What’s in a Name?

Book Cover: What's in a Name?
Editions:ePub - Second edition: $ 3.99
ISBN: 9781646565214
Pages: 94

On his 30th birthday, barista Jimmy Patterson decides to get rip-roaring drunk after his roommate-boyfriend abandons him at a bar in the tiny California foothills town of Stone Acres where they have relocated from San Francisco. Jimmy is immediately rescued by the burly owner of Stonewall Saloon, who has had his eye on Jimmy since the first time he came in months before.

Jimmy’s fine with being saved but wants to know the bartender’s real name since the guy has worn name tags with an assortment of names every time Jimmy has spoken to him. After Jimmy nicknames him Guy, the bartender decides to turn guessing his first name into a game, giving Jimmy a guess a day for a week and promising to wine and dine him during that time. If Jimmy’s guess is wrong, he owes Guy a zing-zow, knock-your-socks-off kiss. Jimmy agrees since this sounds like a slam-dunk, win-win deal.

While he searches for cringe-worthy given names, Jimmy is distracted by the destruction of his shopping mall coffee shop. He is also beset by the town council that doesn’t want him to buy an historic bank building in Old Town Stone Acres to set up another coffee shop. The celestial high of being romanced by Guy and the abyss of business worries don’t seem like the road to happily ever after. However, Jimmy and Guy might be in for a big surprise.

 

 

Excerpt:

Is there anything worse than waking up with a really bad hangover? The answer, I found out that morning, was a solid yes. My particular hell was waking up in a strange bed with someone lying next to me, who’s snoring away so loud I was surprised the neighbors weren’t complaining. What made it all worse was I had to pee really, really bad, and I didn’t have a clue where the bathroom was.

I lay on my back taking stock. I was naked, covered with a beige sheet and navy blue comforter in a huge bed, my head taking up most of the California king space.

Where the heck was I? I had no clue. I really didn’t care because I was hurting so badly it’d probably be better if whoever lived here would just shoot me and put me out of my misery.

Still, I had to pee, so I slowly swam to the edge of the bed, trying not to move any body parts. Which was a complete failure. I ached all over. Had someone beaten me up?

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As I reached the side of the bed and peered over the edge at the floor a few stories below, I groaned. Where was the ladder to climb down to the carpeting? I clutched the edge of the bed with one hand and rolled to my side.

“Hey, where you going, Jimmy?”

I hadn’t noticed the snoring had stopped until the voice boomed in my ear.

Carefully, I turned my head.

The Stonewall Saloon bartender with the nametag of Alex last night was peering at me over his chest of hair. His eyes were squinted. A slender beam of light from a gap in the curtains was aimed at his face.

“Bathroom. Pee.” I sighed. “Gotta pee.”

“Right.” He groaned and caused a tidal wave on the mattress even though it wasn’t a water bed.

My body reacted with the seismic quake and my stomach protested. I swallowed back the rising pain even though I knew my gut had nothing left in it to come up.

I felt large hands under my arms.

“Right this way.”

His voice clanged from one of my ears to the other.

He turned me, and we marched to a doorway and into the bathroom. Carefully, he lowered my nude body down onto the toilet.

“No spilling.” He turned away and walked into the hallway.

I pushed my limp dick between my legs and did my thing, not spilling a drop on the bathroom floor or the toilet seat. Then I rested my arm on the sink counter next to the toilet and put my head on my arm.

“Nope, no snoozing here.” His voice boomed. “C’mon. It’s way too early for this shit.”

Again arms lifted me. After I balanced myself, one hand left. The toilet roiled. The hand returned.

“We’d usually wash our hands,” the voice murmured through me, “but I think we’ll skip it this time.”

Back in bed, covered, dry mouthed, I decided it was again nap time.

 

 

THE NEXT time I woke, I was awake. Awake awake. Oh my God, where in the hell am I awake. Shit, I’m in big trouble awake. Where are my clothes awake.

I took inventory. No pain in the ass. That was a relief. No smell of semen. Check, and another sigh. No aches and pains that weren’t directly related to way, way too many shots and beers, check. No clothes. No clothes?

I was okay, pretty much, other than naked, hungover, and in a stranger’s house.

Damn it, I was thirty years old, naked in a stranger’s bed, with only a hazy recollection of what happened after my now former boyfriend Alex stranded me at the Stone Acres’ historic saloon.

I had a hazy memory of the bartender helping me to the bar bathroom the night before and this morning. So was I at his house? If so, how’d I get here?

