I LOVE LOVE LOVE THE LOVE LESSONS SERIES BY HEIDI CULLINAN, AND WHEN I HEARD THERE WOULD BE A SHORT OF BAZ AND ELIJAH I WENT CRAZY! WOO HOO HOW EXCITING, AND THIS BOOK DIDN'T DISAPPOINT! LOOK BELOW FOR MY REVIEW, LINKS, AN EXCERPT AND EVEN A GIVEAWAY! LET'S GET STARTED!
THIS QUOTE IS SO PERFECT FOR THIS STORY IT MAKES ME TEAR UP! HERE IS MY REVIEW:
Short Stay
Love Lessons 3.5
by: Heidi Cullinan
reviewed by: Becky
Baz Acker and Elijah Prince have it all. They’re engaged, and their wedding is guaranteed to be a spectacle no event will ever top. So why are they hunkered down in a quiet corner of the Acker mansion, restless and edgy while they wait out the holidays?
When Baz suggests a road trip with Walter and Kelly to Las Vegas, it sounds like an ideal escape, but it turns out Vegas only amplifies their unease. Elijah can’t slough off the self-hating his parents programmed into him, and he worries how that will affect his marriage. Baz, crippled en route because of too much time spent in the car without rest, must face the truth that his wealth and influence can’t always counteract the limits his disability will put on his—and Elijah’s—life.
With help from their friends, a wily poker player, a take-no-prisoners drag queen, and a smooth-talking casino owner, they face the truth that happiness is a state of mind, not a destination where they book a stay. What happens in Vegas won’t stay in Vegas—it will follow them all the way down the aisle.
If we thought Elijah and Baz's story was done in Lonely Heart's , happily we were wrong! There are a few things these guys have to work out, not the least of which is how uncomfortable Elijah feels with Baz's family's huge gatherings!
When Elijah becomes so freaked out about a holiday party that is sure to be huge, Baz can't help but see his unease, so he suggests a getaway, just him, Elijah and Walter and Kelly to Las Vegas, sure that that will ease the tension surrounding them.
Once in Vegas insecurities brew and these two can't help but turn to old habits, Elijah starts worrying that his bible thumping parents were right about him and he isn't good enough for Baz, and Baz worries that he is broken and Elijah will not want him for the long haul.
Will these two be able to realize how perfect they are for each other? That no one or nothing can keep them from being truly happy but themselves? You will love this book for what it is, the perfect compliment to the perfect series. You may even see a few characters cross over from another series!!! :) Thanks Heidi, for the lovely little treat that is Short Stay!
I DID THIS RATING IN HONOR OF BAZ'S FAVORITE SONG! HERE ARE THE LINKS FOLLOWED BY AN EXCERPT:
Watching his fiancé retreat into a silent freak-out was breaking Baz Acker’s heart one sliver at a time.
It killed him to watch Elijah become more tense with every passing hour while at the same time lying his face off each time Baz tried to get him to open up. Baz wasn’t an idiot. He knew it was his family’s place, and his family—his mother in particular—making Elijah nervous. He knew the wedding planning had him jittery—hell, Baz wasn’t enjoying it either, not the way his mother was running the show. Baz longed to vent his frustration over his mother’s machinations with Elijah, but when he tried, his fiancé shut him out. Then continued to silently freak out.
Forget the New Year’s Eve party. Baz worried his fiancé wouldn’t make it down the aisle.
He did his best to reason with his mother. He’d drawn her aside when he knew Elijah was lost in a book up in their suite and asked her to please stop upsetting Elijah. Unsurprisingly, she didn’t understand. Baz had no idea how to explain to his mother her idea of casual was still insane to most people on the planet. It became clear the only way to keep the New Year’s Eve gala from turning Elijah into a gibbering puddle was for them to skip it entirely.
“I think we should sit this party out, maybe. You can have an engagement party for us another time. Something smaller. Less pressure.”
