The Bricklayer

Workplace Encounters #9

by Serena Yates

A Workplace Encounters Book

Mike Brown has been a bricklayer working for the same construction company since leaving high school at eighteen. While building a conservatory for a Victorian house northwest of downtown Baltimore, Mike meets Ash, the landscaper hired to restore the gardens, when Ash distractedly stumbles over some of Mike’s equipment. Mike offers to take Ash to dinner as an apology, Ash hesitantly agrees, and the two men start dating. Then Mike is pulled away from his next assignment of building fireplaces by a promotion he doesn’t want, only to be fired for incompetence two weeks later. With Ash’s support, Mike must figure out who sabotaged his work, and why, before he faces a lawsuit.

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary

133 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 15, 2015

About the author

I’m a night owl and start writing when everyone else in my time zone is asleep. I’ve loved reading all my life and spent most of my childhood with my nose buried in a book. Although I always wanted to be a writer, financial independence came first. Twenty-some years and a successful business career later I took some online writing classes and never looked back.

Living and working in eight countries has taught me that there is more than one way to get things done. It has instilled tremendous respect for the many different cultures, beliefs, attitudes, and preferences that exist on our planet.

I like exploring those differences in my stories, most of which happen to be romances. My characters have a tendency to want to do their own thing, so I often have to rein them back in. The one thing we all agree on is the desire for a happy ending.

I currently live in Canada, sharing my house with a vast collection of books. I like reading, traveling, spending time with my nieces and listening to classical music. I have a passion for science and learning new languages.

Reviews

[Serena Yates]

Released today, 15 April 2015, The Bricklayer is the first NEW Workplace Encounters book in quite a while.

It is the story of Mike Brown, who has been a bricklayer working for the same construction company since leaving high school at eighteen. He loves his work, is a stickler for detail, and prefers working with traditional materials. One day, while building a conservatory for a Victorian house northwest of downtown Baltimore, Mike meets Ash, the landscaper hired to restore the gardens. Ash is so stunned by the sight of Mike working hard, that he stumbles over some of Mike’s equipment and Mike is barely able to save him. When Mike offers to take Ash to dinner as an apology, Ash hesitantly agrees, and the two men start dating. Then Mike is pulled away from his next assignment of building fireplaces by a promotion he doesn’t want, only to be fired for incompetence two weeks later. Three of the fireplaces have collapsed, one seriously injuring a cleaner. With Ash’s support, Mike must figure out who sabotaged his work, and why, before he faces a lawsuit....

Workplace Encounters is inspired by men meeting at work - but definitely staying away from the so-called office romance. This series looks at all types of workplace, even the occasional office may play a role, but the 'romance part' is guaranteed not to take place there.

You can find the book at
Dreamspinner Press
All Romance
... and your local Amazon store.


I hope you enjoy Mike and Ash's story!

Serena

[Chappy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barely 3 stars...more like 2.5

This series is really hit and miss with me. The writing is not that great and the dialogue is uber-cheesy but sometimes I like the characters.

Not so much in this case. Mike and Ash were both perfectly nice but I didn't feel any tingles. They were just blah with no real emotional depth. I wanted more.

[Lena Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The most wonderful of all things in life is the discovery of another human being with whom one's relationship has a growing depth, beauty and joy...it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident." ~ Sir Hugh Walpole

Mike Brown of 'The Bricklayer' by Serena Yates, in general enjoys his work; but the jobs he gets the most satisfaction out of are the ones in which he can use his artistic side. He especially likes Victorian renovation and is happy with the conservatory he's building. Mike meets Ash, a landscaper, who has been hired to plan the gardens at the same project. Mike and Ash find that they are both interested in historic preservation and have the same philosophy about how it should be done. While working together, they are also interested in learning more about each other.

Mike knows he's attracted to men, but has never had a relationship, only one-time hookups, but they are not what he wants. Mike loves his family, but is getting tired of them 'waiting for him to bring a girl around' hoping he will settle down. Mike wants to meet someone he can care for deeply and build a life with, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Mike loves his job, but yearns to get away from the cookie-cutter work. When his boss throws him into a supervisory job, with no training or experience, he can't help but be resentful. The men working under him are resentful as well which makes the job even harder; but Mike does the best he can under the circumstances. Mike's relationship with Ash is great, but he has other problems. He is accused of something he didn't do, but has to find out who the culprit is in order to prove his innocence and clear his name and Ash is with him every step of the way, giving his love and support.

Like Mike, Ash loves his job at the family nursery, but wants to get into more creative landscaping. However, his father is one of those people who believes “if it ain't broke, don't fix it.” Ash, just as stubborn as his dad, goes ahead with his plans on his own, determined to convince his father that expanding may be a good thing. Ash is lonely, wanting a man to share his life with, but, as with Mike, he's not had any luck. When he meets Mike for the first time, he's totally bewildered by his reaction. Ash reasons that, yes, Mike is good-looking, but ...um...so are a lot of men. Ash can't figure out why he's so befuddled. He is far from calm and collected when they actually introduce themselves to each other. Mike finds it mildly amusing, but he is also assaulted by the same strong attraction Ash feels. Ash and Mike start dating and find that they fit together unbelievably well and have so many of the same values and philosophies about things. Ash and Mike are both concerned about rushing things, but finally give in and admit that when it feels right, it's right.

