Genre/Tags: Contemporary Romance Gay/Bi

Author: Gregory Ashe

Story Rating: 5 Stars

Narrator: Greg Tremblay

Narrator Rating: 5 Stars

Length: 8 hours & 15 minutes

Audiobook Buy Links: Audible

It’s soft until it’s hard.

Sam Yarmark is going to be a detective. He’s done everything right—the trainings, the homework, the performance evaluations. He’s even got a mentor. So, when the chief of police tells him his lack of community involvement might cost him the promotion, there’s only one thing to get involved. Fast.

Gray Dulac is putting his life back together. After a self-destructive spiral, he’s finally found solid ground in the nonprofit he founded to help victims of intimate-partner violence. The only problem? Funding. And when a consultant tells Gray that his bad boy reputation is keeping donors away, there’s only one thing to fix his image. Fast.

When Sam shows up at Gray’s nonprofit, looking for an opportunity to pad his resume, Gray sees a way they can help each Gray will make sure Sam gets the community endorsements he needs if Sam pretends to be Gray’s loving—and stable—boyfriend.

What could possibly go wrong?

Review:

I love the cover of Soft Launch, but egads! I put myself back into the fictional police department with the greatest arsehole per capita of any fictional PD, Wahredua. *Sigh, and we start in old, white man harassment central, the locker room. But this time Sam Yarmack is there and he’s just… lovely. He blocks out the noise, or at least he made it feel less problematic to me. He lives with his gran, even though he says that his gran and dad raised him. It’s definitely his gran in this book. Dad only shows up twice. Gran is amazing. She of the never ending sayings and support for her grandson, even if she is a tad embarrassing at times. Where Sam is reserved and quiet and has tried, really tried, to fit in, Gran believes in grabbing life by the genitals. Fuck what other people think. Walk of shame at eighty? Life goals- 

But I do go for a run. Because conditioning is an important part of a police officer’s job. When I get back, Gran is getting home too. Her hair is mussed, and she’s trying to cover it with one hand, and her lipstick is pretty much gone, and when she sees me, she bursts out laughing and darts into the house.

Getting this out of the way first – Dulac made a self-centred decision by asking Sam, who everyone in relatively small-town Wahredua doesn’t know to be bi or gay, to be his fake boyfriend when he comes in to volunteer at WISP. It’s Gray’s not-for-profit, one to support people experiencing intimate partner violence/abuse. Sam is there to help his prospects of making detective after Chief Peterson told him to do more within the community. Gray has good motives in what he asks for from Sam but the execution isn’t thought through. For Gray it’s about getting the financial backing because WISP is fiscally drowning. It seems simple, only a few weeks to give Dulac much needed partner credibility for a specific donor to open his chequebook then Sam can go back to his life. Maybe get that promotion to detective. But Sam would have to deal with any blowback, and Dulac has been known as trouble, even though he’s been solid for a year. Also, Sam people pleases.

But then I said I’d do it, and it’s like somebody else said those words, somebody else taking up space inside my head, somebody I don’t know. And anyway, he’s right. If people have a problem with it, that’s on them.

Sam’s father is probably not going to be good with anything other than a straight son. Sam doesn’t even know where he stands in regards to his sexuality. He hasn’t been with anyone. He hasn’t allowed himself to because it might not fit with others expectations of him. 

I also have to say that I actually liked Gray Dulac in the H&S series. Sure, he was a dude bro, a smart aleck using lots of sexual innuendo, but he added some levity to what is essentially a heavy series.

“This one,” he says, giving the corduroy shirt a shake, “if you want to be the invisible college boy.” He twitches the Carhartt jacket. “This one if you want to spontaneously impregnate every twink in a twenty-yard radius.”

I know Gray fell from grace in a spectacular way. I haven’t read Body Count but I don’t need to in order to understand the cost of the emotional and physical freefall he went through. Internally, Dulac is dealing with genuine fear of how people perceive him now. However, he still manages to have sass and he still manages to throw out humour that made me laugh. Especially about the size of Sam’s cock. Gray has a theory about skinny country boys and big dicks and Sam proves him right.

There’s also this part of me that is weirdly gratified that I called it. Skinny country boys and their dicks, man. It’s a real thing.

Although, not wanting to burst Dulac’s self-congratulatory bubble, Sam isn’t especially skinny. Dulac does call him beefcake on more than one occasion.  

 “He’s not skimping on legs days, either,” Detective Dulac says.” Are you, beefcake?”
“I guess not,” I say because sometimes you just have to say something, even if it’s only going to make things worse.  

Sam: He made this book so good. He’s kind. Respectful. Sweet without being sugary. He’s also helpful and supportive. None of it ever felt contrived. He has some growth to go through in order to stop doing what he thinks others want. He’s twenty-four. A young twenty-four when the book starts. He was previously a mentee of John-Henry when he was Chief, but now J-H is out of the PD, Sam has to make some decisions himself. It was a joy to see that eventually happen and part of that is because he learns about planning events and has ideas, makes connections, to help WISP. Part of it is also because of how well Gray treats him for Sam’s first sexual experience. It was definitely more than Sam ever knew or expected. Dulac tussles with thoughts about WISP continuing. That he’ll end up fucking up Sam’s life as well. It is a hell of a lot for someone coming back from trauma and the mess that his life became. He wants WISP to succeed. It’s something close to his heart. He doesn’t want to hurt Sam. He has feelings for him. They’re actually really good together. It adds just a bit of push-pull.    

Soft Launch gives the reader a nice build of friendship morphing though to much more. There’s palpable chemistry between the two MCs. I love how Grey calls Sam ‘Sammy.’ How he tells him to be ‘safe’ and how Sam makes sure Gray eats. Greg Tremblay narrated these characters perfectly. In Greg Tremblay I trust. 

I wasn’t in love with a part of the story involving John-Henry. I could have throttled him. He made good. That placated me. It was also good to see Emery and J-H in a kinder? Gentler? – can’t find the exact word – Headspace.   

I haven’t read all the H&S series or the off-shoots. It isn’t necessary in order to enjoy this book. Soft Launch can absolutely be read as a standalone contemporary romance. There is no mystery or murder. Hmm. I don’t recall ever having read a Gregory Ashe book where that’s the case. It’s just two men finding each other at a personally significant time in both their lives. A kind of nexus point for both men. It’s sweet and sexy and easy reading/listening. I loved the narration. I loved the characters. I loved how it all came together. 5 Stars!