Summer Share

Publishers Weekly

Swathed in comically provocative cartoon cover art, this giddy, outr four-story collection from Kensington's fully loaded stable of gay beach-book genre writers promises frolicsome, boy-crazy entertainment and for the most part delivers. Opening the volume is Chris Kenry's (Can't Buy Me Love) "Sugar Daddy Summer," in which falling in love takes but an afternoon of fly-fishing in Aspen for bookish Brian and HIV-positive hunk Jake, while the superficial "cobra sisters," Derek and Keith, scope out the Summerfest scene ("the summer version of Gay Ski Week") for rich companions to call their own. "The Perfect Husband," by William J. Mann (The Biograph Girl), and "The Outline of a Torso," by Andy Schell (My Best Man), provide similar variations on the theme of the gorgeous-yet-elusive wonder boy who's disastrously chased by friends of friends, offering plenty of catty, jealous in-fighting softened by ubiquitous sex. Mann and Schell's tales lack the spunk of their counterparts, though both brim with lively banter and are set in such festive locales as Provincetown and Hawaii. But the volume saves the best for last: Ben Tyler's (Tricks of the Trade) playful "Satisfaction" concerns Dusty, a jilted, newly single man (for about five minutes) who falls in love with "Marine Corps-solid" Jon without realizing that they have a paramour in common from their past love lives. The happy endings are as dependable as the vermilion sunsets in these frothy, mischievous, sexy, featherweight fictions. Judge this book by its cover. (May) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.