Cruising is the second book in G.A. Hauser’s Men in Motionseries. It is connected only by theme and can stand alone.
Brodie Duncan is on an Alaskan cruise…alone. His girlfriend snuck off the ship before it departed shore and left him high and dry. Frustrated and angry at being stuck in the middle of the ocean he jokingly tells his gay best friend, Paden, in a phone call, that after all his bad luck with women he should just find a man.
Julian Richards is living his own nightmare. On a cruise with his new girlfriend, Amelia, whom he is already beginning to resent, he befriends Brodie. This new struck friendship suddenly develops into a lot more and Julian and Brodie will have to deal with labels, girlfriends, and life after they leave the confines of the ship.
I think that one of the things that I love about G.A. Hauser’s characters is that they are flawed, and she makes no excuses for them. They are just selfish jerks because that is how they are, not because of some great trauma in the past. Neither Julian nor Brodie are perfect, both are, actually, rather despicable characters. Brodie is a grade A jerk off who treats his girlfriend like crap and is very shallow and egotistical. Julian is a philandering wimp. But, somehow, G.A. Hauser manages to develop them into characters that the reader can relate to and even come to like. The plot is nothing new and while it is well written there is nothing that makes you sit back and ruminate on the twists and turns she has taken with it. Thankfully, that makes no difference. The insight and depth of feeling she puts into her characters and their relationships more than makes up for the unoriginal plot. There were several times I wanted to smack both men and shove them overboard but in the next instance I was drooling at the intensity between them. I’m thrilled to give Cruising4 Angels!