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A Good Name for a Hero
Ty Blackburn sails the Gulf Coast of Southern Florida, taking tourists on chartered tours and photographing the local wildlife and scenic landscapes. Hiring Cody Masterson as second mate and photography assistant seems like a good idea, but when Ty finds himself falling for the attractive and self-proclaimed straight young man, it creates problems. Ty has a rule against dating his employees, and Cody’s behavior raises doubts about his sexual orientation.
Frustration mounts, increased by threatening letters and secrets neither man wishes to share. When the danger turns real, Ty and Cody reveal their pasts, and their relationship turns physical. But pressures on both of them threaten their relationship. To save Ty’s life, Cody must resolve his conflicting desires and decide what is really important to him.
Frustration mounts, increased by threatening letters and secrets neither man wishes to share. When the danger turns real, Ty and Cody reveal their pasts, and their relationship turns physical. But pressures on both of them threaten their relationship. To save Ty’s life, Cody must resolve his conflicting desires and decide what is really important to him.
- GenresM M RomanceContemporary
200 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 16, 2013
21 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 18, 2013
Reviewed on Hearts On Fire... http://heartsonfirereviews.com/
Homophobia is a difficult thing to deal with. I think that internalized homophobia must be the worst of all. Cody carried that around with him for twenty-two years and was an absolute mess. More people were sure about Cody's sexuality than he was. I liked the unique characters in this book. They felt real and all had their strengths and weaknesses which drew them together. Ms Elledge wove a strong political statement about the damage that homophobia can do to an individual, family and community into a very interesting mystery story. It comes close at times to reading like two separate stories but then intertwine again. Ty seems happy living in Ft. Parker, Fl. with his photography and charter boat businesses. As the layers of this complex character are peeled back during the course of his and Cody's romance, we see an individual damaged by his ambitious father and his political aspirations. The attempts on Ty's life bring in all levels of the law and again we are shown just how much the GLBT community is looked upon as second class citizens. The surprise in this well written and developed story was the way Cody's parents dealt with his coming out.
I enjoyed the slow burn development of the love between Ty and Cody. While there was not much explicit sex in the story, it carried a sexual passion that was touching and poignant. The mystery side of the story was well plotted out and the bad guys came as a nice surprise to me. I thought I had it figured out but was off base. I recommend this book highly for it's look at homophobia, it's good mystery and for the native beauty of Florida that was described vividly.
Homophobia is a difficult thing to deal with. I think that internalized homophobia must be the worst of all. Cody carried that around with him for twenty-two years and was an absolute mess. More people were sure about Cody's sexuality than he was. I liked the unique characters in this book. They felt real and all had their strengths and weaknesses which drew them together. Ms Elledge wove a strong political statement about the damage that homophobia can do to an individual, family and community into a very interesting mystery story. It comes close at times to reading like two separate stories but then intertwine again. Ty seems happy living in Ft. Parker, Fl. with his photography and charter boat businesses. As the layers of this complex character are peeled back during the course of his and Cody's romance, we see an individual damaged by his ambitious father and his political aspirations. The attempts on Ty's life bring in all levels of the law and again we are shown just how much the GLBT community is looked upon as second class citizens. The surprise in this well written and developed story was the way Cody's parents dealt with his coming out.
I enjoyed the slow burn development of the love between Ty and Cody. While there was not much explicit sex in the story, it carried a sexual passion that was touching and poignant. The mystery side of the story was well plotted out and the bad guys came as a nice surprise to me. I thought I had it figured out but was off base. I recommend this book highly for it's look at homophobia, it's good mystery and for the native beauty of Florida that was described vividly.
June 3, 2013
Review written for Hearts On Fire Reviews - 3 stars
This one is a toughy for me to review. I’m not totally sure what I expected here, but this was definitely not it. This ended up being more like three stories in one. The first part of the story is about Ty Blackburn, a tourist boat operator in Florida (Ty harbors some secrets that play into this). He has been receiving threatening, seemingly homophobic, letters attempting to force him out of the town.
