I read the first short story in this group of four when it was published in a charity anthology just about a year ago. It was a great one with a nice HFN (happy for now) ending. At that time the author stated her intention to publish more short stories about Isamu and Brian and I was so happy to get to read Tales of Bryant.

The book contains the original short story and three new ones about Isamu Taylor and Brian Gilles and spans their first year together. Brian and Isamu’s relationship is a great age gap story. While the age difference between them is only 12 years, there is a significant difference in their social standing. Isamu is still in college while Brian is a successful businessman.

The stories are told in first person from Isamu’s perspective. The connection between these two is pretty hot and the film they make for Isamu’s school project in the first story – WOW! In the second story Brian is supposed to meet Isamu’s parents but it almost doesn’t happen which causes tension to mount. The third story is about Isamu’s struggle to balance work, an unpaid internship, his schoolwork and his lover. In the fourth we finally learn more about Brian’s background.

I have to say that I really enjoyed these stories but felt that Brian was more than a bit of a jerk at times. It seemed like Isamu was doing most of the giving in their relationship except when it came to money (but he did try to pay his own way as much as possible). We pretty much get an understanding of why Brian is the way he is but he wasn’t fully redeemed in my eyes.I’m looking forward to the next book about Brian and Isamu, Nine Small Sips (A Tales of Bryant Wedding) coming in June 2019. Perhaps Brian will become fully redeemed in this one.

Reviews for V.L. Locey

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