Reviewed by Ami
Title: Service With a Smirk
Author: Ariel Tachna
Series: At Your Service #2
Heroes: Pascal larocque/Mathias Perras
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 200 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: January 13, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: Pascal Larocque, a waiter at a high-end Montréal restaurant, knows what it means to love—and he knows what it means to lose. He buried the man he expected to spend his life with years ago. He’s perfectly happy with his solitude, or so he tells his friends. But a chance encounter in a neighborhood bar followed by a run-in at his apartment building turns his world upside down.
Mathias Perras is twenty-four, newly arrived in Montréal, and works two jobs so he can live on rue Sainte-Catherine in the heart of the gay district. During the day, he’s on a fast track to management at the Banque de Montréal. At night, he waits tables at a gay bar down the street. He’s burning the candle at both ends, but it will be worth it when his career takes off and he has the life he’s always dreamed of. When he meets Pascal, one more piece of that dream slots into place. Pascal is everything he wants in a lover: older, self-assured, established in his life and his career. But Pascal doesn’t look at him twice. What’s a boy have to do to get a little action?
Review: Pascal is forty-eight years old, twice the age of Mathias, who is only twenty-four. Pascal worries that the two of them are in different stage in life. Pascal lost the man he thought he would spend the rest of his life with, more than a decade ago. He doesn’t want a fling. He wants a commitment, a long-lasting relationship. He is not sure if Mathias is up for that.
On top of it, Pascal is only a waiter, despite his job being sort of middle management at the restaurant he works at. Meanwhile Mathias is on a track for management at a bank – although he takes a second job waiting tables. So what if Mathias is bored with him?
Mathias, on the other hand, sees Pascal as someone who has experience in life. Pascal is established, he travels abroad. Mathias knew that people will look at their age difference and think that he is looking for a sugar daddy. In addition, he knows that Pascal has been involved with a serious relationship before and he wonders whether he will only become a rebound.
One thing I truly liked from Service with a Smirk was that the relationship felt mature, despite the repetitive concerns from both sides. Yes, those concerns were going back and forth, but at the same time, Pascal and Mathias communicate about it. They talk about their worries to their friends. They also talk to each other, trying to figure out what they want from the relationship. I appreciated this so much!
Not to mention it also has low steam… Like Pascal said “Sex is part of everything, but for me, it’s the last part. The icing on the cake, so to speak, not the sum total of the dessert.” Therefore, this book focuses on the relationship built-up rather than the sexual attraction part of it … which to me, is always a plus point. 🙂
All in all, I thought it was a satisfying romance.
Overall Impression: I really liked it!
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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