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Feeling Safe
The best day of Dobbs' life was when he was rescued from his kidnappers by an elite team of soldiers. A year later, Dobbs' life should be getting back to normal, shouldn't it? Despite his best efforts, Dobbs is discovering that back to normal is a relative thing. Then he runs into a man at a party who seems to be eager to help him define his new normal. Can something good come out of his harrowing experience?
- GenresM M RomanceShort Stories
11 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 31, 2012
14 people want to read
About the author
Vic Winter
77 books30 followersHeat in real life is the bane of Vic’s life, whose favorite season is winter, and Vic’s life is far more mundane than fiction. And when it comes to fiction, the hotter the better is Vic’s motto. Make it romantic, make it sexy, make it erotic, but definitely make it hot.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 11, 2013
Uhhhhhhh, so I thought the premise was pretty awesome & I think it definitely could have gone interesting places. I just think there was too much plot crammed into such a short amount of pages. If there had been zero sex and more development, maybe this would have worked? I don't know, but that ending was random. Would love to see this longer and more development of the relationship & exploration of Dobbs' PTSD.
August 15, 2012
This review can be found at Brief Encounters Reviews.
Well, the blurb on this super short story pretty much tells it all, which is part of the problem I had with this book. As a rule I love this author’s short stories. They are usually light, the voice and tone works for me, and the characters are likable guys. All this remains true here, but there is so much missing that I felt like I was only getting sporadic glimpses of the entire story.
It starts with Dobbs waking to a nightmare shortly after his rescue by the military and he is comforted by one of the soldiers. You are never told where or why this happened. With so many Westerners kidnapped abroad, I wanted to know the circumstances of what had happened. Was it relevant to the story? Perhaps not entirely, but it would have helped me get a better feel for who Dobbs was.
Skip forward one year and he is adapting to life back home, slowly but surely. He has been unable to go back to his full-time teaching job, still finds crowds bothersome and suffers from PTSD. Despite this, his friends try to “socialize” him. One night, he tries to cope by hiding out upstairs and then later escapes to the backyard silence, where by chance he runs into his rescuer who is on leave with an injury. Before long they are back at Dobbs place and he feels that same sense of safety with the man he felt that night after his rescue. This middle part of the story I enjoyed, seeing the men reconnect and catch up with each other.
It then skips to some point in the future, where you are told Bruce is home on leave and is still making Dobbs feel safe from the nightmares. I was like “What? They’re together? For how long? How did this come to be? Where there issues? Was it easy?” As you can see, more questions than answers. I appreciated there was some kind of shared connection that lasted over time between the two men, and that being with Bruce had not “cured” Dobbs, but it felt like it just hopped ahead and kind of said “oh by the way, they are living happily ever after, the end”.
So while there is nothing inherently wrong with the writing or the characters or the idea, it felt too disjointed, skipped over some of the stuff I wanted to know about both men and their relationship, and was wrapped up just a trifle too tidily at the end with a HEA with little information on how they got there. Others may not mind the extra information being left aside, but this was not one of the author’s more engaging works for me.
Well, the blurb on this super short story pretty much tells it all, which is part of the problem I had with this book. As a rule I love this author’s short stories. They are usually light, the voice and tone works for me, and the characters are likable guys. All this remains true here, but there is so much missing that I felt like I was only getting sporadic glimpses of the entire story.
It starts with Dobbs waking to a nightmare shortly after his rescue by the military and he is comforted by one of the soldiers. You are never told where or why this happened. With so many Westerners kidnapped abroad, I wanted to know the circumstances of what had happened. Was it relevant to the story? Perhaps not entirely, but it would have helped me get a better feel for who Dobbs was.
Skip forward one year and he is adapting to life back home, slowly but surely. He has been unable to go back to his full-time teaching job, still finds crowds bothersome and suffers from PTSD. Despite this, his friends try to “socialize” him. One night, he tries to cope by hiding out upstairs and then later escapes to the backyard silence, where by chance he runs into his rescuer who is on leave with an injury. Before long they are back at Dobbs place and he feels that same sense of safety with the man he felt that night after his rescue. This middle part of the story I enjoyed, seeing the men reconnect and catch up with each other.
It then skips to some point in the future, where you are told Bruce is home on leave and is still making Dobbs feel safe from the nightmares. I was like “What? They’re together? For how long? How did this come to be? Where there issues? Was it easy?” As you can see, more questions than answers. I appreciated there was some kind of shared connection that lasted over time between the two men, and that being with Bruce had not “cured” Dobbs, but it felt like it just hopped ahead and kind of said “oh by the way, they are living happily ever after, the end”.
