Rating: 3.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novella
Folk festivals the world over bring out the finest, and sometimes strangest, of people. Rowan, who is helping his roommate work his booth at one such gathering, is tolerant of the crazy shenanigans with one exception—Morris dancing. The loud revelries set his teeth on edge. The last thing Rowan would ever do is join in the silliness, but when he sees a gorgeous dancer smiling at him, he throws all such reservations out the window and signs on to learn some of the dances.
Dancing with Seth leads to more than maneuvers on the floor, it leads to his caravan and some of the hottest sex Rowan has had in some time. Not only that, but both men find they may want it to be more than just a one night fling and Seth gives Rowan his phone number with the promise to stay in touch. The only problem is the phone number is wrong, leaving Rowan with no Seth and the feeling that he has been given the shaft. But he can’t get the burly dancer out of his mind and when the fates intervene in the form of a pushy roommate, Rowan gets a second chance with Seth. The only question now is whether Seth is really interested or if this going to end up being a dance that leads to nowhere.
I do enjoy this author. Jay Northcote’s stories are often on the lighter side, but have incredibly likeable characters who are realistic, intelligent, and have that certain something that makes you remember them well after finishing the book. However, in this case, I was left wanting more. Tops Down Bottoms Up fell just short of a satisfying read because we it moved so rapidly, which left the main players in the novella underdeveloped and the story line shallow, at best. The small window of action we were privy too gave us a hint at definite attraction on both Rowan and Seth’s part, but the plot vehicle used, wrong phone number, was never really explained and brushed aside rather conveniently in order for the two men to get back together at novel’s end. Considering that there was quite a bit of page time with Rowan bemoaning and questioning his attraction to Seth and fighting the urge to reconnect with the guy should Rowan discover he had actually been dumped, the roommate intervening offered a far too easy solution.
There were lots of playful moments in this novella to enjoy—not the least of which was discovering what Morris dancing was and the sexy feelings it aroused in both guys. Unfortunately, this sweet little story needed further development in order for it to really resonate and satisfy.
