I have to say that I enjoyed this immensely. What at first on the surface seems the set up for a porn scene (I mean, come on, Tradesman's Entrance?), actually turned out to be a very cute, fluffy, hilarious, and well written romantic short. A posh, repressed virginal writer of bodice rippers, meets a working class, gobby, bloke with a unique command of the English language. Loved Dave's witty banter, Cockney-style, and the way he handled Stephen's snits. Loved the ending. Dave turns out to be a unique sort of romantic. The whole story, down to the title, is very tongue-in-cheek, and I love that sort of thing. Recommended highly for those in need for something cute, fluffy and full of wit.I too once dated a British plumber, by the way. Best boyfriend I ever had. Please be warned this review will contain SPOILERS.This story stated off like many a porno with a repressed, virginal writer of bodice ripper romance novels sitting at home wondering why he can’t write real books. For starters that seems sort of offensive to romance writers. Sure, sometimes bodice rippers can be more than a bit cheesy, and the prose purple beyond belief, but I’m sure writing them is harder than it might seem especially if Stephen is as successful as he is made out to be. Why would writing popular bodice rippers be inferior to writing bad, and pretentious “real novels?”His pity party is interrupted by….wait for it…..the plumber who has come to unclog his very backed up pipes. Wow, that is subtle right there. The plumber, of course, is some sort of totally ripped sex god, lacking in both tact and manners. Clearly someone has access to a very different stock of plumbers than we have where I come from. If I could get a Dave to come fix my pipes I might start dumping all kinds of stuff down the sink. I’m due for a good pipe cleaning. Stephen, our pent up little writer, is, alas, not as open to a good reaming as others of us might be. What follows, I assume, was supposed to be witty banter, but consisted mostly of Stephen ranting, whining, and being offended, and Dave making crude remarks, and talking about getting laid a lot. I might have been okay with this had the dialogue been sharper, or had either one of them annoyed me a little less, but alas no. They have a sexual encounter of a sort, that left me feeling let down. Then they have a talk about what would happen if this was to become more than a onetime encounter, and Dave tells Stephen that he would leave a tool somewhere, and that would mean that he would have to come back for it (and sex.) Dave leaves, and our little writer mopes until he finds that plumbing tools are hidden all over his kitchen. How he is supposed to work if he left most of his tools in Stephen’s kitchen is never discussed, but maybe plumbing isn’t his real profession.I would have much preferred this story stay true to the very porn set up. I wanted some hot, kinky one time sexual encounter. There was so much time dedicated to building up Dave as wildly promiscuous it doesn’t make any sense that after one fairly bland sexual encounter with a stuck up writer that he would suddenly want lots more. I just don’t buy it, and there is nothing in the story to back it up. I can see where it might have shook Stephen’s world up a bit, but I don’t really buy why he wanted Dave back so badly when he was so nasty to him for most of the story. It’s like the author tried to write straight up porn, and then decided to back off it, and then tack on a happy ending that doesn’t fit. It made things awkward, and uncomfortable. If you want to write smut, please write smut, but don’t try to convince me that what should have been pure smut is something more.
What do You think about The Tradesman's Entrance (2011)?
Clever, Witty, and absolutely hilarious. This was a fun, fast, and easy read.
—eunhmie
It's a tiny little bite, just a Fondant Fancy, but it's wonderful!
—CynthiaaSoBombb
Do yourself a favor and give this short story a read.
—blondie68
