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OC Pride #2
Crossing the Line
Jamie has it all--he owns a ritzy car repair shop, his own home on the beach. But he's lonely. His last lover, Ben, has moved on and Jamie's been carrying a torch for him. When a business meeting puts him in Le Grande Louisienne at Ryan's table, he is immediately drawn to the waiter and leaves his name and number, but Ryan doesn't call, so Jamie has to make other plans, finally convincing Ryan to meet with him. Ryan's last partner died, and while it's been a long time, he's still hesitant to start a relationship with anyone else. Jamie almost gives up, but then Ryan agrees to a date, and to tell Jamie about his ex-lover, Mark. After being burned that bad, Ryan is very skittish, and Jamie can't really blame him. With all of that out in the open, their relationship can start to progress. It's not always easy. Between Jamie's ex showing back up, and Ryan's old lover's family, there's always something keeping them on their toes. Can Jamie get what he needs from Ryan? Find out in this sequel to Jumping the Fence.!
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First published August 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 27, 2009
Crossing the Line was so perfectly natural in the way it unfolded, I felt as if I were reading a biography rather than a fictional romance. Jamie and Ryan were so very real. At first I was a bit put off by the O.C. mechanic thing, feeling as if it was just going to be a fan fiction of one of those reality shows. Oh, boy, was I wrong. Jamie is such a wonderful character: gruff, honest, reliable, competent, and a bit stunted in the emotional department. He goes after other men who are pretty young things and discovers how to “buy” them. Not in a sugar daddy way, but in an attempt to keep them with him. It was heartbreakingly clueless and sweet at the same time.
Ryan, on the other hand, is much more savvy in the relationship area but is still hurting over his previous lover. But Jamie’s straightforward and earnest attention begins to thaw Ryan out, much to his consternation. I thoroughly enjoyed Ryan’s blossoming, through each hiccough and panicky halt.
What was really wonderful about Vaughan’s writing was that she slowly revealed the facts, letting me get closer and closer to the characters a bit at a time. Not only did it make me want to know more, but it made me really care about and sympathize with them. I could feel Jamie’s frustration at not knowing how to handle the situation and not wanting to “play games”. I could understand Ryan’s reticence, more and more as his history was revealed.
The sex scenes were truly hot and involving as only ones rendered with emotion can be. It’s a slowly building fire, but magnificent once it flares. I enjoyed every scene and could feel them using sex as another means to truly discover each other. Their personalities were so clear and yet so different even in sex: Ryan’s openness and willingness, Jamie’s need to get it on and wanting more, but unsure how to get it or if he deserves it.
And that was another thing that I appreciated. For once, it was the more “manly” man who had self-doubt and self-esteem issues. The rich man who believes he can only get what he can buy because he’s not good enough to catch someone on looks and personality alone. I liked that part of Jamie, again, making him real and solid as a character.
Not only was it a great story with amazing characters without all the tired over-emotionalism, but as a bonus, I found no technical errors in the writing.
I whole-heartedly recommend this to anyone who wants to read a good story about a couple of guys with plenty of baggage but without the need to open up and examine every suitcase and weep and angst over it. Two guys who fall into love and struggle to really understand it and keep it. Excellent book!
Ryan, on the other hand, is much more savvy in the relationship area but is still hurting over his previous lover. But Jamie’s straightforward and earnest attention begins to thaw Ryan out, much to his consternation. I thoroughly enjoyed Ryan’s blossoming, through each hiccough and panicky halt.
What was really wonderful about Vaughan’s writing was that she slowly revealed the facts, letting me get closer and closer to the characters a bit at a time. Not only did it make me want to know more, but it made me really care about and sympathize with them. I could feel Jamie’s frustration at not knowing how to handle the situation and not wanting to “play games”. I could understand Ryan’s reticence, more and more as his history was revealed.
The sex scenes were truly hot and involving as only ones rendered with emotion can be. It’s a slowly building fire, but magnificent once it flares. I enjoyed every scene and could feel them using sex as another means to truly discover each other. Their personalities were so clear and yet so different even in sex: Ryan’s openness and willingness, Jamie’s need to get it on and wanting more, but unsure how to get it or if he deserves it.
