Anyta Sunday - Scorpio Hates Virgo

Percy Freedman is not grieving. Absolutely not, take that back at once. No, he’s entirely sure that selling his dead aunt’s home and leaving the neighbors he’s known for years is the sane thing to do. Who in their right mind would keep the house that smells like all the hugs he’ll never have again?
Nobody, that’s who.
Well, except his cul-de-sac neighbors. They all seem to think some paint and new furniture will clean the emotional slate. They all want him to stay.
Even his nemesis, Callaghan Glover.
Especially his nemesis, Callaghan Glover.
Lured into a game of Sherlock Gnomes, Percy finds himself hanging out with his neighbors more than might be considered healthy. Along with juggling new and surprising verbal grenades from Cal, and his burgeoning friendship with Gnomber9, Percy is starting to wonder if selling might have been the grief talking after all . . .

Comment: After having enjoyed the first book in this Signs of Love series by author Anyta Sunday, I was very eager to read this second book that, despite being a sequel doesn't rely completely on the first and both can be read as stand-alones.

In this second story we have Percy and Cal as the main characters. Percy has recently lost his beloved aunt Abby and he is thinking about selling her house, his inheritance because he needs money and he feels there's nothing for him in the cul-de-sac street where the house is. However, his neighbors have always been a part of his life and he feels bad about leaving. He especially doesn't want to let go of Cal, the neighbor he developed a sort of hating relationship which, in reality, is just the mask for a strong attraction he feels for his straight neighbor. 

While dealing with his own emotions and mourning and going though how helpful he can be to those around him, Percy sees his sarcastic communication with Cal change but is he reading the signs well, will he find what he wants so nearby after all?

I had some good moments reading this book. It's definitely interesting and even more so when we can separate the nerd scenes/situations from the secondary things. I liked reading about these characters who, for he most part. are quite different from any other characters in contemporary m/m stories. At least that I have read recently.

There was a detail, though, that truly annoys me and I can understand why authors use this technique but it's so limitative and except in thrillers or books where we are supposed to be as blind as the characters sometimes, which is the drawback of having only the POV of one character. This is mostly a romance so why having things only through Percy's eyes? Besides, as it happened with the first book, I'd definitely change this detail because it's too silly to have the characters get to a point of total misunderstanding. Ok, this makes the story drag longer, makes it possible for the characters to engage in situations where we can see their reactions and emotions but come on, are they all so clueless for so long? 

I love slow burn stories but this doesn't mean the stories need to take ages to happen, only that the relationship takes time to be strengthened. However, having just one POV makes things too much one-sided and this feels unfair and boring. To me, of course. Oh well, it's seems it's a trend in some authors so better get used to it...

Percy and Cal are a cute couple and although it was sort of weird everyone (practically) could tell they were attracted/in love before they did, the way they trust each other and feel safer with the other made their relationship feel stronger. I liked they were not going through an easy spot in their personal lives, things weren't magically solved but that only added some realism to their being together in the end. The way we are told about them makes them look like people that would be interesting to know in real life.

The story isn't complicated but I admit there were some scenes a bit more boring than others or perhaps it was just my lack of attention at times. Some of the cute details could have easily been too weird to fully appreciate the way things happened but for the most part, it was good. I'd change some things, yes, but this book did feel a lot more solid than some other stories out there that also try to convey specific types of relationships and not the same thing over and over. 

I still hope, though, that the next story can portray attraction, desire and eventually sexual tension a little better than this one.

Grade: 7/10