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A review by lyssachelle
Fair Trade by Cate Ashwood
4.0
Cate Ashwood’s tale of one-night-stand turned surprise coworkers is a great premise, but in the end I was left feeling like the story didn’t live up to its potential. There’s a lot to love, but so much more that could have been!
I was excited to read this because “We had great sex and thought it was a one-time thing, but UH OH, you’re my ________” is one of my favorite tropes. In this story, we get not one but TWO nights of passion before Nick and Callum realize they’re coworkers. Meeting up at an out-of-town bar and having a great night of sex, grumpy medic Callum is willing to leave it at that, but Nick keeps haunting his mind. The draw of a second night is too great, but any idea of a third is soundly stamped out when Callum discovers that Nick is the new recruit that is replacing his partner. Annnnd, there’s no fraternization. Nick and Callum try to remain professional but, as they get to know each other, their chemistry leads to feelings. And a HEA, natch.
Fair Trade is very good but needed more to be a 5 star read for me. The chemistry is hot, the kink is light but steamy, and the eventual true affection is just lovely. It was interesting that Callum was older but less dominant, but they don’t make a big deal about it. Callum isn’t weighed down with baggage about what that means for his (toxic) masculinity, and Nick respects and appreciates Callum for his age and experience, even as he doms the hell out of him. I appreciated that Callum and Nick stayed interested in each other, but professional while they were working, with no back-of-the-ambulance hanky panky. They are in a high-pressure medical field and respected their jobs and the people they cared for.
The problem is, Fair Trade had a hint of a lot of really great plot points but they just did not completely pay off. I just had the weird sense that there should be more to the story, like characters and character arcs were being set up, and yet did not go anywhere. The first, glaringly obvious one is that this is part of the Bold Brew shared universe, but they visit once and you could have switched the name “Bold Brew” with “Starbucks” and no one would be the wiser.
There were hints of background characters that I thought would play a bigger role than they did, and I expected more calls, more interactions with the community. The setup of Nick and his overbearing sisters could have been fun and funny...but instead just faded off the page.
For instance—Iris was a nice addition and her death was upsetting if a little predictable. (If there’s a wacky old lady, she’s gonna spit some wisdom that turns the whole book around, or she’s gonna kick the bucket as a plot point. Guaranteed.) However, I didn’t feel her death as deeply as I should have because we meet her in Chapter 13 and she’s gone by Chapter 15. I mean, I love old ladies as plot points! Give me the ALL wacky and slightly inappropriate women who have no more f*cks to give and say what they want! Have them teach me their ways! But Iris is supposedly so important that Nick completely loses sight of his training, and she’s only in a few dozen pages.
(though, while I complain about Iris’s death, the scene in which Callum takes care of Nick, and then vice versa, in the aftermath is achingly sweet.)
My biggest letdown is that there was SUCH a quick turn from Callum’s realization that a relationship with Nick will not end up like his previous one in Harrison, to undying love confessions and resolution. Callum is staying away not only because of the no fraternization policy but also because of something in his past. “Harrison” is literally mentioned once in Chapter 2 before it’s mentioned on one page in Chapter 19 and is used as the reason that Callum pushes Nick aside, and then Callum suddenly realizes that it won’t be like Harrison and he will do anything to keep Nick in Chapter 21. Nick literally says, “Who is Harrison,” and I was right there with him because I had forgotten about it completely! Harrison was apparently a big turning point in Callum’s life, but we aren’t able to deal with or understand the trauma that he was dealing with, and the story is poorer for it.
Honestly, this feels like a full-length novel that the author wasn’t able to finish. And not because they ran out of material, as the author has set up more than a few avenues for exploration, but like they ran out of time. You can tell when an author just gives up or writes themselves into a corner, and this wasn’t it. If I found out that the author had a maximum word count to meet and had to pare the story down and I’d 1000% believe it. This needed about five more chapters for it to be 5 stars.
While I’m disappointed in the brevity of this story, I do think it’s a worthwhile read! I read it with more of a critical eye but, as a casual reader, I’m sure you’ll be able to enjoy it for what it is—a sweet, low-angst love story.
