Rainbow Reviews

BOOK BLURB:
What starts out as a routine emergency call, lands Gordon Flanders and Dennis Rutherford in the thick of a madcap drag queen party gone wild. Gordon finds himself in a position to save Ben Ryder, his old lover, from a fiasco that could ruin the movie star's career. Gordon volunteers to hide the movie star from the paparazzi until he can get a flight back to L.A. Thrilled by what he sees as his second chance with the man he never got over, the star struck Gordon plans a romantic dinner for two that he hopes will set the stage for more ~ much more.

Dennis and Gordon outwardly agree love affairs and work relationships shouldn't mix. Inside Dennis' heart, however, it's a different story. Too shy to press past Gordon's defenses, he settles for being the best friend he can, even when it means helping Gordon plan the seduction of another man.

When events collide to reveal Ben's true colors, Gordon's heart is trampled in the process, and it's left to Dennis to pick up the pieces. Will Dennis finally find the courage to seize his own second chance at love? And with the stardust falling from Gordon's eyes, will he finally see the real star who has been in front of him the entire time?

BOOK REVIEW:
Claire Thompson has written another winner in "Stardust," the fourth in the Solitary Knights of Pelham Bay series. Again Ms. Thompson has managed to breathe new life into a well-tried formula ~ this time it’s a love triangle.

Dennis sees himself as “a forty-three year-old nothing special guy of average height with an average face and an average life.” Gordon has a “quirky smile, sunny disposition and full head of brown curly hair.” Ben is a successful ~ and deeply closeted ~ movie actor. Dennis is secretly in love with Gordon, while Gordon is not so secretly in love with Ben, a fact which hurts Dennis.

To say Ben is a complete dickhead would be to slander dickheads. I winced at the guy’s prima donna dietary demands. But what was worse was the way he used poor Gordon. I was mad at Gordon for letting him. To be honest Ben was over-the-top in his divaness, making him hard to believe as real. I was delighted and relieved) when half-way through the story Gordon finally saw Ben for what he was. “You scratch the surface, and there's nothing there. He's just hair dye, capped teeth, a thousand hours at the gym, expensive organic foods and a good script." Great touch that Ben’s signed photo hit the deck and shattered with the force of the door being slammed on Ben’s retreating back.

My heart ached for Gordon when the scales (or stardust) finally fell from his eyes. Ms. Thompson did a great job of portraying his anger and desolation. But the real hero of this story is Dennis. He describes himself as “the one who sits on the sidelines, watching the action. I'm the friend, the sidekick, the one the guy calls to commiserate with when the one he really wanted has fucked him over.” But what he didn’t say, couldn’t say, was that he was in love with Gordon, had been for years. Dennis was my favourite character. He had standards, he was loyal, kind, romantic. Hell, Gordon was a fool for not seeing what had been under his nose all those years. A fact Gordon later admits.

Can "Stardust" be said to have a happy-ever-after ending? Dennis describes his relationship with Gordon as a journey just begun. I’m hopeful they’ll travel it happily together. This fourth episode in The Solitary Knights series sits comfortably with its fellows. Ms. Thompson manages to pull something new and different out of the hat each time, keeping the series feeling fresh. I look forward to reading the next episode.

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. However, some books were purchased by the reviewer and not provided for free. For information on how a particular title was obtained, please contact us at reviews@rainbow-reviews.com.