Blue Days

Dwyer and Hiroyuki are wonderful, I loved their quirkiness and how Dwyer sees so much in Hiroyuki when others don't. They are the perfect dynamic couple to start a series.

A massive reorganization of the company you work for is a frightening time. Especially for Dwyer Knolls, who has been anticipating being fired for the past six months from his real estate development firm. He's shocked when, instead of being let go with the majority of the people in his department, he is reinstated as a Project Manager. Dwyer is vindicated when the new people who've come from their corporate office in Tokyo tell him that the gamble he and his team took, and lost, was only a failure in the execution, not the concept.
Hiroyuki Takeo is also a transplant from Japan, and he's paired to another employee, as an acquisitions partner, along with Dwyer and his new partner, Masai Makoto (Mak). Mak and Dwyer work wonderfully together. Not so much Takeo, as his partners continue to be fired for not being able to work with him, and thus, Takeo ends up trailing along with Dwyer and Mak. Dwyer feels bad for him, and befriends him, trying to help him out of his stoic shell, and learn to interact better with clients. The fact that Dwyer thinks Takeo is gorgeous doesn't hurt.
It was interesting to watch the development of this friendship, and to see, as time went on, more and more of the things that Dwyer really liked about Takeo. Dwyer seems to be the only person who truly understood Takeo, which, I suppose, made it even easier for them to fall in love. Their love story is a gradual one, but no less powerful for it.
I am a Mary Calmes fan, and I've always loved and appreciated her writing. I won't deny that 'Blue Days' is different from her other works, and I would've enjoyed it being longer in order to flesh out these characters a little more, and to streamline the overall story. However, it is sweet, and gentle, with a lovely happy ever after. If that's what you enjoy, then this might be the book for you.
NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.

Takeo's a character I can readily identify with. Even though he's good looking, Takeo lacks social/people skills and thus cames across to most people as cold, aloof, arrogant and unkind--none of which are true. He's even nicknamed by one of his co-workers as the Ice Prince. Dwyer's laid back, insightful, easygoing and self-assured personality matched him very well.
The first part of the book encompasses the period of time during which Takeo and Dwyer meet, work together and become friends (a three year span!), while the second half of the book takes place basically over a single weekend. I very much wished for Takeo's Japanese cultural heritage to come through and play a larger role in the story than it did. Enjoyed the hot love scenes, and the little epilog's sweet as can be.
Overall, a light, fun, fluffy novella with very little angst. I enjoyed the time I spent reading it.