So while there is nothing inherently wrong with the writing or the characters or the idea, it felt too disjointed, skipped over some of the stuff I wanted to know about both men and their relationship, and was wrapped up just a trifle too tidily at the end with a HEA with little information on how they got there. Others may not mind the extra information being left aside, but this was not one of the author’s more engaging works for me.
August 2, 2012
Cute, short, and very romantic describes this short snapshot of Dobb's life after he gets rescued from being kidnapped. The story focuses on the events one year after his return, and shows how the lingering aftereffects of a traumatic event have changed Dobbs's perspective on life. The coincidence as to who comes to sweep him off his feet may be unrealistic, but it does make for a very touching story.
Dobbs is just an average guy, and the kidnapping (about we don’t hear a lot) throws him for a loop. He got rescued, but a year later he still struggles with the aftereffects. The focus of the story is on his 'new normal' – which is really all about him adapting to life at home. The man he meets and trusts implicitly is all for making that a pleasurable experience, and the two are off to a very good start once Dobbs decides to finally go for it. The gentleness between them is palpable, and yet the encounter is very hot as well. An excellent balance as far as I am concerned!
If you like short stories leaving you wishing for more, if two hot men being tender and loving together is your thing, and if you’re looking for a short, romantic piece of writing, this is it. I certainly wouldn’t mind reading more about Dobbs and Bruce, but found that even this tiny morsel left me happy and smiling.
NOTE: This book was provided by Torquere Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Dobbs is just an average guy, and the kidnapping (about we don’t hear a lot) throws him for a loop. He got rescued, but a year later he still struggles with the aftereffects. The focus of the story is on his 'new normal' – which is really all about him adapting to life at home. The man he meets and trusts implicitly is all for making that a pleasurable experience, and the two are off to a very good start once Dobbs decides to finally go for it. The gentleness between them is palpable, and yet the encounter is very hot as well. An excellent balance as far as I am concerned!
If you like short stories leaving you wishing for more, if two hot men being tender and loving together is your thing, and if you’re looking for a short, romantic piece of writing, this is it. I certainly wouldn’t mind reading more about Dobbs and Bruce, but found that even this tiny morsel left me happy and smiling.
NOTE: This book was provided by Torquere Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
August 5, 2012
Reviewed for Hearts On Fire Reviews
3.5 This is a very short story, one that could have been amazing if we had the whole background story. As it is, we get a good sense of what Dobbs’ life is at this point. It’s been (only been, we can say) a year since he was rescued after his kidnapping. He has panic attacks, trouble with crowds and loud noise, and wants to feel “better”. “Better was a relative word. As was normal”. I very much liked this sentiment, because something traumatic happening to you does change you, so yes, your normal may no longer be what you considered normal before. The return of his rescuer is fortuitous, in more ways than one.
An intriguing short story that I wish had been longer.
3.5 This is a very short story, one that could have been amazing if we had the whole background story. As it is, we get a good sense of what Dobbs’ life is at this point. It’s been (only been, we can say) a year since he was rescued after his kidnapping. He has panic attacks, trouble with crowds and loud noise, and wants to feel “better”. “Better was a relative word. As was normal”. I very much liked this sentiment, because something traumatic happening to you does change you, so yes, your normal may no longer be what you considered normal before. The return of his rescuer is fortuitous, in more ways than one.
An intriguing short story that I wish had been longer.
August 7, 2012
3.5*
This one could have been great, I think it could have been a favorite , but it was just way way too short.
I knew it was short when I bought it, but the backstory would be excellent , what did Dobbs go through? Why was he taken? How long was he gone?
And then seeing more of how Bruce and he become a couple.
*sigh* I liked this one, I did, I just liked it enough to really really wish I had more of their story!
This one could have been great, I think it could have been a favorite , but it was just way way too short.
I knew it was short when I bought it, but the backstory would be excellent , what did Dobbs go through? Why was he taken? How long was he gone?
And then seeing more of how Bruce and he become a couple.
*sigh* I liked this one, I did, I just liked it enough to really really wish I had more of their story!
Want to read
August 19, 2012$1.99 here, 15 pages
September 1, 2012
Had great potential but the ending was so random I thought...
March 27, 2013
Junk.
July 30, 2015
Lovely feel good short story.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews