A Fugitive in Grass Valley

A few years ago, I lost one of my balls to ball cancer, so if there's some annoying thing I don't feel like doing I ask myself if I would rather do the annoying thing or lose the other ball and that's usually enough to motivate me.

With that beginning, how can I.M. Flippy's debut novel be anything other than awesome? I've now read almost everything by this author, and while her grammar and copy editing may not be perfect, her ability to capture the goofy joy of two decent people falling in love more than makes up for the few rough spots.

Lev Freberg is an adorable self-described “twinky art major” who is recovering from the aforementioned testicular cancer and a bad breakup in the lovely California town of Grass Valley. Then an action hero walks into the dog park where Lev is chilling. He says his name is Ernie and he's not very forthcoming about why he is in Grass Valley. There's an immediate attraction, but it's obvious that Ernie has a Big Secret related to the flash drive that he guards so zealously. After one disastrous date, the two men Friend Zone each other, which provides lots of opportunity for flirting and pining, until a crisis in Lev's life forces Ernie to realize it's time for the truth.

At times Ernie (real name John) feels like he walked out of another book, like an MC from of [a:Annabeth Albert|6477494|Annabeth Albert|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1497461817p2/6477494.jpg]'s “Out of Uniform” series, but for the most part the focus is on the relationship between the two men and not the danger that John is facing by sharing the flash drive information. Even the inevitable “I have to break up with you because I can't put you in danger” scene is pretty quickly dispensed with, as the two MCs realize they are acting like idiots.

After reading about a half dozen of her books, I can safely say that Ms. Flippy speaks my language in combining gentle humor, a reasonable amount of snark, and genuine emotion between extremely likeable MCs. I think I only have one book from her backlist remaining, and then I will have to just sit back and wait for her to write more.