And that was another thing that I appreciated. For once, it was the more “manly” man who had self-doubt and self-esteem issues. The rich man who believes he can only get what he can buy because he’s not good enough to catch someone on looks and personality alone. I liked that part of Jamie, again, making him real and solid as a character.
Not only was it a great story with amazing characters without all the tired over-emotionalism, but as a bonus, I found no technical errors in the writing.
I whole-heartedly recommend this to anyone who wants to read a good story about a couple of guys with plenty of baggage but without the need to open up and examine every suitcase and weep and angst over it. Two guys who fall into love and struggle to really understand it and keep it. Excellent book!
May 29, 2011
3.5 stars. Good m/m romance about a guy who owns a lucrative import car repair business. He hasn't had much luck with love, but that doesn't stop him from pursuing a handsome, skittish waiter.
January 30, 2021
I didn't like Jamie's attitude in the beginning. He was basically forcing Ryan to go home with him even though Ryan was constantly saying "I'm not ready" and " I can't ". Was Jamie that desperate for sex?
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April 24, 2009Are you tired of me? You have enough of all my amateur reviews on M/M romance? If the answer is yes, well blame it on Stephanie Vaughan and on her Crossing the Line. This is my first M/M romance and if I didn't like it so much more than 2 years ago, today you would be free from my presence on LJ. I still have the original file, it's dated February 27, 2006. In that period I was bored, or maybe full, of classical romance. I was trying some new genre, was pretty taken by the Carpathians of Christine Feehan, but still I hadn't found a genre which really took me. And then a friend of mine dared me to read an M/M romance and Crossing the line was the choice. I believe that all of you know what happened next 1.145 M/M romance books and 650 reviews later (and yes I don't review all the book I read...) I'm still reading M/M romance and this is all fault of Stephanie Vaughan.
Jamie is a mechanic for wealthy people. He has a garage like a private clinic, only the richer can afford his prices and times. And he is also an handsome man, built like a brick, well "endowed" and caring. But till now he has only met greedy twinks or men who want only a friends with benefits relationship (like Ben, the main character of the previous book, Jumping the Fence). But Jamie is read for a steady relationship, even if he is still attract from the fair type of man.
Ryan is just his type. Blond, beach boys look, with almost a noble aurea around him. He is a waiter in Jamie's favourite restaurant and usually Jamie is used to go home with the waiters he fancies. But Ryan is not is usual pretty boy, he is just out from a long term relationship ended with the death of his lover, and he thinks to not be ready for climb again upon the horse. And so he offers resistance to Jamie's approaches and this awakens Jamie's interest. Now he wants Ryan more than before.
I like Jamie, he is a self-made man with a successful life but still he remains inside the poor gay guy who had to watch behind his shoulders. He can be strong in body but he is very fragile in soul. But he has not a frozen heart, au contraire he is till much open and exposed to hearbreaks. He needs a very careful man to comprehend and love him as he deserves.
Ryan is a man aged too fast. He jumped from careless sex to steady relationship with an older man in a blink of an eye, and after his lover's death, he has repressed his pain, maybe cause he thought to not deserve to suffer. And even if he has decided to give up for a bit to men and relationships, when he meets Jamie, he can't deny this wonderful man he stumbles upon. If only he would manage to convince the man to be wonderful...
As you can image the story is not so complex or full of twists... it's a pure and classical romance, very tender and sweet, but also pretty hot when we arrive to the sex scenes. It's a right way to start reading this type of romance, if you are not used to them, and an enjoyable and satisfying reading if you are addicted to them. I re-read it, more I re-bought it, initially to see if the author changed something, but in the end I read the second book without neither open the previous one.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1603703845/?...
Jamie is a mechanic for wealthy people. He has a garage like a private clinic, only the richer can afford his prices and times. And he is also an handsome man, built like a brick, well "endowed" and caring. But till now he has only met greedy twinks or men who want only a friends with benefits relationship (like Ben, the main character of the previous book, Jumping the Fence). But Jamie is read for a steady relationship, even if he is still attract from the fair type of man.
Ryan is just his type. Blond, beach boys look, with almost a noble aurea around him. He is a waiter in Jamie's favourite restaurant and usually Jamie is used to go home with the waiters he fancies. But Ryan is not is usual pretty boy, he is just out from a long term relationship ended with the death of his lover, and he thinks to not be ready for climb again upon the horse. And so he offers resistance to Jamie's approaches and this awakens Jamie's interest. Now he wants Ryan more than before.
