{"id":12240,"date":"2019-11-14T18:05:21","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T23:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=12240"},"modified":"2023-09-25T19:16:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T23:16:12","slug":"served-hot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12240","title":{"rendered":"Served Hot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Served Hot<\/a><\/em> (2015) Annabeth Albert (Portland Heat)<\/p>\n

\"Served<\/a>Robert Edwards (Robbie to his friends) runs a coffee cart in the atrium of the Old EMerson building in Portland, and every day, his favorite customer, David, comes by at 11:50 for a vanilla latte. <\/p>\n

Robbie has a huge crush on David, but isn’t sure if David is into him–or even into guys. And even if he is, Robbie doesn’t want another closeted boy-friend.<\/p>\n

David, however, has issues to deal with.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou feel what you need to feel.\u201d What did I know about grief? I would be pissed, but I wasn\u2019t David. And if David\u2019s sadness made me feel smaller, I didn\u2019t think it was intentional. I\u2019d just have to work past it. Same as him. I wanted to trust in us both.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The story is all from Robbie’s POV, and we learn only very slowly about David’s past, and why he’s so reticent. (He has a lot of reasons, and they’re all quite good.) It also unfolds over the better part of a year, with David slowly sharing himself with Robbie.<\/p>\n

Robbie and David with both very sweet, and both had communication issues, Robbie’s natural, and David’s stemming from his past, so it makes sense that things would happen slowly.<\/p>\n

However, at times the story felt a bit disjointed, jumping about in time. I never quite felt the worry of whether things would work out–obviously they were going to, because it’s a romance–so the story needs to draw me completely in to make me feel the tension that Robbie felt, and this never quite did that.<\/p>\n

I did have a major issue with the way the ebook was formatted at one point, which caused me to think the book was missing a chunk. In fact, even if it had been a little more clear these were two separate scenes, I probably still would have had issues, because the switch is so abrupt.<\/p>\n

After the greetings, we headed into the house, (woman) leading the way. \u201cSo tell me, Robby,\u201d she said over her shoulder, \u201chow do you feel about venison?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d David whispered next to me. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be fine,\u201d I whispered back, leaning toward him a little. \u201cBut I\u2019ll let you make it up to me later, if it makes you feel any better.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cYou sure I\u2019ll like this?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I am,\u201d I lied. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I suppose I do owe you.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYou do.\u201d I grinned up at him, all teeth and sass. It was good to be home.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s just really abrupt, and since the first scene was very short, it was extremely confusing.<\/p>\n

To be clear, it wasn’t a bad story, and I wanted both Robbie and David to be happy, but I was never deeply invested in what happened to them.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, I borrowed this from the library, so I’m not mad at it for being a bit weak, so I’m going to borrow the next book in the series, to see if the writing becomes a little stronger.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Lyrical Press
\nRating: 5.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Served Hot (2015) Annabeth Albert (Portland Heat) Robert Edwards (Robbie to his friends) runs a coffee cart in the atrium of the Old EMerson building in Portland, and every day, his favorite customer, David, comes by at 11:50 for a vanilla latte. Robbie has a huge crush on David, but isn’t sure if David is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[207,148,26,56],"tags":[188,50,700,213,544],"class_list":["post-12240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mental-health-rep","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-annabeth-albert","tag-boinking","tag-coffee-shop","tag-grief","tag-mm"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3bq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22557,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22557","url_meta":{"origin":12240,"position":0},"title":"Served Hot","author":"Michelle","date":"November 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Served Hot (2015) Annabeth Albert (Portland Heat) I thought I was in the mood for this. I was looking for stories with complicated grief, and this story has that. \u201cYou feel what you need to feel.\u201d What did I know about grief? I would be pissed, but I wasn\u2019t David.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "eBook"","block_context":{"text":"eBook","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/ebook"},"img":{"alt_text":"Served Hot","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Served-Hot.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17488,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/17488","url_meta":{"origin":12240,"position":1},"title":"Short Stories: Annabeth Albert","author":"Michelle","date":"June 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Short Stories: Annabeth Albert Annabeth Albert \"New Status Needed\" (2016) Noah & Adrian, #gaymers 1.5 (16 pages) \"Tease Me\" (2019) #gaymers Ryan & Josiah 3.5 (26 pages) \"Love Connection\" (2017) Ryan & Josiah #gaymers 3.7 (24 pages) \"Off Leash\" (2018) Pike & Zach, Out of Uniform 1.5 (26 pages) \"Homebodies\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "eBook"","block_context":{"text":"eBook","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/ebook"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13694,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13694","url_meta":{"origin":12240,"position":2},"title":"Sergeant Delicious","author":"Michelle","date":"December 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Sergeant Delicious (2020) Annabeth Albert I shouldn't have started off today with a Josh Lanyon short story. No other short story was going to measure up (unless it was another Josh Lanyon short story, which I don't seem to have on my TBR pile.) Xavier is going to be discharged\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sergeant Delicious","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Sergeant-Delicious.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13286,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13286","url_meta":{"origin":12240,"position":3},"title":"Knit Tight","author":"Michelle","date":"July 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Knit Tight (2016) Annabeth Albert (Portland Heat) This is the fourth book in the Portland Heat series. Brady works as a barista at People's Cup, and one of the busiest nights he works is Wednesday, when the local knitting group meets. It's good for tips, which he needs, because he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Knit Tight","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Knit-Tight.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12295,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12295","url_meta":{"origin":12240,"position":4},"title":"Delivered Fast","author":"Michelle","date":"November 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Delivered Fast (2015) Annabeth Albert This is probably my least favorite book in this series so far, mostly because it starts with a hook-up, and a LOT of the story is centered around their boinking. That doesn't make it a bad story, but it just isn't my thing. Chris O\u2019Neal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Food"","block_context":{"text":"Food","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/food"},"img":{"alt_text":"Delivered Fast","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Delivered-Fast.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14332,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14332","url_meta":{"origin":12240,"position":5},"title":"Arctic Heat","author":"Michelle","date":"May 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Arctic Heat (2019) Annabeth Albert (Frozen Hearts) Owen took \u201cmarried to the job\u201d to mean \u201ccloseted as hell\u201d I\u2019ll be waiting. The period made Quill\u2019s text seem even more ominous in response to Owen\u2019s message about his arrival time. \u201cYou\u2019re pissed at me, but you\u2019re giving me food?\u201d Quill struggled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Arctic Heat","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Arctic-Heat.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}