Product Description

A pair of working man novellas from the authors that wrote Caught Running. Under Contract Site foreman Ted Lucas moved to Birmingham, leaving a full life behind, only to discover something - someone - to look forward to. Assistant Nick Cooper catches his eye, and even more incredibly, Lucas's heart, all without a word. When Lucas finds out Cooper's asked to be transferred, he bites the bullet and admits his feelings. Intrigued, Cooper offers Lucas one night to figure out if that love could possibly be real. Over the Road Truck driver Elliot Cochran meets 'McLean' while talking on the CB and strikes up an unusual friendship. One evening, McLean tells Elliot he needs to go find some companionship, and so Elliot meets Jimmy Vaughan - and has one of the best nights in his life. Before long Elliot faces a decision about sharing his life: Does he choose McLean, the best friend he's never met, or Jimmy, the man who thrills him beyond belief?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #152742 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 308 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780981737249
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

Another great effort by the Urban/Roux team
I am a huge fan of these authors ("Caught Running" and "Cut & Run" being two of my favorite books), but not so much of short stories, so I had passed up "Love Ahead" for quite a while. I was tempted, however, after rereading both "Caught Running" and "Cut & Run" once again and other reviews of this two-story book; I mean I love what the authors have done with the other two books, so I might was well complete the set, right? I'm glad I did because I really liked these two stories, especially the second one "Over the Road." I'd give the overall effort 4.5 stars.

"Under Contract" -- 4 stars

I liked this story just fine, though not as much as "Over the Road." I had some mixed feelings, but regardless, it's still so much better than most of what is out there that I can overlook the small issues I had with it.

A major part of the plot is unusual in that one of the heroes knows (or claims) to be in love, and the other isn't, and that in itself drives the story. It's an interesting change from either both parties declaring their undying love on page 3 after just meeting (and getting it on, no doubt) -- which drives me wild, and not in a good way! -- or even saying the words together a few weeks or months down the line. Because of this difference in feelings, it's a little more angsty than what I am used to from books in this genre. But the angst here is good and handled in a good way; Urban and Roux easily could have written Lucas and Cooper as a creepy versions of themselves (stalker and advantage-taker), but they didn't. Through the angst, these creepy concerns/possibilities are actually brought up during the story, placing them in the thoughts, dialog, and actions of the heroes. It seemed that every time I said to myself that one of them is being a jerk or a push-over or whatever, the authors deal with it; for example, I think "Cooper is taking advantage of Lucas' feelings to get some physical gratification," then Cooper thinks about exactly that and often addresses it out loud. Nice.

During my first read, I had difficulty connecting with the characters for some reason, and with Lucas specifically. Two things kept cropping up for me. First, although I absolutely believe that a person can love from afar, the object of those feelings remaining clueless, and I can say from experience that you can fall for someone you work with (you spend more time with co-workers longer than just about anyone else in your life, so why not?), I took some issue with Lucas' declaration of love for Cooper at the beginning, considering he barely knew the man, and especially keeping him at more than arm's length for that initial six months. But, as I mentioned above, the authors take care of this: Cooper, apparently having the same problem as me, addressed this to Lucas in conversation.

Second, his "I'll take whatever scraps Cooper throws at me" attitude had me wanting to shake him and say "Snap out of it! Get a backbone! You deserve it all!" I realized, however, that this issue and much of how he acted in general was centered around his unexpected self-esteem problem. In his own words, "Who'd want to love him, a big, boorish construction worker?" Even another construction worker? Here is a good-looking, strong alpha male, yet he has some very insecure thoughts about himself which drive him to act in ways that made me grit my teeth sometimes. But upon thinking it over during consequent rereads, it occurred to me that insecurity infects the best of all of us and we all handle it differently, and although it still grates a bit, it made him vulnerable and endearing to me.

I liked watching the development of Cooper's feelings for, and his thoughts about, Lucas. His musings over what he thinks Lucas thinks his own feelings are are interesting: is it lust, infatuation, transient love, everlasting love? What can he believe? What does he want to believe? And whatever it is can't last, can it? I thought the line of thinking was practical. Though both men grow emotionally throughout the course of the story, Cooper's is palpable; Lucas already knows what he wants, and it's Cooper who needs to come around to figuring out the same, either way.

I am not a fan of Big Misunderstandings or Communication Problems as a plot device to drive the protags apart even temporarily, and though I can see why it happened -- the characters' personality differences practically screamed for it to come about -- it made me sad for Lucas and Cooper. But I held out hope that the ladies would give them an HEA of some sort -- come on, it wouldn't be a romance it there wasn't! -- and they did not disappoint. Like I said, the small issues aside, I did like the story very much.

"Over the Road" -- 5 stars

Here is another atypical, original story from what you generally see in this genre. First, the professions of the protags: long-haul truckers. Sweet! I always wanted to do that, but at 4'11", it's not the ideal job for me. Second, it's kinda sorta a m/m version of "Shop Around the Corner"/"You've Got Mail" without the animosity between the protags on the non-pen-pal side and some yummy man-on-man hawt sex. What a great premise! I was charmed.