Then, the story shifts to Cody Masterson, a young man looking for a job as first mate/nature photographer. Cody was referred to Ty by his professors. He has no outward problems with Ty being gay. However, he is somewhat homophobic in regards to himself. By somewhat, I mean almost completely. He realizes he is only interested in men, but continues to insist it isn’t a possibility, as he owes a duty to his very religious family to marry (a woman) and provide a grandchild.
Cody is very up front about this with Ty and frequently turns down Ty’s advances. Ty continues pressing though and doesn’t give up. I had a little trouble with this for a few reasons. One, the obvious one about pressuring someone who has clearly stated they don’t want to be pressured, and two, Ty was cheated on previously and is looking for someone to settle down with, so why would he even consider someone like Cody, who has no plans whatsoever of living as a gay man, let alone being in an out relationship? Oh, and he also doesn’t get involved with his employees. Apparently, the attraction Ty has to Cody is enough to bypass those issues, as they eventually become involved (though somewhat secretly because Cody won’t be out in public). Unfortunately, Cody ends things and returns home to due his familial duty. Ty is then left dealing with the third element of this story – the mystery.
What at first glance seems a cut and dry case of homophobia by someone in the town, turns out to be a bit more. The police never have enough proof to pin the crimes on anyone, and bad things eventually happen. All is revealed rather quickly in the end, which felt very rushed after the majority of the story took its time.
This was the first time I’ve read a story with issues such as Cody’s anti-gay stance (which struggle takes up 80% of this story). I really had a hard time warming up to him. Ty was a bit easier, but his actions often put me off as well. There were some enjoyable romantic moments, and I loved Ty’s friends, Ric and the other members of his crew. Everything ties together by the end, and I was happy to see all was on its way to working out for everyone.
June 12, 2013
3 Stars
Hate mail. The coward’s way of expressing himself. That’s what Tyler Blackburn thinks. Ty dismisses the first two letters he receives, pitching them in the garbage where they belong. But when the third one arrives, threatening death, he calls on his friend Ric Michaels, a detective with the local police, to investigate. There are a couple of likely culprits, but without forensic evidence or proof, there isn’t much the police can do for Ty.
Ty’s a businessman, owner of a charter boat, the Lucky Moon. He suspect’s the poison-pen letters might have something to do with a rival’s offer to buy him out, but he doesn’t give much more thought to his concerns once he sets eyes on the new guy he’s just hired as his assistant. Tall, blonde – the kid claims he’s 22 but Cody Masterson looks years younger. It’s lust at first sight for Ty....
Read Syd's full review at Live Your Life, Buy The book
Hate mail. The coward’s way of expressing himself. That’s what Tyler Blackburn thinks. Ty dismisses the first two letters he receives, pitching them in the garbage where they belong. But when the third one arrives, threatening death, he calls on his friend Ric Michaels, a detective with the local police, to investigate. There are a couple of likely culprits, but without forensic evidence or proof, there isn’t much the police can do for Ty.
Ty’s a businessman, owner of a charter boat, the Lucky Moon. He suspect’s the poison-pen letters might have something to do with a rival’s offer to buy him out, but he doesn’t give much more thought to his concerns once he sets eyes on the new guy he’s just hired as his assistant. Tall, blonde – the kid claims he’s 22 but Cody Masterson looks years younger. It’s lust at first sight for Ty....
Read Syd's full review at Live Your Life, Buy The book
June 16, 2013
2.5 out of 5 (rounded up for GR)
Review Summary: An interesting mystery with a romance that fell short of the mark.
Review
Honestly, I have to review this book in two parts: the mystery and the romance. The romance part I’d have to give 2 stars and the mystery I’d give a 3.
The romance:
This book would have actually gotten a higher rating from me if it hadn’t been an attempt at romance. The whole thing was kind of uncomfortable to read. Ty was the openly gay owner of a charter boat business. Cody was his extremely closeted, twenty-two-year-old employee. Ty finds himself exceptionally attracted to Cody, but he seems to be aware that Cody hasn’t even admitted to himself that he’s gay. Ty’s inner dialog keeps stating that he doesn’t mess around with employees, and he wouldn’t make a pass at Cody because he was in the closet. Yet that’s exactly what he does, several times. It shouldn’t have mattered that Ty thought Cody was gay and just didn’t want to admit it; no means no. It was borderline creepy that Ty kept making moves on his young employee.
