First Impressions trilogy by Josephine Myles

Why I read it: I had about an hour to read and I wanted to finish something in that time rather than start a longer book, so I opened up First Impressions, a short which is 25 pages long (ish).  Then I read the other two.   If you're in the mood for some small bites of m/m romance, I recommend.

First Impressions  This delightful little story is about Jez, a "Viking hippy" artist with long blond dreads and an attitude, who becomes fascinated by a man he sees on the train every morning.  The man (Steve) wears the most lurid socks Jez has ever seen, even though the rest of him appears to be buttoned down tight.  And he seems to have an endless supply of these socks - as there are a different pair every day.  At about 25 pages, the story shows their growing interaction on the train, their sexy encounter where Jez finds out that appearances can be deceiving - Steve is much more like his socks than his suit - and gives a satisfying jump ahead to a HEA.  It was good fun and as usual, I loved the sense of place Ms. Myles infuses into the story with the setting and the language.

Fuzzy  At only 12 or so pages, this little story is a kind of vignette where we catch up with Jez and Steve after they've been living together for 5 months.  Steve has a broken leg and is stuck at home and when Jez gets home early one day he catches Steve hiding something under the couch cushions.  Hijinks ensue.

Last Chance Set after Steve's cast comes off, this story (which is about the same length as the first one) is much different in tone.  Jez finds out that his estranged father is dying.  All the feelings he has bottled up in the years since he was thrown out of home for being gay come to the fore.  I cried.  Steve is a gem and helps Jez get through it and the writing was just beautiful.

In a very short time, this author made me care about these characters, so when I got to the third book I was totally on board with Jez and how he was feeling and completely believed in the connection between Jez and Steve and their long term future together.  Really, these three stories were just wonderful and the third was the pick of the bunch - but you have to read all three to truly appreciate it.

Grade:  A-