The Law of
Attraction
Title: The Law of Attraction
Author: Jay Northcote
Publisher: Jaybird Press (self
published)
Length: 62,000 words
Genre: Contemporary gay romance
Cover Artist: Garrett Leigh
Release Date: Friday 5th of February
2016
Series info: This book is a standalone
Blurb
When a
professional relationship turns personal, it’s impossible to resist the law of
attraction.
Alec Rowland is a high-flying lawyer in a London firm
whose career is his life. He doesn’t have time for relationships and his
sexuality is a closely guarded secret. After picking up a cute guy on a Friday
night, Alec’s world is rocked to its foundations when his one night stand shows
up in the office on Monday morning—as the new temp on his team.
Ed Piper is desperate to prove himself in his new job.
The last thing he needs is to be distracted by a crush on his boss. It’s hard
to ignore the attraction he feels, even though Alec’s a difficult bastard to
work for.
Both men strive to maintain a professional
relationship, but tempers fray, passions ignite, and soon they’re both falling
hard and fast. If they’re ever going to find a way to be together, Alec needs
to be honest about who he really is because Ed won’t go back in the closet for
anyone.
Excerpt
His companion was still watching him, seemingly
waiting for him to make his move. Alec felt irrationally irritated. This wasn’t
how it was supposed to go. Even though he only did it occasionally, picking up
men was easy for Alec. Buying a drink was more than he usually bothered to do
for the twinks he hooked up with when he was in the mood for a warm body to
fuck. Alec was well aware of his own attractiveness and used it to his
advantage. A crook of a finger, a tilt of his head, or even just a look was
usually enough to make them come running.
But this guy didn’t seem to know the rules of the
game.
“Strong, silent type, huh?” He suddenly grinned at
Alec, all neat white teeth and dimples. “You could start by telling me your
name. Mine’s Ed.”
“Alec.” He handed a note to the barman as he came back
with their drinks. “Keep the change.”
“Cheers, mate.” The barman winked as he pocketed the
tip.
Ed’s eyebrows lifted. “Change from a twenty? You must
have money to burn.”
“Something like that.” Alec let his gaze rake
deliberately down Ed, examining him from the front this time. His arms were
still folded over his chest and his T-shirt had ridden up enough to expose a
feathered line of hair on his belly, leading down to a nice-looking package in
obscenely tight skinny jeans. “I hope you bottom?”
Ed blinked and choked on his mouthful of rum and Coke.
Alec suppressed the urge to grin, enjoying the fact that Ed had momentarily
lost his cool.
“I’ve been known to,” Ed replied, rallying. He licked
his lips.
“Good.” Alec held his gaze, noting with satisfaction
that Ed’s pupils had blown wide and his lips parted as Alec looked at them.
God, he had a pretty mouth. Alec lifted his glass and downed his drink. The
burn of the whisky tore through him and made his nerves tingle with anticipation.
He needed a good fuck; it had been too long. “Drink up, then.”
My thoughts:
What can I say? This is another winner for Jay
Northcote. I haven’t read a book by this author that I haven’t loved and The
Law of Attraction was no exception to that rule. There is so much to
enjoy in this book. The story kicks off with a very hot one-night-stand except
that what should have been a once-off encounter between two men, Alec and Ed,
who never meet again turns into a complicated situation when Ed turns up at
Alec’s office two days later to start work as part of Alec’s team.
Ed is easy going and completely comfortable with who
and what he is. Alec on the other hand is deep in the closet with no intention
of ever coming out, which makes his undeniable attraction to Ed extremely
frustrating.
Ed is just as attracted to Alec but not prepared to
conduct a secret affair, no matter how much he wants to be with Alec. Alec will
have to man up, come to terms with who he really is, and out himself to his
family and colleagues if he wants to have a chance at a future with the man
he’s falling for…hard.
The Law of Attraction is a long book,
compared to Jay Northcote’s other stories but I found it just as difficult to
put down once I started reading as I did the novellas. Alec and Ed sucked me in
to their world and it wasn’t long before I was rooting for them and urging Alec
to get his act together. I have to admit that there were moments, especially
early on in the story, when I had a hard time liking Alec. His frustration
makes him treat Ed in less than honorable ways and for a while it was only the
fact that Ed wasn’t prepared to condemn Alec which stopped me from doing so.
Ed on the other hand is easy to like and love. And
once Alec does let his guard down and allows Ed to see who he really is, I
forgot all my issues with him and rooted for both of them.
For a story in which one of the main characters has
major issues, The Law of Attraction was remarkably angst-free, which suited
me just perfectly. As I’ve come to expect from this author, the book was also
very well written, the characters well developed and the sex scenes hot as well
as tender. The Law of Attraction was a joy to read and yet another
confirmation—if I needed one—of Jay Northcote’s prowess when it comes to
telling a gripping and memorable story.
Buy
Links:
Author Bio:
Jay lives just outside Bristol in the West of
England, with her husband, two children, and two cats.
She comes from a family of writers, but she
always used to believe that the gene for fiction writing had passed her by. She
spent years only ever writing emails, articles, or website content. One day,
she decided to try and write a short story–just to see if she could–and found
it rather addictive. She hasn’t stopped writing since.
