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Saving Ernest
Londoner Ernest Porter wasn’t looking for love that Saturday morning. Nor was he looking where he was going.
Fortunately PC Liam McAvoy was looking, and saves Ernest from falling into a hole caused by a missing manhole cover.
The weather is hot, and wanting to thank Liam for saving him, Ernest offers the policeman a glass of ice tea. They talk and Ernest finds himself increasingly drawn to the young constable. But it can’t go anywhere. Liam isn’t gay, there’s a big age difference between them, and Ernest is still hurting from a previous betrayal.
After weeks of internal struggle, Ernest finally confesses all. Liam’s reaction is not what Ernest expects.
Fortunately PC Liam McAvoy was looking, and saves Ernest from falling into a hole caused by a missing manhole cover.
The weather is hot, and wanting to thank Liam for saving him, Ernest offers the policeman a glass of ice tea. They talk and Ernest finds himself increasingly drawn to the young constable. But it can’t go anywhere. Liam isn’t gay, there’s a big age difference between them, and Ernest is still hurting from a previous betrayal.
After weeks of internal struggle, Ernest finally confesses all. Liam’s reaction is not what Ernest expects.
- GenresM M RomanceContemporary
31 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 2, 2012
1 person is currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Drew Hunt
65 books87 followersHaving read all the decent free fiction on the net Drew could find, he set out to try his hand at writing something himself. Fed up reading about characters who were super-wealthy, impossibly handsome, and incredibly well-endowed, Drew determined to make his characters real and believable.
Drew lives a quiet life in the north of England with his cat. Someday he hopes to meet the kind of man he writes about.
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/vie...
Drew lives a quiet life in the north of England with his cat. Someday he hopes to meet the kind of man he writes about.
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/vie...
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 11, 2012
3.5 stars
Ernest and Liam are two regular guys looking for companionship and love. They go on regular outings slowly becoming fast friends and enjoying just being together. A nice sweet and enjoyable romance.
Ernest and Liam are two regular guys looking for companionship and love. They go on regular outings slowly becoming fast friends and enjoying just being together. A nice sweet and enjoyable romance.
April 11, 2012
A sweet gentle romance story. I'm a big fan of Drew Hunt, he spins lovely tales of real life heroes. I love that his characters have a flaw of somekind. As much as I read for escapism I do like a little realism thrown in. Drew Hunt manages both.
April 22, 2012
This was a typical Drew Hunt story, sweet with average MC's , no angst or huge misunderstandings.
Just a gentle, slow story of Ernest and Liam.
Just a gentle, slow story of Ernest and Liam.
April 16, 2012
3.5 Stars
August 13, 2012
This title was provided free by the author or publisher for review purposes. Review originally posted at Brief Encounters Reviews.
Rating: C-
Saving Ernest is a sweet tale with an endearing narrator. Forty-one year old Ernest Porter isn’t your typical romantic hero, being a little bit overweight and astoundingly average, according to him:
It’s impossible to dislike Ernest, who is sweet, dreamy and cultured, describing himself as being a “natural submissive”. He’s smitten with the hunky policeman Liam as soon as they meet, when Liam rescues him from falling down a hole in the pavement. Liam is another very likable character: a gentle Irishman who enjoys walking the beat and helping old ladies cross the road. In some ways I felt this story existed in an alternate universe London, untroubled by serious crime.
The scene with the missing manhole cover was my favourite in the story, and it has a cheeky sort of humour rather like a vintage Carry On film, using teasing and innuendo:
Ernest brings Liam some iced tea and they bond over a mutual love of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest (for which Ernest was named), and quickly become good friends. Ernest is determined to keep his crush to himself and not scare off his new straight friend, but he does make a date for a picnic the following day. Liam is happy to agree, as he lives in the police section house and would love to get out of the city for a while.
Unfortunately, right from the start this story was weighted down with an awful lot of rather boring details of everyday life, such as Ernest’s shopping list and the radio shows he enjoys listening to. Perhaps this was intended to show us the dull rut that well-off but jobless Ernest has got himself into, but I found these sections really dragged. To my mind the story would have been much stronger if this extraneous detail had been ruthlessly edited, with more time spent watching Ernest and Liam interact.
The other thing that knocked my grade down was the lack of conflict between the two men. It may simply be a matter of taste, but I found things went so smoothly between them I started to lose interest. There is a passage when they’re looking around a hunting lodge in Epping Forest that seemed pointless, and didn’t further the plot in any way. Also, Ernest tells us he’s fallen in love rather than this being shown in the narrative.
It’s a shame that this story didn’t live up to the promise of that first scene where Liam and Ernest met. I’ll admit, I was expecting something more smutty and humorous, and what followed turned out to be very sweet and rather slow-moving, with no sex whatsoever. Still, if you’re after a sweet and mildly amusing romance between two thoroughly likable characters and with a nicely drawn British setting, Saving Ernest would certainly hit the spot.
Rating: C-
Saving Ernest is a sweet tale with an endearing narrator. Forty-one year old Ernest Porter isn’t your typical romantic hero, being a little bit overweight and astoundingly average, according to him:
That was me in a nutshell: average, average, average.