Serena has created an endearing love story, with two awesome men and put them together with brilliant results. Mike and Ash are easy to love. Their love affair is more romantic rather than erotic, but it works wonderfully well for them. Mike and Ash are good-hearted family-oriented men, with most honorable intentions toward each other. Although their relationship did develop with lightening speed, it didn't seem that way. Meeting each other was like two puzzle pieces coming together, making all right with the world. There was some conflict, but Mike and Ash worked it out using the same straightforward honesty by which they lived. I've loved many of Serena's men, but Mike and Ash now have a special place in my heart as well. The ending wasn't quite what I expected; but it was even better. If you enjoy a romantic story containing affection, honesty, double-crossing, family support, and two of the nicest men you wish you could actually meet, you will love this book. Thanks, Serena, for introducing me to these two magnificent men.

NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.

[Aerin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A shit! I was HOPING this one was going to be different and we wouldn't have to deal with one of the characters losing his job like in the previous 2 books.

Guess that's not the case. So disappointed!

4/19/15

This is the third book in the Workplace Encounters series and the best so far. It can be read as a standalone because even though the books are part of a series, they don’t have any characters in common.

One thing these books have in common so far is the theme. One of the main characters loses his job while the other MC helps him through this rough period. I wish there was more originality to the story lines. I understand the main idea is that the characters meet at their place of employment, however, there are so many exciting directions the story can take; the fact that the job loss is a recurring theme speaks of a severe lack of inspiration that results in predictable and somewhat boring stories.

I liked one of the main characters, Mike; he was a hardworking, honest man. He valued his family and his friendships, and I appreciate that in a character. However, Mike is 27 years old and still closeted. The only person who knows he is gay is his best friend, and Mike is terrified to come out to his family because he fears they will no longer love him. As a coming out story, his is unimaginative, drama-free and predictable. When he just shows up with Ash at a weekly family lunch with no warning that Ash is a male, his mother didn’t bat an eyelash (in fact, she knew he was gay, but there were no explanations as to how she came to that conclusion), and his father (who was surprised his son was gay) has always wanted a son-in-law, even though he only has three sons, so the wish for a son-in-law doesn’t make sense.

I didn’t really like Ash that much. His behavior during their first dinner date was weird and awkward, and to me, somewhat gross. I personally think rubbing your feet on a stranger you just met the day before and are trying to make an impression on, in order to figure out if the person is gay or not, is not an acceptable behavior, especially during dinner. Or maybe it’s just me since I think feet are kind of gross and I wouldn’t want anyone rubbing them on me, especially someone I don’t know very well.

The blurb hints to a mystery of who sabotaged Mike’s work in order to cause him harm. Let me warn you that if you’re looking forward to a mystery that will keep your mind engaged in trying to find out whodunit before it’s revealed you’re going to be disappointed. The person responsible is obvious, even before he does anything!!! How mysterious is that? It’s not, so I’m sorry to say the execution was poor and the plot was extremely weak.

On a good note, the grammar was virtually flawless, which is a very good thing. This book is perfect for anyone looking to read a light book, with very little drama and predictable storyline and outcome of events.

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Love Bytes Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Heart Review by Tara

This is the third installment in the Workplace Encounters series and it can be read as a standalone. Mike Brown is 27, a bricklayer, and a closeted gay man. He has been afraid to tell his family and has spent most of his days buried in the company he has worked with for nine years even though his heart lays elsewhere. He works at the company with his flaky friend Dale, and as they are working on a building a conservatory for a Victorian home, Mike stumbles upon a man that makes everything down below perk right on up. Ash is a potential landscaper that the owners of the home want to hire. He is stepping out of his father’s shadow and is trying to make the company they own not just deal with trees but landscaping as well. He sees two men working on the wall of the conservatory but one stands out the most. After he gets through the interview for the job and lands it, he goes out into the yard and forgets the advice that the hunky bricklayer gave him and almost hurts himself. Mike seeing an opportunity offers to take Ash out as an apology. On their first date after an interesting game of footsie, the two begin to date. Everything in their personal lives seems to be going in the right direction. But professionally Mike is suffering.

His boss wants to promote him to foreman which means cutting corners and not doing the intricate and detailed work that Mike wants. Unfortunately the first day on the site he is pushed into the position earlier than he expected and everything begins to falter. A week after he is in the position and facing a permanent change he receives a call that he is fired from the company due to a fireplace job he had to walk away from. Devastated he starts to push Ash away but Ash won’t let him. They look into things and discover that Mike is being made the fall guy. They band together to find the crook and for Mike the person is the last one that he would expect.

This was an okay read. I think for me I got distracted by all the terminology with the bricklaying and I got a little lost in it. Mike though is a like-able character. He take pride in his work and obviously despite not liking his job 100 percent he is loyal to the company that he is with. But of course he comes with the typical issue of hiding that he is gay to his family, a family that is apparently incredibly supported and in the end when he came out his father stands that he always wanted a son in law…kind of weird but still cute. Ash though kind of rubbed me the wrong way initially. I wasn’t totally into the weird footsie game because maybe for me it’s the whole touching feet thing. But he was what Mike needed definitely. He was so sure that Mike was who he wanted and nothing got in his way. The sex when it did finally happen all the way was nice, and it was good to see that their relationship remained solid. But the whole mystery as to who betrayed Mike when you read it is fairly obvious. Even though I must say his boss was an absolute douche-bag, kind of reminded me of my last one. So not much mystery in that aspect at all. But all in all not really my cup of tea but a good read nonetheless. If you are looking for something light, easy, with a bit of lust turned to love then this is for you.

A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review. Please visit www.lovebytesreviews.com to see this and many more reviews, author interviews, guestposts and giveaways!

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very sweet and adorable addition to the series. Mike and Ash are great together and I enjoyed watching them fall in love. I learned some interesting stuff about bricklaying and landscape architecture. The drama here was fairly well done and kept me hooked throughout.

[Holly]

Couldn't get into it.

[Caipi · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 stars