ANOTHER BELIEVER

TITLE: ANOTHER BELIEVER

AUTHOR: STEPHANIE VAUGHAN

Pages: 81

Date: 20/03/2014

Grade: 3+

Details: Received from Torquere Press Publishers

            Through Love Romances and More

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The blurb:

Jonah Simpson might be an athlete, but he's nobody's fool.  It just so happens he appreciates what's between a guy's ears almost as much as what he's packing elsewhere.  So when he spots an open seat next to serious but sexy David, the usually boring train ride up the Pacific coast quickly becomes an exercise in speed-dating.  He's only got a few hours to get the nerd with an attitude to take him seriously.

David Sato has spent a lifetime being ignored by the hot guys at school.  It doesn't take a genius IQ to know that if a jock is being nice to him, there must be a test coming up.  So when the hottest guy David's ever laid eyes on -- let alone sat next to on a train – starts flirting with him, what's a robot-loving, socially awkward science geek to do?

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My thoughts:

“Something about David’s face put Jonah in mind of an angel. An angel who gave really good head.”

‘Another Believer’ is a charming story. Two young men meet on a train on their way to college and use the twenty-four hours before they arrive to their best advantage.

David Sato is a studious and very intelligent young man with the IQ of a genius and the nerdy attitude to match it. Convinced that his looks are nothing special he is used to other guys only ever paying attention to him when they need something from him; help with their studies and exams. In his fantasies these encounters may be romantic and sexy, he knows from experience that in real life he is not attractive enough to capture anybody’s attention. Especially not the attention of a beautiful male specimen like the young man who takes a sit next to David on the train.

Jonah Simpson is an athlete who appreciates there is more to life than sport. In fact, he likes and enjoys intelligence about as much as he enjoys a soft but firm body. When he sees David on the train to college he feels an immediate attraction to the serious looking young man and takes advantage of the vacant seat next to him. He wants David and is only too aware of the fact that he doesn’t have a lot of time to achieve his goal. And David’s stand-offish attitude doesn’t make matters any easier. Jonah has to apply all his wit, patience and seductive techniques in order to convince David that he really is interested in him and doesn’t have a secret agenda. Even after a wonderful and mind-blowing few hours, it will take all of Jonah’s powers of persuasion to convince David that this was not a once off for the journey. Jonah wants to continue what he’s started when they arrive at college, and he’ll find a way of convincing David of that regardless of what it might take.

This is going to be one of my shorter reviews. There really isn’t that much happening in this novella apart from what I’ve described above. Not that I’m complaining; like I said, this is a charming romance. It is also a well written and fun story. The banter between David and Jonah is sharp and quick enough to put a semi-permanent smile on your face.

 The contrast between the two characters was both vivid and amusing. Jonah’s carefree and easygoing manner was the complete opposite of David’s dark and suspicious mind. I loved the way these two men sparked off each other. And I couldn’t help being touched by David’s constant battle between wanting to believe that maybe Jonah really was interested in him and his conviction that a man like Jonah could never feel attracted to someone like him.

With the story taking place over the course of one train journey taking about 24 hours, the characters don’t have the time to really get to know each other in depth, and neither does the reader. While that makes complete sense in this story I couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed. We see enough of David and Jonah to become curious about them, only for that curiosity to remain unsatisfied by the time the story ends. In fact, this novella left me curious enough to hope that maybe the author might revisit these characters in the future and give us a glimpse of their relationship after they arrive at their destination.

As it is this was a sweet, easy to read and mildly sexy story that kept me entertained but also left me yearning for more.