A Bit of Rough by Laura Baumbach

I have been on a downloading spree for gay romances on my nook. It's so crazy! And so much fun. Before this I was totally ignorant of the indie publishing world, especially ebooks. But wow, it's such a huge and diverse business! (It's also filled with tons of bad covers and bad titles but hey, that seems to be rather prevalent in the publishing world of sex and romance.)

Anyway, on to the review!

After finishing Mexican Heat by Laura Baumbach and Josh Lanyon, I decided to hunt down more of Baumbach's works. The first book I read written solely by Baumbach was A Bit of Rough. Here's a summary, courtesy of Goodreads:

Architect James Justin impulsively lets himself be picked up in a biker bar by seductive hunk Bram Lord for a one nightstand that turns into something bigger. The physically impressive, forceful stranger meets, matches and exceeds James' sexual fantasies, but can shy, uncertain James be everything the strongly committed Bram wants?

 I have to admit: the fact that James was an architect was the big draw. I love geeky professions! Who doesn't? Anyway, this story totally delivered. Sweet, romantic and very sexy, a one nightstand - literally: they do it in an alley - that turns into something real. 

The only part that threw me was just how fast Bram fell for James. The summary says that Bram is "strongly committed" but I think that is an understatement. And of course, because Bram is Mr. Alpha Male he's all "Rawr! My mate!" which is just a little disconcerting. I don't know how comfortable I would be if someone suddenly declared they were in love with me and made me the center of their world. It can be rather frightening.It's nice how well James takes it!

The only real conflict in the story is James' reluctance to be "out." While he is definitely honest with himself about being gay, he's not very comfortable with having the rest of the world know. This is contrasted with Bram who introduces James to everyone in his life just a few days after their first night together.

Overall, A Bit of Rough is a really sweet story. If you can just suspend your disbelief about how quickly the characters fall in love with each other - a rather common thing in gay romances - then you will definitely enjoy this book.

Oh, and there's a sequel: Roughhousing.