mr. Stone is disabled, hence the way he walks.
It’s not always that obvious, but he was carrying books, a lot of books, which
threw off his balance. He’s a very good teaching assistant. He doesn’t deserve
to be laughed at by someone like you, who can’t even take care of himself.”
That
stung.
Sales Links: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6459
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25479966-despite-the-odds
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25479966-despite-the-odds
About the
author:
Chris T. Kat lives in the middle of Europe, where she shares a house with
her husband of many years and their two children. She stumbled upon the M/M
genre by luck and was swiftly drawn into it. She divides her time between work,
her family—which includes chasing after escaping horses and lugging around huge
instruments such as a harp—and writing. She enjoys a variety of genres, such as
mystery/suspense, paranormal, and romance. If there's any spare time, she
happily reads for hours, listens to audiobooks or does cross stitch.
Where to find the author:
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover
Artist: Valerie Tibbs
Tour Dates & Stops: June 3, 2015
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Rafflecopter
Prize: Chris T. Kat’s Jeff Woods Mystery collection, a three-book collection
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Despite the Odds (Odds Are #1)
Author: Chris T. Kat
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
American release date: June 3, 2015
Format/Genre/Length: E-book/M/M Fantasy
Romance/114 pages
Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★
Michael Campbell is one of those guys who just can’t seem to get
to work on time, despite his best intentions. Maybe it’s because of his
proclivity to party, stay out late, and hook up with random guys. This makes it
difficult to keep a job, too, and usually Michael doesn’t. As an electrician’s
assistant, jobs aren’t all that easy to come by, so he hopes he can keep his
current assignment without screwing up.
While at his job at the school he’s assigned to, he spots a guy
coming down the sidewalk who appears to be drunk, and laughs at him. However,
doing so draws the ire of his co-worker, who happens to know the guy in
question, Joshua Stone. Joshua is not drunk, he suffers from cerebral palsy,
and he’s having a bad day. Michael feels like a complete jerk for saying the
things he did.
Later, Michael gets a chance to redeem himself, when he encounters
Joshua again, and ends up offering him a ride. That’s when he discovers there
is much more to Joshua than what he had first assumed. At the same time, Joshua
is attracted to Michael, but thinks he has no hope in hell of being anything to
him. Joshua has definite self-esteem issues of his own. Can this unlikely pair
become more than friends?
I have to say I’m a huge fan of Ms. Kat’s books. She creates
memorable characters that you have to think about long after you’ve turned the
last page. And she doesn’t shy away from dealing with issues that other writers
don’t touch, characters that at first glance appear to be broken in some way.
She takes the idea that all men have to be macho, alpha types with perfect looks
in order to be interesting, and she turns it around. Men come in all shapes and
sizes, and some have problems, and life isn’t always perfect.
Ms. Kat writes with incredible sensitivity, until you can’t help
but feel for her characters. No one is perfect, everyone has some flaw, some
problem. That’s just part of being human. She redefines normal so that it
encompasses everyone. The way that Joshua and Michael relate to one another is
realistic, and so are the problems they have to deal with. I look forward to
reading the next book, and highly recommend this one.
Julie,
ReplyDeletethank you so much for this wonderful review!
~ Chris