Frankie & Al by Sue Brown (4 Stars)

Frankie's strong, quirky, take-no-prisoners personality brings this enjoyable story to life.
Frankie Mason is getting over yet another break-up and starting to wonder if he's getting too old to keep partying so hard. After being rescued multiple times by a mysterious sexy man with green eyes, he's determined to find out who the stranger is. Fortunately, fate is on his side, and Frankie has the pleasure of meeting Al Stoneham at a work function. Now they need to determine if they can take their relationship to the next level.
Frankie's character completely hooked me for the entire story. I fell in love with his sense of humor, sarcasm, and willingness to stand up for his beliefs. The story is told from his point of view, which worked perfectly since he was such a treat to be around. Al was sweet, and the kind of person that likes to take care of others. The interactions between these two were fun to watch, especially with Frankie's slight temper. Since Al works at the team building session that Frankie is participating in, we get to see the two of them interact quite a bit to the amusement of their co-workers.
The addictive writing style had me reading this in one sitting. I did have two minor issues with the story. I felt the pacing was a bit off with too much time spent at the beginning before Frankie met Al, and not enough time spent at the end to shore up the romance. I also thought that too many of the other characters in the story were openly homophobic, repeatedly throwing out offensive slurs and comments. Since it didn't seem necessary for any of the plot points, it just got to be too upsetting. Neither of these issues stopped me from liking the story, and I will definitely read this author again.
An entertaining story with an amazing character that kept me completely engaged from start to finish.
Originally reviewed for The Romance Reviews. Copy provided by author/publisher in exchange for an honest review.