It's a sweet and gentle feel-good romance laced with humor. I liked how unhurried the entire story felt for its length. Like other reviewers, it was obvious what was going on early in the story (the authors really didn't try and hide it), yet it was still fun to watch it play out, maybe more so than if you didn't know until later in the story. There were times where I would be sitting at the edge of my seat in suspense, wondering if this was going to be the time they'd figure it out, sighing in frustration when it wasn't -- come on guys, it's right in front of you! -- laughing a bit because you know something they don't, and cheering when they finally got it.

This story felt real to me like "Caught Running" did; these are two guys that you could root for and believe in. McLean and Millis deserve and are good for each other. Both being truckers, they understand life on the road, the loneliness of the long-hauls, the pull to remain doing it, and the difficulties of trying to keep a relationship going under the circumstances of rarely being in the same location as the other. I liked watching their fast, easy friendship develop over the course of several months, and I was touched by the guilt they suffered when it felt like they were betraying their phone buddy -- the one that they were falling for even though they'd never met in person -- with someone that they were also developing feelings for when they were getting their physical needs more-than-adequately met. The only supporting characters -- Jimmy's brother and twin nieces - were nice touches.

A quick personal aside: I had to chuckle out loud when Elliot goes to Nashville and gets a room at the giant resort next to the giant mall; I had the opportunity to go to that hotel for a conference this past August! Yes, it is a real place, and it's hard to explain just how massive and unbelievable this facility is (and it's not all flattering, I'm afraid). Anyway, thought that was humorous.

If you liked "Caught Running" and/or if you are a sucker for nice romances, this yet-again great effort by the Urban/Roux team is a book for you. Read, enjoy.

I love the second story "Over the Road".
If you enjoy Caught Running, you will enjoy these 2 stories.
"Under the Contract" is about 2 constuction workers. Lucas is the brooding foreman, feared by his workers, while Nick is the affable and caring assistant foreman, liked by all. These 2 men are total alphas in appearance, but when love calls they become vulnerable and insecure, capable of hurting each other as each is afraid to open up to the other. This story is good but could be better if the sex is toned down. Don't get me wrong. The sex is well written but just that too much tends to cloud the emotional development of the story. 4 stars.

I really enjoy the second one "Over the Road" about 2 truck drivers. This one is one lovely read with the right balance between sex and emotional content. I love the 2 characters here, who complement each other so nicely. Both Elliot and Jimmy are truck drivers, on long hauls. Their work is tough and lonely, as they travel endless hours on the roads days and nights, stuck in long traffics, sleeping in their trucks and always alone. But somehow these 2 lonely men manage to "know" each other and fall in love under the most unusual circumstances. This story is original and refreshing and have me glued to the pages right from the beginning and a few parts have me on the edge of my seat too. Very romantic and sweet indeed. 5 stars!

Two good stories
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.
Disclaimer: I prefer to read romances that are more about feelings than sex. If a book has lots of lust-filled, dispassionate sex, I'm not impressed. If the sex is a manifestation of love, bring it on.


"Under Contract" - 8/10

Pros:
- Two macho men who fall for each other but have sensitive sides that don't detract from their masculinity.
- Interesting supporting cast: a couple of odd, amusing characters and one particularly supportive character.
- Good sex scenes (although see the cons list below also).

Cons:
- Typical (at least, it's present in all 3 stories I have read by this pair of authors) Urban-Roux frenetic POV. My assumption is that these authors go for some sort of omniscient third-person POV rather than limited third-person, which is what the majority of romance/erotic novels use. The problem is that they don't quite pull it off seamlessly; they tend to switch POV from one character to the other every other paragraph so that Par. 1 is told from A's perspective, Par. 2 from B's, Par. 3 from A's, etc. Sometimes, though, they throw in 2 paragraphs in a row from the same character's POV, and it's confusing. It's also difficult at times to tell whether you're reading an internal thought of Character A or a perception of Character A that's actually being thought by Character B.
- (Possible SPOILER here) One of the characters is in love with the other from the beginning, so for him, the sex is more than just sex; for the other guy, it's just the fulfillment of lustful fantasies at first. As a result, the sex scenes were difficult for me to read because I knew that one of them was making love and one was just f*ing.


"Over the Road" - 8/10

Pros:
- Great idea. I enjoyed the plot, which is simple but clever, very much.
- Beautiful relationship that develops entirely from conversation (and not sex). As a result, it felt more meaningful to me.
- One very funny character. By the time I had read the first 10 pages, I had laughed out loud at least 5 times.
- One of the guys has a sweet family--loving, caring, accepting. Aw.

Cons:
- Typical Urban-Roux frenetic POV. (See the same point on my con comments about the novella above.) What's different in this novella than in "Under Contract" and Caught Running, an Urban-Roux novel, is that certain scenes in this story are pretty consistently limited in their POV, which just makes the switcheroo scenes more disorienting.
- (possible SPOILER here) The majority of the sex scenes have a disengaged, one-night-stand feel to them because...well, they ARE one-night stands. (Not toward the end, of course, because the characters do get their happily-ever-after.)


Overall comments: Good for fans of romance, because despite my con comments about each of the novellas' sex scenes, love does triumph in the end. Not for you if you're looking for a hair-raising plot.