Love Led Them, Helen Beattie

A cute, sexy M/M short. Written by a fellow Sydneysider.

-Review by Kazza K



Look at this cover! Yum.

I have never read Helen Beattie before. Didn't know of her until I stumbled across her on MLR Press. I bought it because she is from Sydney, Australia, the cover is delicious, and I liked the premise.

I have to say this is a cute ebook, really cute. I also related to Marcus. I, sadly, also talk to inanimate objects and hope for the best :)

Marcus is a gay man hoping for a nice guy to come along. Someone meant just for him. Valentine's day is coming up after all, and it would be nice to share it with someone special. So, Marcus trundles off to the Royal Botanic Gardens and talks to a statue of Cupid, asking for someone special to come along. He's not asking for super sexydom. He's okay with having a few guys sent his way to choose from. Marcus just wants the right one somewhere in the mix.

He meets one guy later, at a pub, who has a creepy vibe, so, no. Then he gets invited to his BFF, Sam's, dinner party and meets another guy, Charlie, who is boring and self-centred. Charlie is Charlie's favourite topic of conversation. We've all met them.

Meanwhile Marcus is having dreams, whoa baby! type dreams, about this sexy, perfect guy. The dreams are hot. There are also single red roses turning up on his doorstep with a cupid sticker on them. Wow, coincidence? Or is Cupid really helping? The last rose he receives comes with instructions. I'll say no more.

A couple of things -

The book is short, I would have loved a longer one. Because of its length the characters couldn't get developed to their fullest extent and the ending was not as satisfying as I would have liked. It still put a smile on my face. It was nice. I liked the whole premise of asking Cupid to help find a little romance. Why not? I loved the references to Sydney. I know it well and it was refreshing for me, a Sydneysider, to read the street names, the area, Oxford Street is more than a street name, it's the gay epicentre of our state, much like King Street in Newtown.  The book was humorous and sexy, I liked the way the sex was written, it was pretty darn good.

Bottom line. I will definitely look for more from Helen Beattie based on the writing in Love Led Them. It was neat, tidy, humorous, sexy and the idea was a good one, a little different from some of the current crop in the genre - I like a sexy ex seal or armed serviceman too, but I need something different and Love Led Them gave me that.