An Unexpected Party

by Henrietta Clarke

Novella from the Bottom Drawer Publications 2013 Valentine's Day collection.

15,000 words

Valentine’s Day sucks! Merry Breton is reminded of this again when he receives a call from his boss to work a last minute job, even though he worked New Year’s as well. And to top it all off he hears from the very man who had ruined this same day last year—Kieran Church. His lover of two years who had stood him up on Valentine’s Day and from whom he’d not heard a word since. He supposes it should be good news that Kieran has finally come out of the closet and is still in love with him, but the news is exactly forty-five days too late.

Forty-five excruciatingly long days have passed since New Year’s Eve—the night Peregrine Harding attended a speed dating function at Sheffield’s premier hotel to appease his terminally ill mother and ended the night in bed with a very cute waiter. Unfortunately, the man who quickly wormed his way into Peregrine’s heart had promptly informed him upon waking that he didn’t date men who couldn’t find their way out of the closet and walked away.

Common sense tells them that they should forget their one night of passion and move on, that neither of them is in the right place for a relationship. But Merry can no sooner forget about Peregrine than Peregrine can forget about him.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, Short Stories, M M Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Holiday

62 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 13, 2013

About the author

Henrietta Clarke is a quirky Yorkshire lass who had the misfortune to discover the path she was actually meant to take in life three days into an intensive postgraduate course. Now free from the hell of law study, she divides her time between working as a lunchtime supervisor in a primary school, training as a fiction editor, and writing her own stories. When she’s not working, Henrietta can usually be found in the kitchen, hanging out with her parents and eccentric dogs or baking cupcakes. Every remaining second is spent reading or sleeping—sometimes simultaneously.
A hopeless romantic who is as much in love with the English language as with all the delicious fictional men it creates, Henrietta suffers from abibliophobia and has a serious book-buying addiction as a consequence. The day there are no unread items on her Kindle will be the day the Earth stops turning. Her other addictions include bad TV and chilli in any form, and she collects everything from books and DVDs to china elephants, keyrings and photo frames—most of which stay empty far too long. She has a minor obsession with rainbows, and plots everything in purple Sharpie.

Reviews

[Steph · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars I couldn't get over Peregrine dating women knowing that he is gay and he has zero interest in women just to keep his mother happy. He did come out to his parents at 19, brought his first boyfriend home at 24 but his mom continues to ignore that he is gay and doesn't believe in homosexuality like she doesn't believe in Santa Claus. So now five years later, after his dad told him that he needs to stop making himself unhappy for his mother, he realizes he needs to live his life and his mom will never change even though she is dying of throat cancer. He finally comes back to Merry and apologizes for his behavior just in time for Valentine's day.

[Deeze · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really what I was expecting from the blurb.

Peregrine annoyed me at times. I get him trying to please his mother in her last few month? but his whole going through with the speed dating was a puzzle. Why not just pretend he went to it? How would his mother know?

Merry was OK to start with but then comes his all knowing attitude towards Peregrine's mother. I really hate when anyone assumes they know exactly what someone else is thinking or feeling.

An OK read but rather bland overall.

[Gaele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say that it was a joy to read a book in the ‘Queen’s English’, it’s not often, living in the states that I have the opportunity to read books with spelling that is most familiar to me, as I learned to read with books from the UK. That being said – this book was really fun and funny. Well played Ms. Clarke, the sly Tolkien references added a giggle early on, when Merry wasn’t being teased by his boss or co-worker.

At first, I found Merry a bit of a whinger, and slightly immature, although he is only in his early 20’s. That immaturity was a bit of a ruse, however, as he has obviously overcome several challenges: not the least of which is making the decision that the only relationships for him are ones with fully-out men. That doesn’t discourage his instant reaction to Peregrine, the one extra male, and both are convinced the other is straight. Through a series of maneuverings by his boss and co-worker, they manage to connect; only to have it all dissemble over bacon and tea the next morning.

Weeks pass, and 2013 is looking like a year of ho-hum for them both. With a deft hand, Henrietta Clarke has managed to show both potential ‘sides’ of the difficulties encountered by these men, encouraging the reader to see far more options and the emotional turmoil both experience from their individual pasts and situations. When Peregrine decides that his happiness is really more important than what others may think, the resolution to their difficulties is in sight. With a little interference from Merry’s boss and a beautifully crafted conversation there is a happy ending in sight, just in time for Valentine ’s Day. Cleverly crafted characters, real-feeling situations and roadblocks, and sensual scenes that are less erotic than warm-fuzzy afterglow, this is a great addition to your ‘love’ collection.

