Curio LGBTQ Short Read- Gay Romance
Emporium Press
Feb 1, 2024
Kindle
60
Goodreads
Llewellyn Cooper and his aunt Julia run Curio Cabinet in New York City’s West Village, where the clientele is as strange as the junk being amassed in their secondhand shop. Llewellyn and Julia have been as thick as thieves his entire life, and Llewellyn can’t imagine being anywhere else six days a week—even if Julia’s bizarre habits and inappropriate conversations drive him crazy. That’s family, though, right?
When Llewellyn drums up the nerve to chat with a routine customer—in part due to curiosity, as Henry McLaughlin returns time and again to purchase nothing but old photographs, but also because the bearded and bow tie–wearing man is the finest thing to ever step foot inside Curio—it seems like Llewellyn will finally have a plus-one for future RSVPs. But just when things start looking up in the romance department, it turns out Henry might be too strange for the Cooper family.
Review by Gloria Lakritz
Review Chair for the Paranormal Romance Guild
A very quick read from this author was a surprise……a Carroll Poe book is always a treat. Most of her murder mysteries with Larkin and Doyle and the antique store in Snow and Winter ( sorta mentioned here and there in Curio) have been her bread and butter, all set in NYC.
This newest, this quirky story set in Lower Manhattan in what NYC calls The Village. will just make her fan base go Squeeeee. I don’t know if this is a one off, but the way I read it, there could certainly be a Curio 2,,3,4.
I found the Star of the Show was the store owner of The Curio Cabinet, Julia Cooper. Julia is over 60, green haired and Aunt to nephew Llewellyn Cooper. She and Lew worked together 6 days a week buying junk and memorabilia and selling it for profit. Julia raised Lew when his parents flew the coop.
This is a sweet and almost slapstick story of a client of their shop. He comes in once a week and buys photo- graphs ….. that’s it. Lew isgay and thinks the man is gorgeous. Lew in all this time has not asked the man why he buys them and since the man pays in cash doesn’t even know his name. today might be the day.
As the man comes to pay for his purchase, Lew blurts out what is your name….. Stunned the man replies Henry. and that is all I will tell you…..It again is sweet, romantic and fun!
And Carroll….Please do a #2