Colby takes his job as assistant to CEO Maine Braxton very seriously. He would to anything for his boss. Not only because he's good at his job, but because he also harbors feelings for the man that he knows he shouldn't. After all, Mr. Braxton is engaged to be married to a woman after they get back from this trip. But that will only happen if they do make it home--their plane has just gone down in the middle of nowhere and it's up to the two of them to work together to find their way to safety...and to a phone. And while the experience leads Colby to rethink whether he can keep working for a man that he's falling in love with, it also forces Maine to confront some realities of his own life at the same time.

This is one of those stories about finding love right in front of you and how it can creep up on you when you least expect it. But it's also about being open to possibilities and not closing yourself off because of what others may expect of you or what you may expect of yourself. And sometimes that can be the biggest challenge of all. ( )

Audio - 4 stars
Story - 2 stars

It was just an ok story to listen to on a Sunday while doing chores.

Nothing special, same old , same old.

( )

‘Stranded with Desire’ contains a couple of tropes I like: “personal assistant and boss are secretly in love with each other” is one, and “plane crash victims fight for survival” is the other. But that is not all this novel offers. There is some extra suspense in the form of subterfuge, betrayal, and corporate intrigue. I also really liked the great set of secondary characters: the secretive, loyal Leo who only appears via phone calls, the rugged pilot Gus who likes to be called Rooster, and Maine’s fiancée who remains a nice and decent woman despite the unexpected shock she experiences.

Colby is a great assistant. I loved that his background is as a theater actor, and that he was hired for his ability to put up an unflappable front when people challenge his boss, the CEO. It doesn’t hurt that Colby also turns out to be quite bright businesswise and can think on his feet. There is one further ingredient to his dedication, one that he doesn’t intend to share with his boss, Maine – ever. Colby has fallen in love with Maine despite the fact that there is no hope of them ever being together. Maine is, after all, straight and engaged, and Colby is not a homewrecker.

Maine is a hardworking businessman who has weathered many an attempt from people trying to get rid of him so they can take over the family-owned company. Maine tries very hard to be the man his father and his family need him to be, and as such, his own desires never even make it into the equation that describes his life. He loves working with Colby, and if he has begun to fantasize about more, that is his alone to deal with. Maine has decided he can’t be gay, and since his family and business are more important than his own happiness, he will marry Helen and focus on making the company a success.

With these two stubborn men, each intent on protecting the status quo, I don’t think anything short of a major disaster would have been able to shake them up enough to switch on their brains and think about what they were doing to themselves. So when their plane crashes, and they have to face the wilderness of the Cascade Mountains unprotected, a lot of things come to light. Colby opens up, Maine admits his most hidden desires, and they exchange some truths and an incendiary kiss. All of this sets in motion a change in Maine’s attitude that finally allows him to consider his happiness as well as his career and his family’s needs.

If you like self-sacrificing lovers who need a major wake-up call to realize that what they’ve been doing is not going to make them happy, if you believe that two men who work well together deserve love as much as the next guy, and if you’re looking for an entertaining read that is full of suspense, passion, and quite a few surprises and revelations, then you will probably like this novel.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )