Review: The Rainbow Connection - Vol. 1 by BJ Sheppard

Living a care-free party life-style, junior journalist and gay lifestyle reporter, Liam Adams thought he had it all; the money, the job, the endless supply of men in his bed. But when his work causes him to question the very foundation of the life he has built for himself, Liam finds certain areas are glaringly lacking. All it takes is one assignment to unravel the very fabric of his promiscuous antics, compounded by the arrival of a long-forgotten tryst. With the rusty screech of the mailroom guy’s trolley wheels, Liam lands head-first in the arms of something bigger; something more.

As the romance burgeons between Liam and the Mail-Manny of his dreams, each article he writes proves to uncover something new and never realized about himself, namely that all the one-night-stands in the world could never give him what he truly wants; love. In a slapstick commentary through the eyes of the world’s most hypersensitive journalist, watch as Liam’s story unfolds in the most ridiculous of fashions, leading him straight into the arms of love, via The Rainbow Connection.

I . Loved. This. Story. So much. It’s a quick read, full of snark, humor and ends with super hot sexy time. Liam’s voice is pretty much my favorite thing and his inner musings had me chuckling out loud and cringing (in a funny, ha-ha, ewwww) way repeatedly. And while he’s hilarious, he’s also brave enough to tackle the questions about the fans of MM romance. Why are they mostly woman and why does that even work? The author did an AMAZING job of getting the ideas and personalities together of MM fans in general. It was sweet, smart and thoughtful never pandering or patronizing.

Liam is questioning his ideals and the path his life is on while he is tasked to write an article for the Rainbow Connection. His research has consisted of cruising online porn to an endless stream of writes and rewrites and nothing is working for him. His struggles with his article (and his newly discovered wants) are punctuated by his colorful coworkers and his commentary on them is priceless.

Then Liam finally finds his path and admits that his life is missing an important thing or two and the words start to flow. He learns about more than just the MM fandom, he also learns about himself and he sees it’s ok to want more than what he has gotten use to settling for.

“I wanted to cry that male-male romance writers had stolen my happily ever after, that I never knew I wanted but now could not stop thinking about. I wanted, in all honesty though it is embarrassing to admit, to ask if anyone in the office thought they could love me (*note to self: desperation is a home shopping channel fleece covered in picture of wolves that is in no way a good look for you).”

I love enlightened Liam.

I also love slightly buzzed Liam and Liam under deadline pressure with “more caffeine in his bloodstream than humanly possible”. There are more parts to this story and I can’t wait to read them. This one ends with an incredibly steamy (and hopeful) HFN. Nothing may come of this particular encounter, but dammit I hope it does. At least Liam leaves us at the end of Volume 1 satiated and with a hopeful and completely amused heart.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

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