“Um,” I tried to say, but my mouth was glued shut.

I reached over to feel the side of the bed. Still there. Then I reached over to the other side. Nothing. No one.

Okay, I was alone in a strange bed as my memory filtered back online. I had been an ass, and the bartender with the faux name of Alex had taken care of me anyway. I owed him my firstborn child, should such a thing happen to me now in my boyfriendless state. I owed Alex the bartender everything, including my pride and gratitude.

What I really needed to do was apologize for causing him so much trouble.

Slowly I sat up and then stood. My knees protested, so I sat back down and then tried again. This time my knees cooperated.

 

COLLAPSE
Reviews:Nina on Gay List Book Reviews wrote:

Short and sweet and full of romance. There was a fun little mystery and a whole lot of friendship, kindness, hope and love triumphing over homophobia and harassment.

At first glance things move quickly between Jimmy and Guy. It reminded me of a Max Vos blog post I read a several months ago. Max talked about the fact that men tend to be simpler in their needs and desires in relationships. We see that here with these men, they liked each other, enjoyed spending time together and the sex was great. What else does a relationship need? And as they spent more time together and opened up to each other more I realized that they had been developing a friendship and emotional connection for a while and that was allowed to blossom once they started dating. That development before and after initial sexual contact was sweet and sexy and they had fun while dealing with some heavy things. There was a tiny bit of a mystery in the story that they had to solve.

A fun read full of romance, humor, silliness and new love. It had me smiling and chuckling throughout.

Dan on Love Bytes wrote:

I loved this book, I loved the development of the storyline, characters and locations. The background characters had depth and I’m thinking there is a story in there somewhere for the chef. It is a fairly light but really fun to read story which will leave you eagerly awaiting more! As I said above, it is devoid of actual sex scenes, so if that is something you have to have in a book, then this one isn’t for you. Some people, ok one person in particular, posted a pre-release review on a well known website slamming the book for no sex, insta-love, and the fact that SHE didn’t approve of the hairy biker daddy/bar owner and cowering twink aspects. She obviously skipped the entire part about them having known each other for a YEAR and having been talking seriously and getting to know each other for six MONTHS, as well as every time that Jimmy stood up on his own! It isn’t often I call out other reviewers, but frankly that is why I don’t usually read the garbage reviews on that website. I mean seriously? Posting photos to show your disdain?

Rant complete. In this reviewer’s opinion, the book was very well written, had me laughing in spots and even had me mumbling from time to time “god I LOVE this book”. It is a short tale of 7 days that covers that initial infatuation stage in any relationship. I read it as what it was, I believe. I believe it is an introduction to the characters and locale that will be further expanded in future books. I can’t wait to see where they go from here. Please Ms. Henshaw do not let the negative jerks get you down. I am truly hoping as I said at the top that there is more coming. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a short, fun, without a lot of sex read. Get it today.

Janet on The Novel Approach wrote:

This is an absolutely brilliant book. I loved it. Pat Henshaw has written a very funny novella that gave me a taste of her style and left me wanting more. Unfortunately it is her debut novella with Dreamspinner Press, so there was no backlist for me to devour ( I would have!), but it is the first of a series, and the next novella is Redesigning Max, which contracted so should be out soon.

I was completely involved in this story at the end of the first page. I am not usually a fan of first person narrative, but Jimmy’s voice was simply hilarious. I could clearly see him sitting at the bar, a drunken twink feeling sorry for himself, and I just had to keep turning the pages for more. And it continued to be fresh and funny for the whole story. The running gag throughout the book about Big Guy’s name is a purely fun device for the author to have them date and get to know each other. The different names that Jimmy comes up with each day illustrate how well they are matched emotionally, while being so opposite in appearance. They are both smart, hardworking business men, able to appreciate each other for who they truly are. Their strengths of character are established clearly for the reader to see, and to allow us to remain invested in the story.

There is talent as well as skill needed to give a reader enough information about the location or setting of a novella so we are able to picture it and have a sense of the world that the characters inhabit. Pat Henshaw does this very well indeed. The descriptions of the original coffee shop in a mall compared to that of the second location, in the Old Town area on Main St, conveys a sense of the whole town and its attitudes succinctly.

This is such a fun story; I will re-read it often. The MCs are well developed, and I loved watching them fall in love. It was quick but it felt good, and I know that I will never be bored with the humor and empathy the story is told with. Well done, Pat Henshaw, on writing an original story with lots of room for more. I look forward to the next book in the series.


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