Plus Ones by Hank Edwards
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

To start out, I have to admit I'm not a big fan of weddings, especially the five figure extravaganzas that seem to be the norm these days, so a book that features a number of the darn things might be one you would think I'd avoid. However, a book by one of my favorite authors about gay weddings is different. Not because the colors are brighter or the guests are sexier, but purely because until recently, for many men, getting married has been an impossible dream.

This subtext of the political and cultural importance of the occasion runs lightly in the background of Hank's tale about two men who sincerely want their HEA. They want the white picket fence, the shared pet/s, the certainty of knowing they have someone to share the rest of their life with.

In real life, many men have found this future and even more are looking for it. This book is about the latter. The sheer number of the false starts they make along the way is quite believable given tales I've heard from gay men today.

Using at times, hilarious and at other times, pounding sex we see the two men weave their way around the metaphorical dance floor like one of those progressive dances where they meet up by chance only to swing away with a new partner.

This isn't a case of the big misunderstanding that could easily be solved if only they talked. To have a misunderstanding you have to have a relationship that can be threatened in the first place. This is more two men both burned by love, not daring to act on gut feelings while the object of their affection seems involved with someone else.

I really enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the insight into the wistfulness, despair and the insecurities often covered up by sarcasm and flippancy that I would imagine is quite common in gay men and their relationships. Often being too scared to commit for fear of being made vulnerable to hurt as they have been so many times before.

The weddings that take place in the background, particularly that of their friends Alden and John act as a beacon of hope for the men in the book and probably reflects the situation in real life as does the bigotry and hatred that still threatens from the outside.

I once asked the noted writing guru, Debra Dixon, how to introduce conflict into humorous romance as any book without conflict is boring. Her immediate response was embarassment. Hank uses this deliberately to portray his slightly clutzy hero Evan. This sort of character easily creeps into a reader's affection.

The object of his lust, Paul, without having any of these audience grabbing attributes comes across as more aloof, but that's okay. Two people the same wouldn't work and Paul's slight off-handedness is more a product of his being betrayed on more than one occasion by people he gives or nearly gives his heart to. He recognises his faults in a very telling scene towards the end, when his boss, John, asks him to be his best man.

Hank has also done a wonderful job of portraying his secondary characters, the unforgettable Miggy and the pathetic Meryl. Even Jeremy and Adam in a few short words take on a life of their own.

"Plus Ones" has everything readers are demanding in m/m romance. There is romance, emotional involvement and lots of hot sex. Sure, for most of the book the sex is with other people, but the quality of the sex with different partners was never the problem, it is the people they are having the sex with. The little things that turn them off like the high pitched voices or weird kinks and psychological problems. To me, this is a realistic view of the world of gay men dating even if possibly concentrated and embellished for our amusement.

I have been a fan of Hank's writing for a while now, but I think "Plus Ones" is a step above the rest. There is still the light humor he does so well, but underneath that is this testament to marriage and what it means to so many gay men.

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Vancouver Nights by Hank Edwards


PWPPH = Porn with plot plus humor.
There is a lot of sex in these books, but surrounding that is a great yarn.
I enjoyed reading “Vancouver Nights” as much as I did the other two in the series. By page seven, I had done enough laughing to justify buying the book and what was even better was that the laughs continued right to the last page. Unusual in comedic books that often fizzle out half way through.
Here the sex makes a welcome break to the comedy and vice versa.
You don’t have to have read the previous two books about Charlie Heggensford to enjoy VN. In fact if you come across this one first, you can still enjoy reading them afterwards. In each book Hank has added to his great cast of characters. They come in all shapes, sizes – each an unforgettable addition to the team who work for Fluffers Inc.
Hank introduces a new character here, Ming Ho. Her intro in the first chapter in an almost slapstick routine sets the tone for the rest of the book.
To give Charlie a fresh, fertile field to play on, Hank manoeuvres him out of town and away from his work as a fluffer by having him inadvertently cause a strike in the porn industry. He is aghast to watch on the news as the porn stars:

” carried picket signs and shouted, “Hell no, we won’t blow!” as they moved gracefully within their tight bike shorts and form fitted T-shirts and tank tops. Some of the signs read “Porn Stars Are People Too,” “We Don’t Get Paid, They Don’t Get Laid,” and “Porn Stars CAN Say NO!”

Charlie has a reputation for courting disaster. If he’s not being a tad too enthusiastic in keeping a porn star hard for his next sex scene, he’s getting into all sorts of other mischief. He doesn’t go looking for trouble, trouble finds him.
He escapes the scene by travelling up to Vancouver with another great new cast member: Canyon Collingwood, the four and a half foot truck driver who gives Charlie a ride in his truck. Sex with dolls takes on a whole new meaning with him.
Throughout it all, Charlie is the same good natured country boy he was when we first met him two books ago. He puts his foot in his mouth regularly:

“It’s always good to have someone similar to you in your life. It helps me feel less abnormal.”

That of course is when he doesn’t have something more solid in there; something he can really suck on.
Hank also includes all sorts of good medical advice like when Charlie gets hives from Endora the cat:

“How ‘bout a blow job?” Brent asked, leaning in the bathroom doorframe with his beefy arms crossed over his bare, hairy chest. “Would that help clear your sinuses?”

As far as Charlie is concerned a BJ cures everything.
Inevitably, Charlie runs into the bane of his life, Cedric Wilmington:

He did not want to be anywhere near Cedric ever again, he was an evil, lying, conniving bitch who had hated him on sight. Well, maybe because Charlie had just finished sucking off Rock Harding, Cedric’s lover at the time, but that had been an honest mistake!

Poor Charlie, he’s pining for Rock and his nine inch dick, but in the meantime he’s happy to have sex with whoever takes his fancy, or should I say pants.
The story has balls of every size. Sex in every position and location. While Charlie might be your average Idaho farm boy, the guys he has very vigorous encounters with are anything but average.
In the course of the story, Charlie manages to take a nose dive into a barrel of severed hands, trip over a rotten step and end up flat on his back (a position he rarely finds himself in – too vanilla) he collides with a pole, and numerous other solid objects, get hives and has hamster shit smeared all over his face and later is covered in even worse excrement. So if even reading about animal faecal matter turns you off, just skip that bit.
There is always something new, something different around the corner you just have to keep turning the pages to see what other misadventures will befall our hapless hero including an unusual way to get drunk on champagne and escape from bound wrists in a hostage situation.
Throughout there are sentences, situations and characters to amuse. I liked this one:

“Never underestimate the power of a lesbian on a sports team.”

You just had to be there, though to really appreciate it.
This is a story where you don’t have to be beautiful to star. Yes there are hot bods, but more than that the characters have personality. They have life.
His scenes also are very vivid. I asked Hank a few questions by email and will include these in an interview on my blog.
If you’re tired of reading the same old, same old and feel in need of a laugh while being entertained by a lively plot and enough kinky sex to keep the most jaded satisfied, do yourself a favour....


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