“Oh, you can’t possibly miss the party! Everyone’s counting on seeing you and Elijah.” Gloria’s gaze took on her politician glint as new plots unfolded in her mind. “But the engagement party is a wonderful idea. We can have it at the country club. Something casual. I’ll have Blue Plate cater—they did Elsbeth Wesley’s daughter’s wedding last year, and it was perfect. A quartet playing discreetly off to the side. Or we could have it at the marina. All that natural light, and the boats and the lake in the background.”
Baz listened while her “simple” party spiraled out of control for a few minutes, then excused himself to hide in the darkened theater room, take off his glasses, and call Marius.
His best friend, blessedly, answered on the second ring, Marius’s low voice rumbling in his ear. “Hey, man. How’s it going?”
Baz tipped his head against the wall and shut his eyes. “My mom is off the rails. She’s going to drive Elijah away.”
“Oh, the New Year’s Eve gala. Man, I’m so sorry.”
Baz snorted. “New Year’s Eve party, and an engagement party too, now. I accidentally lit that fire while I tried to extract us from the New Year’s thing.”
“Why don’t you guys skip?”
“She insisted we can’t possibly miss it.”
Marius sighed. “Baz, you’re a grown man. You’re even graduated from college now. You are physically and legally capable of leaving your parents’ house.”
“Yeah, so long as I have someone to drive me.”
“You do. Elijah. Pack your bags and go home to St. Timothy. Have yourself a private celebration at the White House.”
Baz didn’t want to go to their college communal living space, because three-quarters of the commune was at home for break. He’d never been fond of the White House empty. “We need to go somewhere with more fire to it. I’m afraid if we’re left alone, we’ll fuck up.”
“You won’t fuck up. You’ll argue, you’ll fight, you’ll have sex and make up.”
“I don’t want to fight and argue.”
“You seriously misunderstand your relationship with your fiancé.”
That made Baz smile despite himself. “I mean, I want us to be able to connect. The White House is about college and our friends. We need somewhere clean.”
“Go downtown and get a hotel. Weren’t you spending the holiday with Walter and Kelly? Invite them along.”
“I don’t think Kelly could handle a foursome.”
Now Marius laughed, low and rumbling. “You know what I mean.”
Baz liked the idea of the downtown hotel, but it felt dangerously too close to his mother. “I need to be somewhere she can’t send a car service to fetch me.”
“When your parents can afford charter planes, it’s a tall order. But I know what you mean. So pick somewhere else. What about New York?”
“Too many people in Times Square. Plus, it’s cold.”
“Then go to Disney World.”
“Elijah will kick you in the shin when he hears you suggested that.”
“For fuck’s sake. Pick something else. We live in a huge country. I imagine you could find a city with a hotel within driving distance where you can hide out from your mother and connect with Elijah. Somewhere that wouldn’t inspire him to roll his eyes.”
Marius seriously underestimated Elijah’s ability to dismiss Baz’s ideas. “I’ll think about it. There’s got to be somewhere we could go.”
He did think about it for the rest of the day and all through the night, lying awake as he wracked his brain trying to come up with the perfect place to take Elijah on a New Year’s Eve escape. When he realized he wasn’t going to sleep until he came up with something, he got out of bed, put his contacts back in and his lightest sunglasses on, and padded into the sitting room of their bedroom suite to fire up the computer.
Even before he opened a browser, however, the glinting of the small Christmas tree his mother had put on a side table caught his eye. The lights, turning on and off, running in sequence. Multicolored, flashing lights, filling the space.
The idea formed in Baz’s mind, expanding slowly. He let it bloom a moment, testing it out, kicking it around, looking for Elijah-sarcasm holes.
When he couldn’t find any, he smiled and shut the computer. Then he went to his mother’s study to tell her the bad news.
I CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU GUYS TO READ THIS BOOK! GRAB IT NOW AND DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY! GOOD LUCK GUYS AND SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
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