I like Jamie, he is a self-made man with a successful life but still he remains inside the poor gay guy who had to watch behind his shoulders. He can be strong in body but he is very fragile in soul. But he has not a frozen heart, au contraire he is till much open and exposed to hearbreaks. He needs a very careful man to comprehend and love him as he deserves.
Ryan is a man aged too fast. He jumped from careless sex to steady relationship with an older man in a blink of an eye, and after his lover's death, he has repressed his pain, maybe cause he thought to not deserve to suffer. And even if he has decided to give up for a bit to men and relationships, when he meets Jamie, he can't deny this wonderful man he stumbles upon. If only he would manage to convince the man to be wonderful...
As you can image the story is not so complex or full of twists... it's a pure and classical romance, very tender and sweet, but also pretty hot when we arrive to the sex scenes. It's a right way to start reading this type of romance, if you are not used to them, and an enjoyable and satisfying reading if you are addicted to them. I re-read it, more I re-bought it, initially to see if the author changed something, but in the end I read the second book without neither open the previous one.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1603703845/?...
March 11, 2010
I can’t quite decide if I liked this one or not.
Jamie and Ryan are easily identifiable as just men, in all their flaws and virtues. I don’t think I particularly liked Jamie, but that might have been because I was floundering a bit. The face he presents to the world doesn’t look the same as the man he percieves himself to be, and neither image is how he is seen by others outside himself. He’s a bundle of nerves and insecurities and contradictions. The further into the story I went, and the more the POV shifted from Jamie to Ryan and back again, the more confused I became as to how I, the reader, was supposed to see him. This made Jamie seem less like a fully-realized character to me, and more like an unstable one. I never did manage to sort him out in my head as a whole person instead of a collection of bits and pieces.
Ryan, however, I adored. I don’t want to use the word “angsty” to describe him, because it seems like such a shallow word to use regarding the real, heart-breaking emotional problems this poor man has gone through. I think I’d rather use the word “sorrowful.” Ryan is that guy you see on the bus, or in the elevator, and he greets you with a smile and a cheery word about the weather, and you never realize that he’s trying his best just to get on with life.
Loved the cat. Hated the step-son. Was bemused by Ryan’s mother.
There are a lot of redeeming qualities in this story, but while I certainly appreciate all the fine things about it, I don’t think I can say that I had much fun reading it.
Jamie and Ryan are easily identifiable as just men, in all their flaws and virtues. I don’t think I particularly liked Jamie, but that might have been because I was floundering a bit. The face he presents to the world doesn’t look the same as the man he percieves himself to be, and neither image is how he is seen by others outside himself. He’s a bundle of nerves and insecurities and contradictions. The further into the story I went, and the more the POV shifted from Jamie to Ryan and back again, the more confused I became as to how I, the reader, was supposed to see him. This made Jamie seem less like a fully-realized character to me, and more like an unstable one. I never did manage to sort him out in my head as a whole person instead of a collection of bits and pieces.
Ryan, however, I adored. I don’t want to use the word “angsty” to describe him, because it seems like such a shallow word to use regarding the real, heart-breaking emotional problems this poor man has gone through. I think I’d rather use the word “sorrowful.” Ryan is that guy you see on the bus, or in the elevator, and he greets you with a smile and a cheery word about the weather, and you never realize that he’s trying his best just to get on with life.
Loved the cat. Hated the step-son. Was bemused by Ryan’s mother.
There are a lot of redeeming qualities in this story, but while I certainly appreciate all the fine things about it, I don’t think I can say that I had much fun reading it.
August 27, 2016
2.5 stars (C-)
This story was pretty boring. Nothing much happens except the developing relationship between Jamie and Ryan and getting past their insecurities and issues with previous lovers. But the sex was pretty amazing which raised my grade just a tad.
This story was pretty boring. Nothing much happens except the developing relationship between Jamie and Ryan and getting past their insecurities and issues with previous lovers. But the sex was pretty amazing which raised my grade just a tad.
September 12, 2010
A very touching love story. Outstanding
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews