Knights & White Satin by Cash Cole

KNIGHTS & WHITE SATIN
Author: Cash Cole
Source: Personal Purchase

Paperback: 184 pages
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave (October 7, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1419961071
ISBN-13: 978-1419961076

Mike is a swinging bachelor with a big empty house and plenty of time and money to spend as he likes. But the second he sees Lee in the bar, he knows something’s about to change. He brings Lee home for some hot-tub fun-and plunges headfirst into love. And Lee is right there with him. But Lee isn’t flying solo. Years ago, he married his best friend Cate so they could please her parents, share a household and have a baby together. Their relationship is strictly platonic, and Cate is thrilled that Lee has found someone. She doesn’t want him to give up his love life to care for her, but she’s living on borrowed time due to a terminal illness. As Mike discovers passion the likes of which he never knew before Lee, he realizes he needs to step up and think of others for a change. And Lee-and his family-are about to learn what it’s like to have a real-life knight in shining armor.

I didn’t think this was going to be a great book because of the cover.  This was a lesson learned in judging a book by its cover instead of the writing on the pages.  First, the couple on the cover looks nothing like the characters described or the ones I picture in my head.  The tarot cards on the front do represent a certain part of the story, but it was a small part.  The only thing about the cover photo that really represents the book in true nature is the pose that the two men are in.  It is a pose that you will come to know throughout the entire story and has a meaning behind it.


When Mike meets Lee at a charity function, he has no idea how fast he would fall for him.  What he also has no idea about is the secrets that Lee holds as well.  Lee married his best friend Cate after college for a matter of convenience.  Together they had a son so Cate could enjoy the experience of being a mother.  Lee is gay, but he loves his son and his best friend.  Cate is also dying from breast cancer.  After the charity function, Mike and Lee share a passionate night of love.  It is interrupted though by a phone call Lee receives that Cate collapsed and is being rushed to the hospital.  When the doctors tell Lee that Cate’s cancer is back, he feels the world crumbling around him.  Mike arrives at the hospital after Lee left his phone at his house and discovers that Lee is married with a child.  He feels like Lee lied to him and calls his friend Kelly/Keith to chew him out for setting him up.  Once Mike figures out that it was a marriage in name only he returns to the hospital and tells Lee and Cate that they can move into his house.  Not only does he do this because he feels bad for Cate, but he selfishly wants Lee to be around him.


I wasn’t a really big fan of Lee and Mike.  Their emotions were all over the place and I couldn’t really feel a strong romantic connection between the two.  It felt like their relationship was sex based instead of a true romantic story because they jumped into it way too fast.  My favorite characters of the story had to be Kelly/Keith and the rest of the drag queen group.  They were hilarious and kept me laughing throughout the entire book.  Imagine you walk into a room with the following people: Two gay guys in love, one of the gay guys’ wife, a priest who happens to be gay and was involved with the other gay guy, girls uptight Catholic parents, a toddler boy who is sweet and trusting and a bunch of drag queens performing a show for everyone!  It was hilarious. Especially the scene when her parents are confronting the priest out in the hot tub and she falls in.  


While I wasn’t a big fan of the romance between Mike and Lee, the story itself was pretty good.  I laughed through the antics and witty dialogue.  I cried near the end when things were falling apart but starting anew.  I even liked the side characters that were written in the story.  Overall not a bad book to read if you are wanting to step into the romance world of male/male.