Book Review: Pen Name – Doctor Chicken by KC Burn

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Pen Name – Doctor Chicken
Author: KC Burn
Heroes: Stratford Dale & Vinnie Giani
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Length: 63k+ words
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: November 22, 2013
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Sometimes Stratford Dale feels like Doctor Chicken consumes his life. It’s his pen name for a series of wildly popular children’s books. They were his brainchild; he meant for them to be a way to pay his many bills while he pursued his dream of publishing graphic novels. But the Doctor Chicken contract was a raw deal. Instead, he churns out book after book for a pittance, leaving him broke and no closer to his dreams.

Stratford’s dreams of love have fared no better, but he’s still trying. After yet another disastrous date, he’s intrigued by a man going into a cooking class—so he takes the class too. Vinnie Giani is a successful, self-made man who is charmed by Stratford’s bow ties, sharp humor, and clumsiness—which leads to an opportunity to take Stratford in for stitches. Vinnie is, above all, responsible, having taken on the care of his mother and sisters from a young age. Perhaps it’s natural when he begins to treat Stratford more as a child who needs a parent than as an equal partner. But when Vinnie tries to “fix” Stratford’s career woes—including the Doctor Chicken problem—and ends up making the situation worse, their fledgling relationship may not withstand the the strain created by blame and lies.

Review:

Stratford Dale is not very happy. He’s working his butt off writing popular children’s books under the pen name Doctor Chicken but he’s getting paid barely anything for it. On top of that, he has the worst luck in finding a guy to call his own especially when all the guys who are interested only want him for sex. Vinnie Giani changes all that when they meet at a cooking class and Vinnie pulls out his rusty romantic charms and tries to woe Stratford into something of a relationship. Both men are clueless on just what that means but one thing has been made clear… keeping secrets is never good. Will their omissions cause their fledgling relationship to fall apart before it ever actually starts?

Stratford is that cute mix of awkward and geeky. He loves to wear bow ties and has the tendency to be very clumsy at the worst possible moments. He’s straight up adorable and I loved every minute of his awkwardness. Vinnie is the exact opposite in that he’s charming and sexy. I loved that Vinnie loved all of who Stratford is and even goes to great lengths to explore his likes, such as starting to watch Stratford’s favorite show, Doctor Who, just because he knew Stratford loves it.

Seriously, the two together are just all kinds of sweetness. They balance each other out but also have a lot of issues they have to work through. At times, Vinnie seems lost and Stratford is there to guide him through things. At other times, Stratford needs the guidance. The whole story is about them working through their problems and trying at something new. Stratford is insecure, afraid of rejection and hates confrontation but Vinnie does what he can to help Stratford through that. Vinnie has a tendency to try and fix things, which causes them both some problems. The story is a nice mix of exploring their feelings, wants and dreams and trying to walk on eggshells around those issues.

While this was a fun and easy story, I admit one of my biggest problems was the way Stratford could never just say enough is enough. He has major rejection issues not to mention he doesn’t like confrontation so that means he will do anything to avoid anything negative… this means he lets things play out well past when they should, which equates to him getting walked all over. I loved that he was so damaged in this way but it also got on my nerves that he couldn’t stand up for himself. There were also a few scenes where it seemed that Stratford and Vinnie did a character role reversal (Vinnie started acting like Stratford, Stratford started acting like Vinnie, etc.). They weren’t that big a deal for me but the transition into that wasn’t very smooth.

In the end, I really did enjoy it. It’s a pleasant read and while Stratford was frustrating a time or two, I did love Stratford and Vinnie and the tentative way they go about their relationship. The ending was a little abrupt but I still liked where they ended up. If you’ve liked KC Burn’s other books, you’ll no doubt like this one as well 🙂

Overall Impression:   I really liked it

*I purchased my own, personal copy of this book for review.*