Beer Truck by Emily Carrington

Beer Truck by Emily Carrington
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance, LGBTQ
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

When TJ, a famous country star, finds out he has cancer, he retreats to his hometown to heal away from the paparazzi. Uncomfortable living with his parents, he gets a job as a beer truck driver.

Harvey is the owner of a local bar. He’s been following TJ’s career because the two of them used to be lovers. But TJ insisted on being in the closet. Now that Harvey’s older, he can’t imagine burying himself like that ever again.

But when TJ walks into his bar, both men are shocked by the attraction that still blossoms between them. But neither will budge in their beliefs. How can they possibly find happiness in each other’s arms?

Famous country star TJ’s life is turned upside down when he gets a cancer diagnosis. Retreating back to his hometown, all is wants is to escape and try to heal. Getting a job as a beer truck driver, TJ is shocked when he walks into a bar and hinds his secret ex-lover, Harvey still in town and the owner. Can these two stubborn men find their happily ever after?

I found this to be an emotional read – TJ’s fight against his cancer runs fairly smoothly but the depth of emotion and worry he feels runs deep and is quite powerful to read. Readers who aren’t comfortable with cancer as a main plot device should be cautious with this book.

Normally I find books where one (or both) partners are in the closet fairly difficult and annoying to read. I was fairly impressed though with how the author handled it in this story. TJ had two very strong reasons to be so firmly closeted – his strictly religious, homophobic parents but also his music career. That, coupled with Harvey’s refusal to go back into the closet made this a strongly conflicted romance plot and I feel this gave quite a bit of meat to the story. I felt deeply connected to both characters and the emotion all but dripped from the page for me.

Readers looking for well written and stubborn characters, a solid romance plotline and a lot of emotion should find this to be an excellent story. I do feel this might be a difficult read for some people, but I equally feel the story is well with the discomfort. A charged and emotional read, this was a story I’m not likely to forget any time soon.