Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Brent Kelly was a laid-back tradesman, whose only concerns were drinks with friends and which man to bed next. In need of a new accountant to sort out his shoebox of receipts, he’s referred to Logan Willis, a quiet spoken, science-fiction loving geek. He didn’t expect the geeky guy with an English accent and dark-rimmed glasses, wearing a TARDIS-blue shirt to be so intriguing.
He didn’t expect to be fascinated by him, let alone attracted to him. He most certainly didn’t expect to fall in love.
From jock to geek, both men know the differences between them are vast. But in this opposites-attract erotic drama, maybe it wasn’t the differences between them that would drive them apart. Maybe it was the differences between them that made it worth the fight.
Two things made this story an auto read for me. One was the author N.R. Walker and the other was the word TARDIS in the title. Yes, I am a nerd and Dr Who fan so combine that with one of my favorite authors in a M/M romance story and I’m sold. And yes, Taxes and TARDIS by N.R. Walker turned out to be the delightful romance I had hoped for when I started reading with an epilogue I have returned to more than once.
In each of N. R. Walker’s stories, she is able to use just a few sentences and well placed adjectives to create her believable, often endearing main characters. Told from Brent’s point of view, Brent’s mental descriptions of the man in front of him goes from short and shallow to increasingly long and interested. It starts as he sits in front of his new accountant, Logan Willis, who is in the process of sorting through the mass of receipts in the shoe box Brent has given him. It sort of goes from “Geek. Nerd” to a “accent made everything he said sound musical and soft” and a shirt Logan was wearing that was “the bluest blue”, a color Brent will find out is called TARDIS blue.
Within a paragraph, Walker sat us next to Brent in the chair and we watched as he became smitten of the man in front of him, something totally out of character for Brent up until now. Its charming, very sweet and connected me to these men and future relationship.
And in these scenes it also highlights another speciality of Walker’s, her ability to reflect another aspect of the narrator’s traits back at the reader through the reactions of the other main character. What I mean by that is Brent may come across, through his words and actions as one persona, yet we can start to see another deeper one reflected back to us through the actions and words of Logan who sees in Brent something different than Brent sees in himself.
These lovely layers keep piling up, deceptively thin in places, and then coming together with a power to hurt and astonishment when it comes to Brent and his past history.
The TARDIS and Dr Who. Will a reader not familiar with Dr Who enjoy the story? Absolutely. Brent knows nothing, nada, about Dr Who or what a TARDIS is…but he knows that its the means to getting to know Logan better. And what follows is an often funny, sometimes short and mumbling explanation of a TARDIS, the charms of the 10th Doctor, and other elements of the Dr Who universe but its not a large part of the story. But there is enough there to make those of us that love it cackle with glee.
I have to admit I was surprised by the setting. Its San Antonio, Texas where Brent is a self employed electrician and Logan a British accountant who had made the States his home along with his sister. I was expecting an Australian location, well, just because that’s where the author is from. I really should stop making those assumptions. Walker “speaks” American easily as she showed she could in her Red Dirt Heart series which also had a Texas element. I delighted in Brent and Logan’s story and would love to see more of their circle of friends. Bring on more, N. R. Walker! I need them like Texas needs the rain.
Cover art by Posh Gosh is simple and nice. I would have loved to have seen a little Dr Who elements on the cover but I would imagine that would have been very expensive with all the copyrights. Still no San Antonio or anything that speaks directly to the story?
Sales Links: Pride Publishing | All Romance (ARe) | Buy It Here
Book Details:
ebook, 96 pages
Published August 25th 2015 by Pride Publishing (first published April 28th 2012)
original titleTaxes and TARDIS
ISBN139781784307431
edition languageEnglish
series A Mind is a Sexy Thing
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 