Then there was Cody. Supposedly Cody is trying to deny that he’s gay (although later on, he admits that he’d known from an early age). Even after he succumbs to one of Ty’s many advances, his attitude about homosexuality is frankly unpleasant to read about, especially in a romance. He grew up Baptist and has all manner of notions that being gay is wrong, and he has an obligation to his family to get married and have kids the ‘normal’ way.
It seemed like the two main characters went from this uncomfortable back and forth dynamic to insta-love. There wasn’t much in between the two extremes. It didn’t help that there weren’t any physical love scenes in the book. While I wouldn’t say a book has to have sex scenes to keep my interest, this one suffered from the lack of them. Since the chemistry wasn’t established between the two characters in an emotional way, the fade-to-black when it came to their physical relationship only highlighted the missing connection. There are ways to portray sex scenes without being graphic or obvious. I also got tired of hearing the phrase “made love.” Since the sex scenes weren’t shown, there was some talking about it after the fact. In such a case, I think the author should have come up with a few more euphemisms to make it less redundant.
The mystery:
I liked Ty as a character, and this book featured three of my favorite things as his hobbies and livelihood: boating, diving, and photography. I loved that part of it. The mystery of the plot had a much more natural story arc, and was much more believable. Ty had been getting threatening and homophobic letters before he met Cody. He’d also been pressured by locals to so sell his business and leave town. Because of this, when someone starts trying to kill him, there were a lot of different suspects, especially after we learn that Ty is a senator’s son. Although, it the ultimate reason the bad guy had for doing what he did was flimsy and overdramatic, it was a nice little whodunit.
Overall, this book did keep my attention because of the mystery plot, but I found myself skimming the “romance” parts. It just didn’t really work as a romance. Really, except for the part where Cody saves the day at the end, I could have done without Cody at all. Once he got over his anti-gay issues, I liked him well enough, but he was still more of a stumbling block than an asset to the story. I would read another mystery by this author but probably not another romance.
Review Summary: An interesting mystery with a romance that fell short of the mark.
Review
Honestly, I have to review this book in two parts: the mystery and the romance. The romance part I’d have to give 2 stars and the mystery I’d give a 3.
The romance:
This book would have actually gotten a higher rating from me if it hadn’t been an attempt at romance. The whole thing was kind of uncomfortable to read. Ty was the openly gay owner of a charter boat business. Cody was his extremely closeted, twenty-two-year-old employee. Ty finds himself exceptionally attracted to Cody, but he seems to be aware that Cody hasn’t even admitted to himself that he’s gay. Ty’s inner dialog keeps stating that he doesn’t mess around with employees, and he wouldn’t make a pass at Cody because he was in the closet. Yet that’s exactly what he does, several times. It shouldn’t have mattered that Ty thought Cody was gay and just didn’t want to admit it; no means no. It was borderline creepy that Ty kept making moves on his young employee.
Then there was Cody. Supposedly Cody is trying to deny that he’s gay (although later on, he admits that he’d known from an early age). Even after he succumbs to one of Ty’s many advances, his attitude about homosexuality is frankly unpleasant to read about, especially in a romance. He grew up Baptist and has all manner of notions that being gay is wrong, and he has an obligation to his family to get married and have kids the ‘normal’ way.
It seemed like the two main characters went from this uncomfortable back and forth dynamic to insta-love. There wasn’t much in between the two extremes. It didn’t help that there weren’t any physical love scenes in the book. While I wouldn’t say a book has to have sex scenes to keep my interest, this one suffered from the lack of them. Since the chemistry wasn’t established between the two characters in an emotional way, the fade-to-black when it came to their physical relationship only highlighted the missing connection. There are ways to portray sex scenes without being graphic or obvious. I also got tired of hearing the phrase “made love.” Since the sex scenes weren’t shown, there was some talking about it after the fact. In such a case, I think the author should have come up with a few more euphemisms to make it less redundant.
