Hold the Sky

by A.C. Fox

When love competes, will anyone win?Harry has just begun his career as an architect with a well-known Chicago firm, but when he runs up against the talented, successful, not to mention stunningly handsome Garrett Reed, he quickly loses both his cool and his first big contract to the other man. Now a second job has just come up for bid, a huge project that can make Harry's career. And Garrett is after the same prize.Garrett is fascinated with Harry. He admires the man's drive and talent, not to mention his incredible good looks. But as the wild attraction between them burns hotter, the cool, aloof Garrett finds himself in an uncomfortable position. Can the two of them find a way to temper the passion that flares between them, or will their competitive natures tear their tentative love to pieces?

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Romance

137 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 11, 2011

About the author

AC Fox writes m/m romance that shows us the beauty of real passion and real men, in all their glory. Alpha or beta, old or young, out or still struggling, AC’s characters prove that love–between long-time lovers or strangers on the train–truly will conquer all.

Reviews

[Tana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hold the Sky by A.C. Fox

A.C. Fox has written a really great m/m romance novel, I really enjoyed A.C. writing the words flowed well and it was a very easy and comfortable book to read. I enjoyed the fact that A.C. wrote both characters points of view and we got a better understanding of how even a strong male who appears to have everything can be insecure about his feelings in this new relationship. Seeing both points of view only made me the reader feel more connected to the characters, excellent writing.

Harry is a young talented architect working for a firm in Chicago and trying very hard to be successful and make a name for himself. When he meets up with Garrett Reed who is tall handsome and arrogant man, Harry is taken aback on how attracted he is to him. So when Harry and Garrett are both competing for the same job Harry realizes he might be a bit out of his league as Garrett is a successful Architect and run his own company. Losing the contract to Garrett was hard but even harder is when Garrett approaches him for a date. Harry fights this at first and Garrett doesn’t give up, finally Harry agrees to one date and only because Garrett promises him he will leave him alone.

The friendship and romance that blossoms between these two men is fantastic and what we call a great romance in the works. Garrett being honest and doesn’t want any secrets mentions to Harry that they are both putting a proposal in for the same job. Harry feels like he really needs to win this job and prove to Garrett that he is an equal. Harry makes a really bad decision and things blow up in his face. Can Harry and Garrett put their hurts and professional life aside and show their true feelings for each other. Well you will have to read the book to find out the answers.

I have rated this book a 4 and probably would have went to a 4.5 if I could. I would like to say to the authors I could go for a sequel with these two characters if that is all possible. I will definitely recommend this novel to everyone who loves m/m romance novel.

[Juxian · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stars.
I was on A.C. Fox spree :) This book is very different from her two fantasy ones I read first. I think I enjoyed her fantasy more but this one was also quite a memorable book, well, as much as contemporary m/m romance now can be made memorable without doing something drastic to characters (like giving them a severe disability or five kids) :)
The main characters of 'Hold the Sky', Harry and Garrett, were not easy to like. At first I was mad at Garrett for being such an arrogant prick, and then I disliked Harry for being a boring touch-me-not and putting his professional jealousy and competitiveness above the potential of love. But then I understood that they were just normal people, not good or bad, but as everyone is, with their own hang-ups and idiosyncrasies. And it was fascinating to watch how they struggled with those things to finally be together. I liked the main crisis between them very much, and even more so - how it was resolved. It was touching and romantic, and I think it was great both of them realized their mistakes and made steps to each other (and a bit of luck, too).
I enjoyed the professional component of the story, their love for architecture and for creating something of their own was infectious. Also, again, the book was compact and fast-paced. Very nice.

[Samington · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found Garrett to be unpleasantly bossy and domineering, not to mention entitled. Just because he's apparently devastatingly handsome doesn't excuse the weird way he trampled all over Harry's life and personal space, and neither does the fact that Harry didn't particularly seem to mind it. It was inappropriate, bordering on creepy. And the mind-game he played at the end was frankly unacceptable. The book tries to make Garrett into the sad, wronged woobie, but I felt he was the one who really screwed things up. He's an untrusting, self-centered control-freak. But Harry was a pathetic idiot, so maybe he and Garrett deserve one another.

Harry felt like kind of a non-entity. He was a little neurotic, and didn't seem to know what he wanted, and other than that... not much. He and Garrett both had an odd obsession with light; maybe it was meant to show how much they had in common, but it only served to make their characters feel interchangeable. I didn't sense any passion between them, and the speed of their romance felt forced and almost bizarre.

Beyond that, the writing did its job, though it was clunky and unclear in places, but the timeline and pacing were very strange. Harry and Garrett's first date is the worst example of this: Garrett picks Harry up at seven in the morning, drives 40-ish minutes from Chicago to Gary, Indiana, apparently in complete silence, takes him for a brief tour of the old church, drives 40-ish minutes back into Chicago, and... the sun is setting? They're going to dinner? It can't even be noon yet. What did they do all day? The book shows the entirety of the church scene-- there aren't jumps in the narration-- which means that they can't have gone anywhere or done anything else. Unless I've missed something, the reader is supposed to believe that they spent a good 8 hours in that church, which is utterly impossible. There are similar oddities, places where time is strangely fluid or jarring plot errors appear. They're obsessively in love with one another after what seems like a couple weeks. It's shoddy, sloppy writing/editing, in my opinion.

Finally, Garrett's desire to kick someone someone in the nuts because he dislikes vegans makes me want to kick him in the nuts.

[AquaScales · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one. My general rule for 5 stars is that I would read it again, so I may upgrade this in the future. I love stories with architects. Maybe they should have a genre of their own. Men who can see, imagine and create poetry in objects are just sexy. Anyway, this story has two of them who share the same creative love but have very different personalities which leads to the main conflict. I loved that AC Fox took her time to creat 3 dimensional characters that drove the story. You cared, you believed and you understood where the characters were coming from and what drove them. In the end, you hurt for the characters, rooted for them and watched both of them grow. Very satisfying read. Two men looking for their other half and each of them having to take leaps of faith to find their HEA.

[Trisha Harrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, liked it a lot in fact. The MC's were great and there was so much I normally love about this book. So why didn't I like it? It needed an epilogue or it needs a sequel, plus and this is a big one. I hated what happened with Harry and Garrett. I would recommend this book to those who have a tolerance for break ups.

I started off really liking this book. It could be seen as enemies to lovers I'm just strange for not seeing it that way. But I think it had an element of sap here. Not enough for me to mark this as sappy, but it had it's elements. A rich business owner/architect courts a new guy just starting out in the business. It had a medium build, it was fast, but for me felt very slow and easy.

Harry was confusing for me as a character. I actually liked Garrett, not so much Harry because he was so... so self-deprecating it got annoying when he had no real reason. It normally doesn't bother me and characters like that are normally favourites of mine. He just went overboard for no reason that was given.

I needed so much more from this book. But there were some really nice elements in it and this normally would be a 5 star read. But with a story like this, and I am sorry to say it, you need a proper sob story. You need the character to have an abusive/lonely/bad past. This was not there. I like this author though and I would like to try more from her soon.

Is it just me or does the blond guy on the cover look like Chad Michael Murray?

Give it a go, maybe people will like it more than I did

[Mandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to come

[Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars---review to follow

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good m/m romance about two architects - one just starting out and the other quite successful - who can't stop competing with each other.

[Coni · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Cecilia Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars