About Roughhousing
Written by Laura Baumbach
128 pages / 66800 words
ISBN: 978-1-934166-59-8, 1-934166-59-6
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc, paperback
James and Bram are back in this sequel to the bestselling A Bit of Rough! They’ve been dating a while, now, but James is still unsure about his feelings for Bram. He’s rushed into things before, and it’s always backfired on him, so James wants to take it slow.
Bram is so forceful, though, so sexy and convincing that it’s hard to stand fast against him. In fact, Bram is the one steady thing in James’ life, when everything else seems to be shifting like sand under his feet. His job is getting stressful, his apartment is getting dangerous, and James knows he’s teetering on the brink of change, but is unsure
what to choose.
When a project at work seems to have fallen under Bram’s influence through the old boy network, James decides to back off and tell Bram they have to cool down their heated relationship. Bram is willing to accommodate James…to a point. But what happens when self-assured Bram has had enough of James’ insecurity?
Taking up where A Bit of Rough left off, Roughhousing opens up Bram and James’ relationship, following along as they become a real couple, and face the troubles that come from trying to blend two lives and two independent personalities. Their need for each other burns as hot as ever, but will that be enough to build a life on?
Review
CB Potts, author of Tuesday’s Rubies, writes: Laura Baumbach just keeps getting better. That's no small statement, considering that she was on the top of her game when she wrote A Bit of Rough, the first book centering on Bram and Jamie. But once you read Rough Housing, you'll see she was just getting started.
The sheer sexual tension in this book is unbelievable: the astronomical levels of need that blossom between Bram and Jamie at a fancy dinner party will take your breath away. For the first time, we see the pair's relationship in a social context -- Bram the bolder, Jamie working through a plethora of issues but determined to hold onto his love.
Those of you who read my reviews regularly will know that I constantly bemoan the lack of action and tension in our genre -- give me the conflict, give me the life-or-death situations that will change our character's lives forever, give me trauma. Baumbach delivers in spades. Not only do we revisit some of the original problems from A Bit of Rough -- including a middle of the night scene that freaked me out although I read it on a sunny afternoon! -- but there are new and exciting problems to deal with.
And just when you think it's Bram's job to provide the heroic rescues in this relationship, Jamie demonstrates he can more than adequately hold his own, thank you.
It's nice to see women showing up in this volume, very well written, very realistic, and in the case of one up-and-coming if not entirely sober architect, obviously based in real life experience. The scenes where Baumbach details a hospital visit (and I won't say who's feeling poorly, you'll have to read that for yourself) are drawn with a professional's eye for detail.
We learn more about both men, about what makes them tick and what drives their love in the direction it goes. Masterful writing, well done. The pacing is fast --except when it slows to a pleasantly glacial pace for erotic scenes. There's foreshadowing in here that literally made me sick with envy -- I wish I could write this well.
Readers will love this book for the exquisite story, the nerve jarring conflicts, the hot sex, the close inspection of Bram and especially Jamie's inner life.
Writers who are also readers will get an added bonus of seeing all those writing tricks we've heard about but perhaps not quite mastered ourselves demonstrated on the page.
Sample
Cheeks a bright shade of pink, James sighed, dipping his head to one side in a gesture Bram recognized as a subconscious effort to shrug off emotional discomfort.
Bram and James had been lovers for only a few weeks, but Bram knew his shy partner's self-conscious mannerisms very well. They were already deep into a committed, monogamous relationship.
Although they were both openly gay, James preferred to live life out of the public eye, where the bolder, more confident Bram took no pains to hide his feelings or his sexual orientation. After a chance meeting in a bar and a seriously hot, rough sex scene in the alley behind it the two men dove head and heart first down the rocky road to making a partnership that would last a lifetime.
They both had flaws and issues to work on, one being James' skittish discomfort in doing anything in public that brought attention to the fact that he was gay. Bram was working on changing that.
While not one for blatant displays, Bram still wanted to be able to hold Jamie’s hand, sling an arm around his shoulders or hug him in public, just like other couples. Bram was a very affectionate man and James responded hungrily to almost any form of loving attention Bram gave him. Bram knew his partner craved it as much as he did, so he took advantage of any situation where he felt he could safely work a little public hand holding into their day.