Huh?!? Wut? Wacky Wednesday AND Featured Story? YES! Because we used this Monday's blog for a review of reviews (um - ya, I think I said that right) - we didn't want to miss featuring a story this week. Joann414 was gracious enough to lend her reviewing talents to give us a look at Porcupines by Author Cole Matthews. As we mentioned Monday, we always need more reviews as well as good informative articles, such as writing tips or author interviews. If you have an idea you want to work on, contact Trebs or Renee Stevens - we always appreciate the help. And now - joann's fantastic review:

Reviewed by: joann414
Status: In Process
Word Count: 78,351

The title alone caught my interest, and being the curious,reader that I am, I had to check it out, and see what in the world porcupines were doing in a story. lol Well, this authors two lead characters were indeed, skillfully portrayed as two very prickly porcupines at the beginning of a wonderfully entertaining tale!.

Dylan, is a twenty-four year old, good looking waiter at a restaurant called Sweet Noras,in the town mall. It is owned by Lynora, who considers her young employees her children, more than just workers. She wants Dylan to find a sweet guy and settle down.

After leaving the restaurant one night, Dylan is mugged on the way to his car. When he comes to his senses, he sees the mall cop leaning over him, to see if he is ok. Dylan rudely tells the guy he is fine, and to just leave him alone. Realizing that he can't stand alone, he lets the mall cop help him to his feet. Needless to say, after being mugged, Dylan has to rely on the mall cop to drive him home. (Did I tell you that Dylan had been rude to the mall cop, just being an ass on more than one occasion? Yeah, he had, and now, the cop is his rescuer.)

Chuck,the mall cop, thinks Dylan is a beautiful man, but well out of his league. He takes the young man home, and stays the night with him, making sure he doesn't have a concussion. Chuck loses his job, because he doesn't go back to work for over three hours,because he doesn't want to leave Dylan. I'm not going to spoil things by telling what transpired that night and the next morning. It's a key part of the story.

There's a lot going on with these two, Chuck is manic depressive at times, and Dylan is still dealing with the loss of a loved one. Mix all of that together, and you've got an odd, opposites attract couple. Chuck grew up in a trailer park, and Dylan comes from money. But, there's a definite attraction between the gorgeous Dylan, and the pale, sad eyed Chuck, and Cole Matthews turns it into a beautiful love story.

One of the pleasant surprises in this story is Chuck's culinary expertise, and it's greatly appreciated by Dylan, who encourages the shy mall cop to utilize his cooking talent.

The authors mixes in Chuck's sister Kellie and her son, that Chuck presently lives with, and also Dylan's brother Kelly, and his little girl Susie. Yeah, both of their names are Kelly(Kelli), and they both try to look after their siblings the best that they can.

Oh, and did I mention the prissy little antagonist Isaac, who loves to needle Dylan every chance he gets. Isaac's aunt is Lynora, the owner of Sweet Noras, but Lynora pulls no punches when it comes to dealing with her mouthy young nephew.

The authors throws in a couple of other characters, and gives each of them their own little part to play in this crazy tale of these two guys lives, and how they become woven together. As he introduces each character, the reader just as well add another dot to a piece of paper, because the author begins to connect the dots, as the story progresses in a surprising way.

If you haven't read Dylan and Chuck's tale of finding real love, you're missing out on a "feel good" story. Go check it out, and let the author know you like it, and leave a review.

I'm going to go a little ahead here, and give the author a plug on his upcoming story for the holidays, Advent. I've already given it a read for him, and it's not to be missed. I love it!