Stealing Wishes – Shannon Yarbrough (Tosow Publishing)

Gay romances are tricky to pull off. Too often, authors make choices that lead them down that well-worn path to cliché and stereotype in an effort to make their characters “relatable” to their readers. And if I know where it’s going, the best writing in the world won’t save the book for me. Happily, Shannon Yarbrough’s Stealing Wishes defies all expectations in the best of ways.

Our hero, Blaine, is a barista. He’s also an obsessive-compulsive thirty-two year old who wakes up at 5:32 every morning, lives in apartment number 32 and must trace both numerals on his apartment door with his finger before he leaves for his shift at the Latte Da. He is also an amateur photographer and a fan of Christopher Isherwood. He works with his best girlfriend, coffee shop owner Sallie, and an art-school guy named Auden. Sallie meets Charlie, the man of her dreams, who has a gay best friend named Edward. They introduce Edward to Blaine hoping the sparks will fly, and they do. At first … sort of … but then, not so much.

There’s also a photography contest, a burglary and several unexpected complications that keep you interested in how Blaine seeks to cure his OCD as well as cope with the search for Mr. Right. Blaine is a thoroughly original character whose approach to photography is as refreshing as his approach to romance, but all of the people in this book are three-dimensional and totally believable.

Yarbrough does a terrific job of keeping the reader off guard and engaged. He never succumbs to the cliched or ordinary in either plot or character, instead creating a romantic experience as unique as … well, yours or mine. You know, the way they’re supposed to be. Does it have a happy ending? Let me just say it has the ending it should.

I rarely answer my critics, but I was recently taken to task in a comment made about my review of Johnny Diaz’s abysmal Beantown Cubans. Aside from being called borderline racist, I was denigrated for applying the same standards to gay romance as I would apply to any other book. This, I confess, is true. Why shouldn’t I expect any book I pick up to have great characters, an interesting plot and a satisfying resolution? Too often, I fear, we settle for much less and excuse the result as being a “light read.”

Stealing Wishes is a romance with passion, purpose and poise. A light read, yes, but not insubstantial. What more could anyone ask?

Reviewed by Jerry Wheeler