It's the start of another week and that means it's time to look at a new story. I'm always asking for reviews for the blog (by the way, if you want to do a review, PM me) so this week I decided it was past time that I did another review for the blog. With so many talented authors on site, it was hard to choose a story to review. In the end, I decided to review "The Matchmaker is Grounded" by Dark. I hope you enjoy the review and that it inspires you to check out Dark's story.

Reviewer: Renee Stevens
Status: Complete
Word Count: 5,450

In thinking over some of the authors I enjoyed reading when I was able to spend more time reading, I remembered reading this story by Dark. I just had to go back to re-read it and I enjoyed it just as much this time as I did the first. “The Matchmaker is Grounded” was the first story that Dark posted on Gay Authors and is just a glimpse at the talent of this wonderful author.

This short story really centers around Eli, a wheelchair bound man, who seems bound and determined to remain alone due to his disability. Unfortunately for Eli, his sixteen year old son Matt is tired of seeing his dad alone and is determined to do something about him. Enter Michael, a twenty-one year old lifeguard at the pool that Eli frequents. Michael has made his interest in Eli known, but Eli is having none of it and has continually brushed off Michael’s advances.

Matt takes matters into his own hands and starts to invite Michael around, despite his dad’s protests. Michael is all for it and suddenly he’s everywhere, but he’s very clear about it. He’s not stalking Eli, he’s just running into him in a premeditated manner.

While reading this story, I couldn’t help but feel for Eli. He had so many obstacles to overcome, not just physical, but emotional as well. I think my favorite part about this entire story was the relationship between Matt and Eli. It was obvious how much the two cared about each other. Dark did a wonderful job in pulling me into the story and making me care about the characters.

While there was a lot of emotional aspects of this story, there was actually quite a few light-hearted moments as well. This is one of those stories that a balance needs to be reached to keep the reader engaged and Dark managed it quite well. I can definitely see myself coming back and re-reading it again and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.