Place Setting by Claudia Mayrant

- 3.5 Stars. Sweet but to quick
- By Diverse Reader
  on Jan 18, 2019 09:01
- Reviewed by Erin for Diverse Reader
  
  Small towns, coming home and finding love, and a wedding are three of my favorite things so I couldn't wait to read Place Setting by Claudia Mayrant, the newest States of Love book from Dreamspinner Press. These short books are set all over the country in some places I know well and in some I don't ... but sure wish I did. This is the case with Place Setting, which takes place in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. I loved the "feel" of the book, that small town, nostalgic ambiance that reminds you of a different time. Gray Callahan might have spent the last few years in the big city as a talented chef but when a failed relationship has him leaving his beloved restaurant and his no good ex, he arrives in Summer Corners, South Carolina not expecting to find the perfect man.
  
  Cameron Dunlop might not have ever left Summer Corners but that doesn't mean he doesn't have dreams of his own. He has a job he loves and a hometown he enjoys being a part of, the only thing missing is someone to share his life with. When he crosses paths with Gray Callahan it seems like fate has stepped in and dropped the perfect man right in his lap. Helping Gray save his sister's wedding is the perfect opportunity to spend more time with the handsome man and Cameron might have the way to come to the rescue.
  
  This was a really quick and sweet book. I loved the setting, Cameron and Gray were super cute together, and all the food was an added bonus. Things move really quickly based on the length of the book and if there's one complaint I have it's that Place Setting wrapped up WAY too quickly and didn't give me quite the satisfied happily ever after I was hoping for. In my opinion, an extra chapter or two really would have made this an even better story. Otherwise, this was a really fun book and I would love to see more of Cameron and Gray.
- Place Setting
- By H.Martin
  on Jan 18, 2019 08:01
- Place Setting by Claudia Mayrant explores the people and the small town of Summer Corners in South Carolina, and introduced us to Cameron and Gray. Cameron knew Gray, who was a few years ahead of him in school, so they weren’t completely two strangers meeting.
  
  I struggled with this review. On the one hand I enjoyed this story, the setting and the characters, but I wouldn’t consider this a romance. It just didn’t get to the point of being a romance. There was all the setup and potential for a great romance, but we ran out of pages. I always say that novellas can be hard. There’s a lot of story to pack into a few pages, 70 pages for this one. The problem was 65 of those pages was the setup for the relationship and that didn’t leave us time for the romance.
  
  This story had a lot of potential! Gray and his boyfriend have broken up, and Gray leaves the restaurant they co-owned. When his sister has a wedding crisis, it’s the perfect project for him to work while trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. He heads back to his hometown. He meets Cameron who loves living in his small town, except for the part of where he seems to be the only gay man in town. Gray and Cameron have the potential of a sweet romance - it just wasn’t in this story.
  
  I really wish there was less story about the area and townspeople and more story about Cameron and Gray. I loved the setup of Cameron and Gray, and thought they had great potential, and maybe they do, but it ended with them just beginning. I definitely wouldn’t classify this as a HEA, if that matters to you, and probably not even a HFN because they weren’t in a relationship. So, this was a sweet story that lets you decide the future of Cameron and Gray.
  
  Rating: 3.5 stars
  
  **Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by DreamSpinner Press for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.**
- not a win
- By lolo
  on Jan 15, 2019 08:01
- 2.5 stars rounded to 3
  
  Place Setting is short book about Gray and Cameron. Gray has returned to his South Carolina hometown of Summer Corners after breaking up with his business partner in Philadelphia. As a professional chef, he arrives home just in time to help his little sister with catering her wedding after an unexpected glitch in her plans.
  
  Cameron is the property manager for Gray’s new rental home. He’s never left the small town, loves his aunt who raised him and enjoys his life. The two meet when Cameron shows Gray his new rental. It’s normally here where I’d say the sparks fly, but I never felt the sparks between Cameron and Gray. It almost felt like they were the only 2 gay men in town and so they got together due to a lack of options. There was no spark. I honestly got bored during the one sexy times scene in the book. I was way more worried about whether Gray’s sister’s wedding got off without a hitch after the drama.
  
  And how was the wedding the epilogue? Wasn’t that just meant to be the next chapter? I mean, it was like the next day after the previous chapter! Then, after 2 weeks, one of which they admittedly saw little of each other, we were lead to believe they were committing to the other? Not believable…
  
  *** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***

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