Side Character (Masters of Romance # 0.5) ~ Emma Alcott

“There are no friends,” ... “only Zuul.”

From the blurb I was expecting Side Character to be a bit of short, hot, steamy, fluff….

And it was, but I wasn’t expecting the humour! Gavin was hilarious!

Drunk Gavin is loud and messy and doesn’t know when to stop running his mouth. Tipsy Gavin is much more agreeable, but just a little bit dumb.

I have never read anything by Emma Alcott (aka Piper Scott) so I had no expectations regarding her writing style. But if her full books contain the same humour, and fast paced wit of Side Character, sign me up for a new favourite author!

Case in point, when Sawyer walks into the room, I decide I’ll win him over by demonstrating how much beer—and therefore dick—I can swallow without taking a breath. The issue is that my throat doesn’t get the memo, and I end up spilling PBR down the front of my shirt like I just came back from a dental procedure and the numbing agent hasn’t worn off yet.

Side Character is a shortish novella, and as such, the cast is pretty much limited to just Sawyer and Gavin and the events of the story are limited to the party, and of course, the laundry room. It was amazing though how the author was able to create, in a relatively short novella, two characters that I actually became invested in. At one point, I thought that something may have not been as it appeared (no spoilers) and I was surprised by how much I actually cared! It’s definitely a skilled author that can make a reader care about her characters in such a short time.

I honestly enjoyed every moment of Side Character, and I can’t wait to read Bad Boy (book 1) and find out what happened to Gavin’s friend, Colton.