Title and Link: Ten in the Bin
Author: N.R. Walker
Cover Artist: Sara York
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Amazon Buy Link Ten in the Bin
Genre: Contemporary M/M, Sports
Length: Short story/12.5 K words/45 pages approximately
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Review Summary: A tender romance between a couple of tough guys.
The Blurb
Heartbroken, Dean Cartwright leaves Sydney and heads home, to the coastal town of Newcastle. In a bid to make new friends, he signs up for a local rugby league team where he meets a man known as Macca.
Dean and Macca are both front row forwards, meaning they’re the biggest guys on the team. Over six feet tall and over a hundred kilos each, they’re a force to be reckoned with on the field. But when Dean gets knocked out, Macca gets even by punching the other guy, and both Dean and Macca end up on the sideline.
Dean soon realizes that being knocked unconscious is the best thing to ever happen to him.
The Review
You will fall for Dean and Macca in this delightful “short” about two Aussie rugby players that made me smile and even laugh out loud. This is a real sports story and I could tell that the author knew a thing or two about rugby. Even If you don’t know anything about the sport you will still enjoy the characters, but your pleasure will be enhanced if you ‘get’ the game.
Dean returned home from Sydney after his heart had been broken by his live-in lover. To take his mind off the creep who had screwed him over he signed up for one of the local rugby leagues. He was one of the biggest players but there was an even bigger front forward on the team with a name to match – Macca; no one knew his real name but it didn’t matter because everyone used nicknames.
In his first game Dean took a hit to the head from an opposing player and Macca, concerned about the possibility of concussion, drove him home which was when the real action started. What was surprising was that neither man had any idea the other one was gay so the end of the evening was not exactly what they expected.
Despite being footy buddies and similar in physical size this was a true ‘opposites attract’ romance as Dean was well educated and had a pretty good job, while Macca was just getting by because his education didn’t go beyond high school, something about which he was very sensitive. However there was one thing that Macca wasn’t afraid to do and that was to pursue Dean.
The characters were revealed layer by layer which is something that’s more apparent in longer books, so this short story exceeded my expectations. Obviously the MC’s back stories were not as extensive as one would expect from a novel or novella but the author made me feel I knew a lot about them. Macca’s background was complex and I really admired his work ethic. There was no pretense in him – what you saw was what you got; he was honest to a fault and despite his size he was very sweet and tender. Dean had a much better family situation because they loved him and did not reject him due to his sexual orientation, consequently their support made his life much better emotionally.
This book is worth more than twice the cost ($0.99). I was surprised at how believable the romance turned out and there was more than enough content for an interesting and enjoyable read. This story is told from Dean’s first person POV and the language is Aussie English.
Recommended.