The mystery:
I liked Ty as a character, and this book featured three of my favorite things as his hobbies and livelihood: boating, diving, and photography. I loved that part of it. The mystery of the plot had a much more natural story arc, and was much more believable. Ty had been getting threatening and homophobic letters before he met Cody. He’d also been pressured by locals to so sell his business and leave town. Because of this, when someone starts trying to kill him, there were a lot of different suspects, especially after we learn that Ty is a senator’s son. Although, it the ultimate reason the bad guy had for doing what he did was flimsy and overdramatic, it was a nice little whodunit.
Overall, this book did keep my attention because of the mystery plot, but I found myself skimming the “romance” parts. It just didn’t really work as a romance. Really, except for the part where Cody saves the day at the end, I could have done without Cody at all. Once he got over his anti-gay issues, I liked him well enough, but he was still more of a stumbling block than an asset to the story. I would read another mystery by this author but probably not another romance.
June 2, 2013
3.5
This book is an eclectic mix of elements: a sweet romance and a good ol' whodunnit, combined with something that reads like a self-help manual on coming-out.
Ty, the first-person narrator was well-drawn; I liked his voice, his decency, his no-nonsense attitude. Cody, on the other hand, remained elusive; I didn't feel as if I really got to know him as a person, even though I learned a lot about him.
Another character I liked a lot was Ric, Ty's straight friend; a remarkable, very likable guy.
The mystery part was well executed. As I said, a good ol' whodunnit with a handful of artfully placed red herrings and an elaborate confession from the villain in the end, --perfect if you happen to like Agatha Christie, like I do.
The "self-help" part, for lack of a better expression, was pleasantly unobtrusive; Ty talks and thinks a lot about what it means to stay true to oneself, mostly with Cody, which fit well into their developing friendship and later, loving relationship. Still, the romance took a backseat to the other plot elements.
Anyway, I had some problems with the relationship between Ty and Cody. Cody is deeply in denial, though very attracted to Ty.As I said, I thought the character of Ty a decent guy, but he's also very pushy when it comes to his relationship with Cody. Even though the end-result might be positive for Cody , the route there read like an "I'll save you, kick and scream all you like" on Ty's part. Yes, he stopped when Cody said no, but he kept pushing in other ways. Add to that the fact that he was Cody's employer and that he was older and a lot more experienced than Cody, and the whole "seducing Cody" thing left a stale aftertaste with me.
Overall, this was still an entertaining read, skillfully written and pleasant except for the misgivings I explained above.
This book is an eclectic mix of elements: a sweet romance and a good ol' whodunnit, combined with something that reads like a self-help manual on coming-out.
Ty, the first-person narrator was well-drawn; I liked his voice, his decency, his no-nonsense attitude. Cody, on the other hand, remained elusive; I didn't feel as if I really got to know him as a person, even though I learned a lot about him.
Another character I liked a lot was Ric, Ty's straight friend; a remarkable, very likable guy.
The mystery part was well executed. As I said, a good ol' whodunnit with a handful of artfully placed red herrings and an elaborate confession from the villain in the end, --perfect if you happen to like Agatha Christie, like I do.
The "self-help" part, for lack of a better expression, was pleasantly unobtrusive; Ty talks and thinks a lot about what it means to stay true to oneself, mostly with Cody, which fit well into their developing friendship and later, loving relationship. Still, the romance took a backseat to the other plot elements.
Anyway, I had some problems with the relationship between Ty and Cody. Cody is deeply in denial, though very attracted to Ty.As I said, I thought the character of Ty a decent guy, but he's also very pushy when it comes to his relationship with Cody. Even though the end-result might be positive for Cody , the route there read like an "I'll save you, kick and scream all you like" on Ty's part. Yes, he stopped when Cody said no, but he kept pushing in other ways. Add to that the fact that he was Cody's employer and that he was older and a lot more experienced than Cody, and the whole "seducing Cody" thing left a stale aftertaste with me.
