A Taste of Desert Green Gay Romance, LGBTQ Romance, Contemporary Romance
Dreamspinner Press
August 23, 2022
Kindle
302
Amazon
Struggling business owner George is stuck in the past. Rootless Zephyr lives only in the present. Can they find the courage to build a future together?
At thirty years old, George Harlow is at risk of becoming as fossilized as the prehistoric tourist attraction he inherited—the one that’s headed the way of the dinosaurs. Even if staying afloat didn’t take all his energy, the dating pool in his town is as dry as the desert surrounding it. As for the family trauma from his past? That can stay buried.
Then Zephyr Steiber blows into his life.
Zephyr lives up to his name, drifting wherever Fate takes him, sometimes renting his body in exchange for a ride. With his high heels and lace and bright personality, Zephyr brings a spark of life to George’s dried-up existence.
For a while Zephyr is content to shelter in George’s refuge and to be George’s solace in return. Together they create an oasis. But with Zephyr haunted by the ghosts of bad decisions, and with George’s home and livelihood threatened by a global pandemic, can their tentative dreams for a future together survive reality?
Reviewed by Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
George Harlow’s grandfather began the Fossil Galaxy Museum; it was taken over by his dad and now him. Business isn’t great but with the planned bypass on the highway there will be even less business. The museum is filled with fossils, plastic dinosaurs and is the only tourist attraction in Conrad Junction; but of course there is very little of value or excitement in this small town. George is determined to run the museum and keep his grandfather’s legacy alive, but it won’t be long before the museum is as extinct as the dinosaurs.
One night taking out the garbage George comes across a badly injured young man sitting behind the dumpster and George being the kind of man he is immediately takes the man into his home. Zepher was just beaten to a pulp by a trucker and as a man who sells his body when necessary to survive it is not something unfamiliar to him. George supplies Zepher with clothes, his gorgeous skirt and fancy blouse did not survive the beating in addition to food, drink and shower. George even gave up his bed for a stranger he never saw before but one who needed his help.
The next day Zepher left but returned a few months later. The relationship between Zepher and George would be one where Zepher would appear, disappear and show up unexpected again. The next time he paid a visit Zepher was dressed to the hilt and handed George a wad of money, he apparently found a sugar daddy. And once again he left. George is suffering through each of Zepher’s visits wanting him to stay which he never does.
Time goes by and George is just about scraping through but his friends never let him go hungry and are always there for him, but he wants to have someone to live with and love and Zepher is that someone. Unfortunately, Zepher is a like rambling rose never setting down permanent roots. Then the sugar daddy assaults him and he runs to his hero, George. This time Zepher’s ex will bring pain to both he and George and not necessarily the pain one gets from fists.
This was a beautiful story of two men each carrying baggage from their pasts, one who wants to set down roots and one who can’t imagine being tied down. They each deserve love but I won’t reveal whether they get their HEA. I found the condition George suffered from quite interesting and not something I had heard of before; various colors have a taste to him and so color is not plentiful in his life.
A wonderful story that I highly recommend. Of course, the pandemic takes place in this book’s timeline and it was a sad reminder of what we all went through.