I received an eBook copy from publisher for purpose of honest review as part of the Love Sucks…until it doesn’t blog tour. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

[Ro · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Merry (don’t call him Meredith) is a waiter and he has been called in to work New Year’s Eve at, of all things, a speed-dating event. He is bemoaning the fact that he will not only be stuck there at the stroke of midnight with no one to kiss, but not even any decent eye candy. Who goes speed dating on New Year’s Eve? He is so pleasantly surprised when he sees Peregrine, a handsome man who is there only to make his terminally ill mother happy. Mother knows he’s gay, she just doesn’t accept it.

Merry and Peregrine (yes, I did keep thinking Merry and Perry throughout) do hook up on New Year’s Eve and maybe would have gone into New Year’s Day but Merry does not do closets anymore. He’s been there, he’s been hurt there, he’s not doing that anymore. Peregrine, for his part, is sort of shocked- he doesn’t feel he’s closeted. His mother just doesn’t get it, and she’s dying. The fact that his mother treated the one serious boyfriend he brought home so oddly just reinforced that he doesn’t want to address it anymore.

One night, okay, was fun, move on. Not so much for these guys. They connected and they are thinking of each other, especially when they again run into each other at a party, by accident. Add in the complete loser of Merry’s ex-boyfriend and things get complicated. I couldn’t really fault Peregrine’s ex-boyfriend, that was a weird situation.

I liked this story and I felt Peregrine was so stuck in the middle. I mean, his mom is dying! Of course he wants to please her and not upset her but then he is so lucky to have his Dad. Merry is a little immature for a while, but you can see he has potential. Fluffy and cute.

[Sadonna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute short story about a waiter, Merry, who meets a guy, Peregrine, in the last place he'd expect - New Year's Eve speed dating. They hit it off and have a great New Year's - but in the cold light of day things don't go so well when Peregrine's admits to his mother not acknowledging that he is gay and wanting him to be "settled" before she dies (she is ill). Merry has been burned before by closeted lovers and is already looking for trouble with this potential lover. Luckily fate throws them together again, but they still can't seem to get it right. With a little help from a friend though, they do manage a third shot and maybe this time they'll make it work.

I really liked the characters and style of this writer. Merry and Peregrine were entertaining and the supporting cast of characters were well done also with Peregrine's parents and Sasha and Holly-Ann. Would like to read more from this author.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a well crafted and fun story to read. The characters were human and made mistakes and when it came down to the apoligies, they both admitted their errors. :)

There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding Peregrine's actions. From my own reading of it, I can't see any evidence that Peregrine slept with ANY women at all. I see a son doing what he can to keep his dying mother happy, so he attends the date night, only to meet Merry... Peregrine doesn't flirt with any of the women and he certainly doesn't sleep with any if them.

That's my take anyway.

I love this book, it's cute, funny with an underlying bite of sarcasm. A joy to read.

[Anke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was nice enough, a fast, light little read in between, no real ups and downs. Only - the blurb didn't work for the story at all. What is described is just about a page of the whole thing. The story in fact deals with the first and second meeting between Peregrine and Merry and then their third meeting, where they acknowledge their mutual infatuation and start working on a shared future.

[jules0623 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Suze · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*
This is the second story by this author I have read and enjoyed both of them. Definitely written in Yorkshire (or Northern British English!) which I enjoyed.

This is a fairly short story but it does manage to cover a month and half, New Year's Eve to Valentine's Day. Merry and Peregrine meet on NYE at a speed dating event, Merry waiting on, Peregrine attending - and yes, they do have the Hobbit conversation! After hooking up (off page) they set the scene for the future by argueing big time.
I enjoyed the story of how they bounce off each other before finding a way to make it work. No hot sex scenes for those that want them but I didn't feel the story lacked for it, it was about their coming to terms with each others shortcomings.

27.8.15 reread - enjoyed again.

[H Beeyit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serviceable enough, but with no real spark imo. The writing seemed stiff and stilted at times, especially the dialogue.

[Dina · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars (rounded down to 3 stars, because I'm a dork and can't help loving the guys' names - Merry "Don't call me Meredith!" and Peregrine "Don't call me Pippin!")