Up in the Air 1, Johannesburg by George Loveland

This is George Loveland's debut novel and it is just lovely. Clearly, George has taken time and care and attention to produce a piece of work that is of a high quality alongside creating a story that is tender, sweet, sexy and optimistic in flavour. A true romance story that made me go 'awwwww' a lot! I really enjoyed it.

 

James is an air steward who shares a flat with his best mate Max. After covering for a drunken Max and swapping their flights so that James is on the route to South Africa, James meets Darren. Im not going to spoil anything by saying how, but it made me laugh out loud! There is a light hearted note that runs through the story and many of the scenes are quite comical yet still fairly realistic. Nothing happens that made me roll my eyes and sigh which is a good thing! 

 

So, of course the path of true love never runs smooth, and there is an ex of James's that threatens his chances with Darren. I may have booed at my kindle at that point because well, 'Team James' and all that...

 

While this story falls definitely into the 'boy meets boy; boy falls in love with boy' category it is not cheesy at all. The story was engaging and although not wildly exciting it was so full of hope and spirit that I was compelled to read it all in one sitting. The sexy parts are very well composed with just enough to get your pulse racing without being overly graphic. (There's nothing wrong with overly graphic but wouldn't fit the tone to this book). 

 

This was a short read that definitely left me very keen to read the next two books. I'm intrigued to read Max's story because the synopsis hints that he's quite the live wire and much naughtier than James. However, I was thrilled to see that the third book involves James because I may have fallen a teensy bit in love with him already.

 

I'm excited for George Loveland - I think this series is going to be a hit. It has all the feels and I wish him lots of success. 

4 stars