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Hard As Teak (2011)

by Margie Church(Favorite Author)

3.58 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Noble Romance Publishing

series

Hard as Teak

review 1: This is the first book I've read by Margie Church and I have heard that this is her first m/m story. The story is about Kevin - a successful photographer who seems to be losing his enthusiasm - for his girlfriend, his work, etc. He decides to go to his cabin in Minnesota to "recharge" his batteries. He meets Drew at the local gas station and then he meets Teak outside the local store. He immediately feels an attraction to Teak and he had also noticed that maybe Drew was kinda flirting with him. He has been having trouble in his sexual relationship with his girlfriend - fantasizing about men to reach climax. He is not comfortable with these feelings, but he rationalizes that he's a photographer and he appreciates all beautiful things. Teak runs into Kevin on his proper... morety shortly after and Teak ends up skinny-dipping in the lake after Kevin has already done so and is getting some sun. They end up spending the evening together getting a little drunk and Kevin thinks Teak would make a great model for some photos. Since they've both had a bit to drink, Kevin invites Teak to use the guest room. Well one thing leads to another and Teak kisses Kevin. They are obviously very very attracted to each other, but elect not to spend the night in the same bed. However, in the morning, things escalate between them. They talk about their relationships with men and women (Teak) and how this is Kevin's first interaction with a man. While they part a bit awkwardly, they agree to meet up later in the week for the photo session. Kevin takes a lot of great pictures of Teak and they both get so hot and bothered, they head back to the cabin for the bed. Kevin is not sure what to make of all this, but he knows he's never been as aroused as he is with Teak. As the weeks go by, Kevin keeps putting off his girlfriend about coming back to Nebraska as well as his gallery manager. Teak and Kevin's relationship evolves and becomes more serious and Kevin realizes that he has been denying his sexuality over the years. I don't want to spoil the plot for those who will be reading the book, but I though that Kevin's portrayal of coming out to his business associates and the public at large was dignified and classy. Not sure that many people could handle the situation with the same aplomb he did. But his grace under pressure and his repeated insistence that his private life was his own was refreshing.
review 2: Hard core m/m readers may be put off by the fact that Hard as Teak opens with a couple of (very short) traditional male/female sex scenes. Don’t be. These are crucial to the plot as they immediately show that while Kevin Mark’s body might be performing, his mind and heart aren’t in it.What follows is an exploration of self as he heads for the northern part of Minnesota to see if he can recapture the magic that is lacking in both his love life and his other passion -- photography.Once there, he meets a man who reignites his interest in both spheres, acting as both his muse and initiating him into the pleasure of sex which for him had become a chore.This story isn’t a “gay for you” or even an “out for you”, it’s a story about a man finding the courage to explore his sexuality.If Teak had been exclusively gay, the story might have been different, but Margie, by having her second protagonist bi gives him the confidence and experience to know what Kevin is going through.Reader expectations are going to play a large part in their enjoyment of this book. Personally, I believe in accepting whatever characters a writer wants to use in their story and see how they grow. I don't care if the characters are a hundred percent likeable at the start or not. I don’t even care if I don’t “approve” of the choices they make as long as they learn from those choices.While some readers may have their buttons pushed with the notion of a man being unfaithful to their girlfriend, Margie Church has been at pains to limit this reaction. They haven’t been living together and while expectations may have been there on Chiyo’s side, Kevin has warned her that he is having difficulties, and she hasn’t exactly been supportive of him working through these before or after he goes away.I mentioned this to Margie in a conversation and her comment was: “I've yet to write a book that doesn't have characters with warts.”Margie writes hot, sizzling sex scenes and these need to be seen as such, because it’s their raw, viscerality that demonstrate the difference for Kevin once he gets together with Teak. Sex is no longer a chore, it’s something he can’t get enough of.But apart from the sex, Margie has a great knack of showing scenes so you feel like you’re in them. I especially liked the one where Kevin’s fishing with Drew, another gay guy, and the depictions of his photo shoots with Teak. You can feel the easy camaraderie of their interaction as distinct from the on-edge confrontations of his dealings with Chiyo and his manager, Gail.Other secondary characters jump off the page: Maddy, the redhead who was more Teak’s fuck buddy than a girlfriend and Lucien, Kevin’s agent.While some people might query the likelihood of a local paper being interested in exposing Kevin’s sexuality, for me if the author says it’s so, it’s so. The plot didn’t hang on this aspect, more it showed another stage in Kevin’s growth. In the end, this was the main point of the story to me. Kevin learning to recognise who he is and working out how to fit in with other people, then once he accepted the truth, taking control of his life and rediscovering his passion.Infidelity and a character suddenly finding they are gay or bisexual are difficult subjects to write about, but I believe Margie has done a great job. Any marks I may have deducted for the occasional typo and formatting problem (if this is an issue for you, contact Margie) are balanced by her bravery on tackling these subjects head on and giving us real characters in a setting not often visited. You can just feel the ice and cold jumping off the page.As a sort of disclaimer, Margie asked for some feedback from me early on in Hard as Teak's incarnation. The book has almost doubled in size since with changes throughout, so I feel quite justified in rating and reviewing it as a regular reader. Like Kevin, it grew..... less

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