Swann's Revenge

Jimmy had a life changing moment and when he got a chance to totally reinvent himself he does. Dan has his own ghost from the past. They hit it off right away but there is a lot to be navigated.

Review By: Kimmers @ Kimmers' Erotic Book Banter http://bit.ly/2C5rYpu

As 'Swann’s Revenge' opens Shira Anthony takes us to a defining moment in Jimmy, AKA Grahams’s, life fifteen years earlier. One of shame as Danny, the boy he had a crush on in high school stood back and said nothing as the football team ridiculed him. In the same breath we can feel there is something more, something we don’t know about Danny as Jimmy thinks, “He’d expected scorn, but Jimmy saw something else in Danny’s blue eyes. Pity? Sympathy?”

Fast forward and a chance meeting, no recognition, hot attraction and a racy hookup end in disaster… in more ways than one when Dan ends up being Graham’s new attorney and makes his second bad “first impression”. But perceptions can be deceiving as Dan has many layers yet to be revealed.

When realization dawns for Graham just who Dan really is the memories and the shame come flooding back. But Graham is not the scared, nerdy kid he used to be. He hides behind the mask of a driven businessman with a hot temper. He’s gone from meek to powerhouse while killing his loneliness and pain with easy hookups.

Graham has spent years stifling his urges, his wants and desires, all the fantasies of the life he truly wants. Once he encounters Dan and learns the hurt and turmoil the other man has endured everything starts to change. As his attraction blooms and the anger is dispelled his recollection of the type of person Dan truly is returns.

Yet every time he thinks he’s ready to open up and reveal is secret, “Jimmy’s” shame returns.

What Graham doesn’t anticipate is Dan’s young daughter. Lacey is a connection who reaches Graham’s heart and opens his eyes to the family he could have - the family he yearns for – and one defining moment will melt a man’s heart of steel.

Once the truth is revealed Graham discovers Dan has a secret he has treasured for fifteen years and two stubborn men with wounds from the past realize that that one day, that one moment all those years ago, actually saved both their lives.

'Swann’s Revenge' is a lovely slow-burn courtship that is all about the relationship and not all the sex. As these two soulmates slowly get to know each other as co-workers, you watch a friendship blossom into romance. Shira Anthony takes you on a beautiful journey of anger, desire, confusion and love through the vessel of three different hearts.

I’m coming to love Shira Anthony’s take on tropes, and Swann’s Revenge is another prime example of why. The chubby high school band member loner is falling hard for the tall, handsome, popular quarterback. But one moment of extreme mortification from the bullies that plague him is the last straw, and when quarterback Danny Parker does nothing but stand by, the spell is broken, as is the spirit of Jimmy Zebulon.

This is a beautiful and fairly low angst ugly duckling story taking place fifteen years after their last memorable meeting. Jimmy Zebulon moved away with his mom and new stepdad, and in taking the man’s name, became J. Graham Swann. A few significant changes in biology mean he no longer even remotely resembles the boy he left behind.

Dan Parker’s changes are fairly significant, as well. Now out and proud, he is the father of a four year old daughter. A desire to spend more time with her prompts a change of venue.

The way that Anthony built their original world leaves just enough blur to allow the reader to remember their own high school days. There isn’t much building around the pair’s current, instead focusing so intently on the duo that you can lose track of where you are and how much time is passing. This affects the pacing somewhat, as well, as weeks or months would pass with the turn of a page. However, each scene flowed into the next very smoothly.

Both MCs are dynamic and engaging, and even as Graham is reserved, you are drawn to him. The pain from his past is highlighted, but it serves as a jumping off point rather than something to hold him down and create unnecessary issues. Dan’s ability to roll with the flow was a great counterpoint to Graham’s occasional stiltedness.

As far as secondary characters, they are very few, but Graham’s best friend Terri plays an integral part for both characters, and then there is Lacey, Dan’s daughter. This character really drives the book forward, creating opportunity after opportunity for the two men to spend time together. She’s a delight, and didn’t detract from the love story at all, rather enhancing it.

This is a lovely addition to the Dreamspun Desires series. A solid four star rating means that I definitely recommend this lighthearted, sweet love story.


**Same worded review will appear on Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.**

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
This story has all the good feels I’ve come to expect from the Dreamspun Desires books. It’s a low angst, low heat romance that is full of emotion. In proper Harlequin tradition, Graham Swann is a perfect leading man. He’s a wealthy lawyer with a few secrets and a difficult childhood. Dan is an equally brilliant leading man. The widowed single father is a kind man who works alongside Graham.

In some ways, this is a second chance romance. As very different people, Dan and Graham knew each other as teenagers. But the kids they were and the men they’ve become are very different – even as Graham struggles to justify the two versions of Dan Parker.

This isn’t a complicated story. It’s an easy read and a perfect romantic escape. I read it on a Mexican beach and it’s pretty much the literary equivalent of a perfectly mixed rum cocktail.

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Swann's Revenge by Shira Anthony to read and review.

Reviewed by Michael for Diverse Reader

I think we’ve all had that fantasy where we get to be with the high school athletic star. I know I did. I used to sit and stare at Jeff ***** (last name withheld to protect his anonymity) and wonder what it would be like if he asked me to the high school prom instead of whats-her-name. We rarely get the chance to live out those fantasies. But what if we did?
That’s the central question of “Swann’s Revenge.” In high school, Graham Swann (formerly James Zebulon) had a crush on football player Danny Parker. Danny wasn’t always like the other player on the team, who took great pleasure in tormenting James. Years later, James has remade himself into an incredibly successful attorney, opening his own law firm. Without realizing who either realizing who the other man is, Danny (now Dan) accepts a position within the same law firm. But as luck would have it, he starts his new position after almost hooking up with Graham.
Dan has issues of his own to deal with. Unfortunately, to discuss those would be to give away spoilers that are important to the story
I think one of the things that drives us as members of the LGBTQ community is the need to be successful. In the back of our minds, there’s always the voice of our bullies that drives us to be better, to show them that we are better. That drive is very prevalent in Graham, that need to be someone other who his tormentors thought he was. And at times, the memories of his tormentors resurface, forcing him to create barriers between himself and the outside world.
I really enjoyed this story. It wasn’t bogged down by over the top dramatics. And the themes that it touched upon are relatable to a lot of people within the community. Lately, it seems I’ve been on a winning streak with finding new authors, and that’s a good thing.