This is a collection of three previously published novellas and two short stories but the whole doesn't suffer of this. Reading all the stories collected in one book is on the contrary very nice, since you can see how the love story between Toby and Ven evolves in a natural way. All the feeling of the book is of being nice and quite, of a story taken step by step, without jumping the things.

When the first part start, Toby and Ven already met. They have a work and working relationship, Toby is dealing in real estate and Ven is the contractor who restored the previous house Toby sold. Toby real work is as a lawyer, and on the side he buys one house at time, and then he restores and sells it. Toby has no real home for his own, he is just out of a bad divorce, and this situation helps him to not feel committed to one thing, in this moment Toby needs the freedom: I believe the free life style allows him also the mental freedom to finally admit he prefers men over women. But Toby's mourning period over his divorce is already finished, it was probably part of that period when he first met Ven and they did the first house. The story we read turns around how Toby is now willing to "settle" down with Ven, and it's instead Ven that has to come to pact with his own "coming out".

Ven is out with his family and friends, but it's not OUT of his family and friends. He is still living with his brother, Cake, he has a lot of commitment with his parents, he has five dogs to look after... Ven's life is so full of duties, that he has no space for a lover. When Toby enters his life, some of that duties are starting to fade and Ven is suddenly faced with a true: he has no more excuses to not commit with only a man, it's time for him to grow up.

I like the symbolism of the houses they restore: till the moment both of them Toby and Ven, are not ready to settle down, they play with the houses like two kids, they buy, restore and sell, they never do the work for their own. But when their relationship is starting to become something else, deep and steady, in that moment they start to see the houses with different eyes, the houses are no more doll houses, they bring with them the promise of a future together.

As I said the love story between Ven and Toby evolves step by step: first they decide to be exclusive, then then Ven meets Toby's daughters, then Toby presents Ven to his work colleagues, then Ven introduces Toby to his family... nothing is pushed too fast and everything is dealt in a nice and effective way; due to the carefulness they take, everything goes right like an oiled engine, like the careful restoration they bring on their houses. Like the good job they do on restoring an house, they do a good job on restoring Toby's life after the divorce and on building the basis for Toby and Ven's future life as independent men from their family. And it's not a break, it's only another forward step, taken with wisdom.

On a closing note, Renovations I is also a pretty sexy book, with a lot of very nice and good sex scenes, explicit but not vulgar. It's also a multicultural love story, Ven is Afro-American, but this side of the story is not too much highlighted; it comes on front when Ven finds out that also Toby's ex-wife was Afro-American. I actually found quite coherent that, despite the sex, Toby's preferences remain the same.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_84&products_id=3253

Amazon: Renovations 1: Framework
Amazon Kindle: Renovations 1-3
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Torquere Press (June 27, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1603707484
ISBN-13: 978-1603707480

Reading List:

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Cover Art by Pluto