Overall, this was still an entertaining read, skillfully written and pleasant except for the misgivings I explained above.
May 21, 2013
The novel is far more than I expected. It is a wonderful police/detective mystery with all of its intrigue, along with a nice romance between the two main characters. And, I acknowledge that I am a sucker for a good happily ever after love story.
Ty and Cody, the two main characters in the story, are a completely believable couple. Ty, is an out and proud ship captain who does tourist sailings to spectacular nature preserves and dive areas in South Florida. He also is the estranged son of a wealthy US senator. Cody is a deeply closeted employee on Ty's ship: he is the son of a baptist minister. He is also a 22 year old virgin who is having problems dealing with any sexuality. There is a wonderful tension between these two characters as they begin their developing relationship.
I don't want to give too much away since this is a mystery story. So, here's the barest of summaries. Someone is trying to get Ty to sell his touring business, and ultimately there are some very serious attempts on his life. All of this makes the burgeoning love between Ty and Cody even more important. I really can't say much more without ruining the surprises in the story.
This is a delightfully unexpected gem of a story. I liked the characters and the plot a great deal. Hopefully, these two characters will appear again in another work by this author. Five stars from me.
Ty and Cody, the two main characters in the story, are a completely believable couple. Ty, is an out and proud ship captain who does tourist sailings to spectacular nature preserves and dive areas in South Florida. He also is the estranged son of a wealthy US senator. Cody is a deeply closeted employee on Ty's ship: he is the son of a baptist minister. He is also a 22 year old virgin who is having problems dealing with any sexuality. There is a wonderful tension between these two characters as they begin their developing relationship.
I don't want to give too much away since this is a mystery story. So, here's the barest of summaries. Someone is trying to get Ty to sell his touring business, and ultimately there are some very serious attempts on his life. All of this makes the burgeoning love between Ty and Cody even more important. I really can't say much more without ruining the surprises in the story.
This is a delightfully unexpected gem of a story. I liked the characters and the plot a great deal. Hopefully, these two characters will appear again in another work by this author. Five stars from me.
May 19, 2013
So you know that SNL skit with Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch where they are in the hot tub and keep calling each other "lover" in that funny, drawn out voice? That's totally what I was picturing when I kept reading Ty and Cody refer to each other as "lovers."
I thought this started out very promising but half way through it got boggled down with Cody's struggle to come out and so much going on with Ty. I didn't really feel that spark between the two of them, really...maybe hurt by the fact that there were no detailed sex scenes so it was hard to get a grasp on their true affection for each other. With all the conversations about being "lovers" and "making love"...I don't know, I just don't think a 22 year old guy would talk that way today.
I enjoyed parts of this but others not so much.
I thought this started out very promising but half way through it got boggled down with Cody's struggle to come out and so much going on with Ty. I didn't really feel that spark between the two of them, really...maybe hurt by the fact that there were no detailed sex scenes so it was hard to get a grasp on their true affection for each other. With all the conversations about being "lovers" and "making love"...I don't know, I just don't think a 22 year old guy would talk that way today.
I enjoyed parts of this but others not so much.
July 29, 2013
Hm, the main mystery about Ty's hateful letters and threats was well written and pulling from the start till the end. But the romantic side plot in this story, between Ty and Cody definitely didn't play well. Everything between them felt odd and negative to me. I disliked Cody's denial about his sexuality and because of it, I couldn't accept Cody's so called love at the end. Cody changed his deeper planned wishes about not being Gay and finding a woman to marry, to fast and to soon, to be acceptable. Sure I liked their imaginary HEA, but it didn't feel right.
June 7, 2013
I have to agree with a previous commenter who said this was like two separate books. There was the romance which was good, and then the last segment of the book was all about
It would have been better as simply a coming out/romance story.
It would have been better as simply a coming out/romance story.
July 10, 2013
2.5 stars. It was a bit all over the place.
July 25, 2013
From my point of view that story plot is really solid. A lot happens and we even have happy ending. Anyway ending is little bit to open from my point of view. It would be perfect with "epilogue".
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