Rough Road

North’s latest contemporary romance is smooth and sexy, though the titular road is indeed rough. Edward Russell is a self-described “sassy old queen” (age 44) who crashes his Mercedes S-Class and then falls for the handsome road worker who pulls him from the wreck. Aloysius “Wish” Carver is nearly half his age and earns maybe a 10th of Edward’s income, working two jobs just to make ends meet, but he finds no roadblocks when it comes to getting Edward—or S-Class, as Wish calls him—into bed. The two are perfect bedfellows until Edward and his moneyed friends decide to oppose a road-building project that Wish is counting on to provide jobs for him and his buddies; the tension takes a toll on the budding romance between Edward and Wish. In spite of a slightly implausible happy ending, North’s lighthearted yarn has just the right balance of plot and character development to frame the main attraction: sizzling sex scenes. (Sept.)