A Series of Rooms

This book was difficult to put down once begun. The circumstances were compelling and the outcome was not predictable. One might quibble about aspects of the end, as I hadn’t foreseen that outcome in that way. But that’s a good thing. It’s a satisfying story. There is also a follow-up novella that takes place between the end and the epilogue: Doors & Windows 

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On the night of his twenty-first birthday, a domino effect of unfortunate events leads Liam Cassidy to a chance encounter with a stranger. What he thinks will be nothing more than a moment of shared refuge in a bar bathroom takes a turn when Liam finds that same stranger waiting in his hotel room that night.

Jonah Prince is just trying to survive another night, same as he has done since his life derailed at seventeen. When his services are requested as a surprise for someone’s birthday, the last person he expects to see is the man from the bar who showed him kindness.

It doesn’t take long in a room together to see the cracks in Jonah’s facade. He’s afraid of someone, even if he can’t say it out loud. Hungry, guarded, and jumping at shadows, it’s clear he is in desperate need of a break, and Liam is in a unique position to grant him one-even if it’s just for a night.

Drawn together by their mutual need for escape, the two of them fall into an arrangement of weekly meetings inside the cheapest hotel rooms Chicago has to offer. The encounters are not sexual in nature, but an unexpected intimacy blossoms between them over time. For Jonah, it’s one night a week of guaranteed safety. For Liam, it’s the first real friendship he has ever known.

But soon, the circumstances that exist outside their private series of rooms begin closing in around them, reminding them that they can’t live in a bubble forever.

The Purple Fantastic Steam rating gives this a 2 out of 5. The story is about sex trafficking, but very carefully navigates around anything explicit. It is mature material thematically but never chooses to be graphic with the subject matter. You can read more about the Steam Ratings on the About Page.