It’s impossible to dislike Ernest, who is sweet, dreamy and cultured, describing himself as being a “natural submissive”. He’s smitten with the hunky policeman Liam as soon as they meet, when Liam rescues him from falling down a hole in the pavement. Liam is another very likable character: a gentle Irishman who enjoys walking the beat and helping old ladies cross the road. In some ways I felt this story existed in an alternate universe London, untroubled by serious crime.
The scene with the missing manhole cover was my favourite in the story, and it has a cheeky sort of humour rather like a vintage Carry On film, using teasing and innuendo:
The stud was wearing a large pair of shiny black shoes. At least size 12, I thought. I wondered about the authenticity of the old adage regarding the correlation between feet and cock size. Oh, to get my hands on that truncheon.
Ernest brings Liam some iced tea and they bond over a mutual love of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest (for which Ernest was named), and quickly become good friends. Ernest is determined to keep his crush to himself and not scare off his new straight friend, but he does make a date for a picnic the following day. Liam is happy to agree, as he lives in the police section house and would love to get out of the city for a while.
Unfortunately, right from the start this story was weighted down with an awful lot of rather boring details of everyday life, such as Ernest’s shopping list and the radio shows he enjoys listening to. Perhaps this was intended to show us the dull rut that well-off but jobless Ernest has got himself into, but I found these sections really dragged. To my mind the story would have been much stronger if this extraneous detail had been ruthlessly edited, with more time spent watching Ernest and Liam interact.
The other thing that knocked my grade down was the lack of conflict between the two men. It may simply be a matter of taste, but I found things went so smoothly between them I started to lose interest. There is a passage when they’re looking around a hunting lodge in Epping Forest that seemed pointless, and didn’t further the plot in any way. Also, Ernest tells us he’s fallen in love rather than this being shown in the narrative.
It’s a shame that this story didn’t live up to the promise of that first scene where Liam and Ernest met. I’ll admit, I was expecting something more smutty and humorous, and what followed turned out to be very sweet and rather slow-moving, with no sex whatsoever. Still, if you’re after a sweet and mildly amusing romance between two thoroughly likable characters and with a nicely drawn British setting, Saving Ernest would certainly hit the spot.
September 4, 2015
I wasn't a fan of this one. I have liked Drew Hunt's other books, so this was an exception rather than the rule for me. Definitely check his other stuff out!
For one thing, I felt like Earnest was kind of snobby.
For another thing, I didn't feel the chemistry between the leads.
By the end of the book, I didn't really like either character.
Final thing -
For one thing, I felt like Earnest was kind of snobby.
For another thing, I didn't feel the chemistry between the leads.
By the end of the book, I didn't really like either character.
Final thing -
April 9, 2012
Reviewed for heartsonfirereviews.com
This story is a little different than the usual in that the MC is 41 years old. So often, stories are told from the POV of the 22-year-old hottie. Our hero, yes he’s named Ernest, is just over six feet tall and slightly overweight. He’s funny and adorable, as well, though he wouldn’t tell you that. (The man talks to his oven – something so endearing about that.)
Ernest is saved from falling down a manhole with a hot police officers warning. This is Liam, a tall handsome straight man in his early thirties. Ernest offers him an ice tea to combat the heat, and a friendship is born. They take hikes together, have dinners and keep each other (platonic) company. While this is going on, Ernest is falling in love. With the help of his friend Timothy, Ernest comes to the realization that he needs to put his feelings out there and see what happens.
This story is funny and cute, made more so by Ernest. Liam is a good character, but Ernest is the one I’d want to be neighbors with. He’s down to earth, with real self-doubt. He and Liam both carry some baggage and you want them to see past it to the real man and give themselves the chance.
Recommended for those who like the sweet, the romantic and the simple. There aren’t a lot of huge plot lines, just the building relationship of Liam and Ernest. And that is enough.
This story is a little different than the usual in that the MC is 41 years old. So often, stories are told from the POV of the 22-year-old hottie. Our hero, yes he’s named Ernest, is just over six feet tall and slightly overweight. He’s funny and adorable, as well, though he wouldn’t tell you that. (The man talks to his oven – something so endearing about that.)
Ernest is saved from falling down a manhole with a hot police officers warning. This is Liam, a tall handsome straight man in his early thirties. Ernest offers him an ice tea to combat the heat, and a friendship is born. They take hikes together, have dinners and keep each other (platonic) company. While this is going on, Ernest is falling in love. With the help of his friend Timothy, Ernest comes to the realization that he needs to put his feelings out there and see what happens.
This story is funny and cute, made more so by Ernest. Liam is a good character, but Ernest is the one I’d want to be neighbors with. He’s down to earth, with real self-doubt. He and Liam both carry some baggage and you want them to see past it to the real man and give themselves the chance.
Recommended for those who like the sweet, the romantic and the simple. There aren’t a lot of huge plot lines, just the building relationship of Liam and Ernest. And that is enough.
May 31, 2012
Actually, 3,5 stars.
It was a nice and sweet short story.
And, let's face it, a man that talks with his oven? It's priceless!
It was a nice and sweet short story.
And, let's face it, a man that talks with his oven? It's priceless!
July 29, 2016
Wry, cheeky sense of humour! I smiled throughout!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews