About Chiaroscuro
Written by Jenna Jones
269 pages / 95000 words
ISBN: 978-1-60370-118-1, 1-60370-118-4
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc, paperback
Jamie Makepeace isn’t sure what to do with his work or his love life. Laid off at his job and at odds with his ultra-conservative boyfriend, Micah, he’s searching for something to fill the empty spots.
When he meets Ben Gallagher, a cake decorator, Jamie knows he’s found a friend. Taking a chance, Jamie turns to art for his new career, and Ben becomes his muse. He creates an entire show based on the man who is always there for him. The problem with Ben is that he’s been hurt by love in the past, and might not be willing to risk his friendship with Jamie for something more.
Can Ben get past his fear and see that all that Jamie has to offer before it’s too late?
Review
Alexa Snow, author of Clear Cut and Sleeping Stone, writes</i>: Jamie Makepeace has his eye on his co-worker, the sweet, blue-eyed Micah Ferguson. At nineteen, Micah is the boy wonder of Virtuoso Games and looks up to Jamie, who's not only older but also British and therefore interestingly foreign. When Jamie takes his best friend, Dune, as his date to a work-related wedding, he ends up kissing the man who made the wedding cake in a pantry. Ben, the baker, finds himself drawn to Jamie, but Jamie takes Micah home from the wedding, and what follows is both complicated and compelling.
This book is an utter delight from start to finish. The characters are genuinely likeable despite their imperfections, and there are no true villains -- even when the characters behave abominably, it's possible to forgive them. And this isn't a story with a limited cast -- there are many characters, all of them interesting and well-drawn. There's a thread of humor throughout the story, so that even the more serious and emotional scenes aren't lacking in it; on more than one occasion I found myself grinning widely while reading.
The writing is impressive; the combination of easy-to-read yet precise language gives the book a charming style. The story shows you everything you need to know, including enough exposition about the character's pasts to make them even more interesting than they already are without ever seeming clunky or awkward. It's a deliciously long story, and there are times when it's difficult to predict what's going to happen next. The sex scenes are both erotic and meaningful, and the ending, when it comes, is completely satisfying in every possible way. Very highly recommended.
Sample
He sighed, picked up the notepad beside the register and started sketching a very basic wedding cake: three tiers, flowers on top, lacy decorations on the sides. Only, what if the frosting was chocolate instead of white? And what if the flowers were something bright like tiger lilies? Would any bride be brave enough for this kind of cake?
He sighed again, crumpled the paper and tossed it in the trash--and then grinned as the bell rang to signify new customers and he saw that one of them was Dune. He was with two other men, one who looked barely out of his teens and another who didn't take off his sunglasses even after he was inside and was moving gingerly as if every step hurt.
Hung over, Ben guessed. Poor guy.
"Ben!" Dune said cheerfully. "My dad said I had to try your place so here we are. What's good this morning?"
"Everything's good here," Ben said, "but the muffins are probably the cure for what ails ya. The blueberry is a particular favorite," he said to the guy in the sunglasses, who smiled in an uncertain, wincing sort of way. "And we've got coffee."
"Coffee, yes," the guy said in the tone of someone who's just been offered the secret to inner peace, and Ben paused a moment. That voice--he knew that voice. From where?
"Let me get that together while you're deciding," he said with a laugh. "Just coffee, black?"
"I want room for cream in mine," the kid piped up.
"Sorry, Ben, I've been neglectful: these are my friends Jamie and Micah." Dune put his arm around the blond guy's shoulders. "And black coffee is exactly what Jamie needs. Not so sure you should have any, Micah--it might stunt your growth."
The kid scowled at him--not in a mocking way, either, more as if he were really angry. Interesting. Dune paid it no mind, though: he was busy studying the display case, his hand still absently rubbing the back of the blond guy's neck. Jamie.
Ben handed over two coffee cups, one with room for cream. "Dune?"
"More of the same, please. And I think we should all try the blueberry muffins. Though I suppose this little chippy here would prefer something sweet."
"I'm not a chippy," the kid muttered and took his cup to the sideboard where they had sugar, honey and cream.
"Lay off him, please," Jamie said to Dune and took his own coffee cup. "Ta," he said to Ben.
Ben nearly dropped Dune's coffee cup as the pieces fell into place--how he knew that voice, how he knew that this guy's mouth tasted like rain and his skin smelled like the sea.
Jamie. His name is Jamie.
"Y'okay, there, Ben?" Dune said and Ben set his cup on the counter.
"Yeah--um--" He looked at Jamie, wondering if he remembered too. Jamie sipped his coffee, face unreadable because of the sunglasses.
The kid came back from fixing his coffee and stood close to Jamie, blue eyes darting from Ben to Dune and back behind thick glasses. Okay. There was some weird dynamic going on here and Ben had no idea what it meant.
"Do you want the muffins to stay or to go?" he asked.
"To stay," said Dune.
"To go," said Micah at the same time.
Jamie shrugged when both of them looked to him to make the final decision "Let's stay. I'd like to sit down."
Ben put the muffins on a tray and handed it over, and Dune paid and took the tray to one of the small tables they had set up in front of the display window. Ben watched them as he rang the transaction, still puzzling. Dune had said he wasn't dating anyone, but he sat next to Jamie at the table and the kid looked unhappy to be forced to the other side. Jamie didn't seem to care one way or the other, just drinking his coffee as slowly as an old man.
Another customer came in for doughnuts, and when Ben looked back at the table the only visible change was that Jamie had taken off his sunglasses.
Ben grabbed a business card and wrote his name and phone number on the back, and waited for a chance to slip it to Jamie. If one didn't arrive, he'd just have create it.
He wasn't going to let this one get away again.