His Steady Heart By Nell Iris
Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM
Released: May 25, 2019
Publisher: JMS Books
Length: 25,600 words approx..
Ashley “Buck” Buchanan moved back home to take care of his sick mother when he was 22. That was the first time he met Pippin, the neglected 6-year-old boy next door. Fifteen years later, Buck, a caretaker by nature, offers up his couch for Pippin, who needs a break from his mom and a quiet place to sleep.
Pippin Olander is a ray of sunshine despite his emotionally lacking upbringing and works hard to make a better life for himself. Even though he’s fiercely self-sufficient, he learns to accept help from Buck, his rock and the only steady presence in his life.
Their friendship deepens and grows into something more as they spend time together. But when other people try to throw a wrench in the works, when Pippin’s independence is triggered, can Buck and Pippin trust in the love they’ve found?
Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003
A very sweet short story.
Nell Iris has been at the top of my list for MM short stories for quite a while now. While His Steady Heart didn’t hit me quite as powerfully as some of her others, I still liked it a lot. It’s a really sweet story with a slow burn that leads to fade-to-black intimacy between the two main characters.
Buck is a big bear of a man so most people assume he wants to take control in the bedroom. What he really wants is someone to love and care for; not someone to control. Pippin is 16 years younger than Buck but he grew up much faster than any kid should have to.
Buck can’t stand to see Pippin sitting out in the cold while his mother “entertains” her gentlemen friends so he invites him to come in and use his couch. As the months go by their friendship looks like it’s heading towards more but then life outside forces try to change everything.
Buck is such a gentle soul and a natural care-giver. Pippin is fiercely independent and doesn’t want charity. These two are so sweet together. While a short story doesn’t allow for a lot of character development, Nell Iris is a master at giving us enough details in few words so that you still feel like you know Buck and Pippin.
I loved the epilogue – like the rest of the story it’s short and concise but we find out how they are getting on farther on down the road.
♥♥♥♥
O Factor: Sweet
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Nell Iris is a romantic at heart who believes everyone deserves a happy ending. She’s a bona fide bookworm (learned to read long before she started school), wouldn’t dream of going anywhere without something to read (not even the ladies’ room), loves music (and singing along but, let’s face it, she’s no Celine Dion), and is a real Star Trek nerd (“Make it so”). She loves words, poetry, wine, and Sudoku, and absolutely adores elephants!
Nell believes passionately in equality for all regardless of race, gender, or sexuality, and wants to make the world a better, less hateful, place.
Nell is a forty-something bisexual Swedish woman, married to the love of her life, and a proud mama of a grown daughter. She left the Scandinavian cold and darkness for warmer and sunnier Malaysia a few years ago, and now spends her days writing, surfing the Internet, enjoying the heat, and eating good food. One day she decided to chase her lifelong dream of being a writer, sat down in front of her laptop, and wrote a story about two men falling in love.
Nell Iris writes gay romance, prefers sweet over angst, and wants to write diverse and different characters.
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