One Small Thing by Piper Vaughn and M.J. O’Shea
Contemporary M/M Romance
May 4, 2012
Dreamspinner Press

Reviewed by Mandi

Based on the blurb and cover (the feet creep me out) for One Small Thing, I don’t think I would have ever picked it up on my own. But there is this thing called Twitter (have you heard of it?) where people recommend books to me every day (that’s the sound of my credit card weeping). Brie from Romance Around the Corner (also a fab person to follow on twitter) tweeted me that I should read this book, and it’s hard for me to resist a rec from her. This book ended up being super sweet and cute. Let me set it up.

Rue (short for Rufus but don’t ever call him that) is young and having fun. He is gay, and works at the Tom Tom club as a bartender. He is also in beauty school and hopes he can one day escape Delaware to become a stylist to the stars out in Hollywood. Before all that can happen though, he gets really drunk one night and convinces himself he should sleep with a woman, just to answer to his curiosity. Three months later, said woman comes back pregnant. She doesn’t want the baby, but something comes over Rue, and he tells he wants it. Six months later, Rue has a baby daughter. With his best friend Dusty, they get settled in his apartment and learn really quick how difficult it is to care for a newborn. Rue has school stating up again soon, and needs a daycare or babysitter during the day so he can finish his last semester and start making real money. Problem is, he doesn’t approve of any of the day cares (or they are all full). Time is running out and he is getting desperate. So he asks his new-ish next door neighbor if he has any interest in becoming his sitter (had some problems with this, I’ll address it in a minute).

Erik is a struggling Sci-Fi writer, extremely shy and not good with people at all. He has a slight stutter and doesn’t like new situations, crowds or people in general. When Rue knocks on the door, and asks him to become his sitter, Erik can barely compose himself to refuse. But later, he can’t get the idea out of his mind. He really needs the extra money, and he wants to help Rue out. So he reluctantly says yes. As Erik watches Alice, and becomes friends with Rue, it all very, very slowly moves into a romance.

The one big issue I have with this book is that Rue basically picks a stranger to watch his one month old infant. A stranger who by all accounts has no baby experience what so ever. The first day he drops Alice off, he calls Erik ‘Weirdy McWeirderson.’ Yet, he leaves his daughter with this person? So you have to suspend disbelief with this particular set up. But once I just accepted it and moved on, I really enjoyed this story. Both guys are very likable and warm. For all of Rue’s slutty ways, now that he has a daughter, he has matured and actually prefers staying home at night with a  movie instead of sleeping with different men. Erik slowly takes steps to leave his own apartment and hang out at Rue’s. His extreme awkwardness slowly turns into a great friendship with Rue. Erik loves junk food and watches Star Wars every day (no really, every day). Rue loves health food and yoga. He wears make-up, head bands, and pink flip flops. They are opposites, yet their romance totally worked for me. It’s a slow build up but once you get there, it all makes sense.

Did I mention Erik is a virgin? A virgin that hasn’t even kissed anyone? Oh, I love a virgin hero and the authors do a nice job with letting Erik explore his sexuality.

Erik discovers that he likes taking care of Rue and Alice. He likes to be the one they depend on to keep them safe. He also goes from writing Sci-Fi to a male/male contemporary romance, which is cute. It totally embarrasses him, yet he really likes it.

This is a cute, sweet read. I hope these authors write another one.

Rating: B

Recent Reviews:
Joyfully Jay – 4.75/5
Kaetrin’s Musings – B+
Tracy’s Place – 4/5
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