**I received this as an ARC from Gay Romance Reviews, this is my honest and unbiased review**
I was excited to read this because “We had great sex and thought it was a one-time thing, but UH OH, you’re my ________” is one of my favorite tropes. In this story, we get not one but TWO nights of passion before Nick and Callum realize they’re coworkers. Meeting up at an out-of-town bar and having a great night of sex, grumpy medic Callum is willing to leave it at that, but Nick keeps haunting his mind. The draw of a second night is too great, but any idea of a third is soundly stamped out when Callum discovers that Nick is the new recruit that is replacing his partner. Annnnd, there’s no fraternization. Nick and Callum try to remain professional but, as they get to know each other, their chemistry leads to feelings. And a HEA, natch.
Spoiler
Fair Trade is very good but needed more to be a 5 star read for me. The chemistry is hot, the kink is light but steamy, and the eventual true affection is just lovely. It was interesting that Callum was older but less dominant, but they don’t make a big deal about it. Callum isn’t weighed down with baggage about what that means for his (toxic) masculinity, and Nick respects and appreciates Callum for his age and experience, even as he doms the hell out of him. I appreciated that Callum and Nick stayed interested in each other, but professional while they were working, with no back-of-the-ambulance hanky panky. They are in a high-pressure medical field and respected their jobs and the people they cared for.
The problem is, Fair Trade had a hint of a lot of really great plot points but they just did not completely pay off. I just had the weird sense that there should be more to the story, like characters and character arcs were being set up, and yet did not go anywhere. The first, glaringly obvious one is that this is part of the Bold Brew shared universe, but they visit once and you could have switched the name “Bold Brew” with “Starbucks” and no one would be the wiser.
There were hints of background characters that I thought would play a bigger role than they did, and I expected more calls, more interactions with the community. The setup of Nick and his overbearing sisters could have been fun and funny...but instead just faded off the page.
For instance—Iris was a nice addition and her death was upsetting if a little predictable. (If there’s a wacky old lady, she’s gonna spit some wisdom that turns the whole book around, or she’s gonna kick the bucket as a plot point. Guaranteed.) However, I didn’t feel her death as deeply as I should have because we meet her in Chapter 13 and she’s gone by Chapter 15. I mean, I love old ladies as plot points! Give me the ALL wacky and slightly inappropriate women who have no more f*cks to give and say what they want! Have them teach me their ways! But Iris is supposedly so important that Nick completely loses sight of his training, and she’s only in a few dozen pages.
(though, while I complain about Iris’s death, the scene in which Callum takes care of Nick, and then vice versa, in the aftermath is achingly sweet.)
My biggest letdown is that there was SUCH a quick turn from Callum’s realization that a relationship with Nick will not end up like his previous one in Harrison, to undying love confessions and resolution. Callum is staying away not only because of the no fraternization policy but also because of something in his past. “Harrison” is literally mentioned once in Chapter 2 before it’s mentioned on one page in Chapter 19 and is used as the reason that Callum pushes Nick aside, and then Callum suddenly realizes that it won’t be like Harrison and he will do anything to keep Nick in Chapter 21. Nick literally says, “Who is Harrison,” and I was right there with him because I had forgotten about it completely! Harrison was apparently a big turning point in Callum’s life, but we aren’t able to deal with or understand the trauma that he was dealing with, and the story is poorer for it.
Honestly, this feels like a full-length novel that the author wasn’t able to finish. And not because they ran out of material, as the author has set up more than a few avenues for exploration, but like they ran out of time. You can tell when an author just gives up or writes themselves into a corner, and this wasn’t it. If I found out that the author had a maximum word count to meet and had to pare the story down and I’d 1000% believe it. This needed about five more chapters for it to be 5 stars.
While I’m disappointed in the brevity of this story, I do think it’s a worthwhile read! I read it with more of a critical eye but, as a casual reader, I’m sure you’ll be able to enjoy it for what it is—a sweet, low-angst love story.
**I received this as an ARC from Gay Romance Reviews, this is my honest and unbiased review**