Birthday Burglar is the story of Jamie and Neil, who are longtime boyfriends. This book is told in third person from Jamie’s pov.

1.5 Stars



I’ve read other books by this writing team and liked them, so I expected this one to be just as good. But no. I can’t recommend this story at all. Jamie and Neil act like kids, and Jamie is especially irresponsible. He buys Neil a puppy for his birthday and stores it in a locker and then later laughs at it when it’s choking and spitting up ribbon. I don’t know what the authors were thinking including scenes like that, because they weren’t funny. As a pet lover, I found it disturbing.

As I mentioned, Jamie and Neil acted like children. The story was all telling with lots of monologue, and the writing was simple. Maybe because of the characters, but I felt like I was reading a kids book. I also skimmed the sex scenes because I found the story boring. I can’t recommend this book to anyone.

The book also has about eight pages of filler at the end, which is a lot for a twenty-eight page book. Also the cover of the Nook version I read is the same as this one even though it says Kindle. It's not the one with the jockstrap and pawprints.

I give Birthday Burglar 1.5 Stars, and raise it to 2 Stars because Goodreads only allows full stars.

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What a fun little story! I guess most of us have wanted to surprise loved ones for a special occasion, and found that those surprises aren't always as successful or gladly received as we imagined. Jamie has a definite case of "surprise gone wrong" – and not just one, but several in a row. Neil's reactions were priceless, and the one thing that made this a comedy of errors (rather than a tragedy of things gone wrong) was the love between the two men. It put everything into perspective, and let even the less successful elements of Jamie's surprises appear in a favorable light. Love can be just magical like that.

Jamie is a great guy. A little scatterbrained, maybe, but focused on coming up with things that will make it a fun day for Neil. Like "being more spontaneous", a comment Neil made that stuck in Jamie's head; after three years of being together that becomes more important. The idea of a "birthday burglar" may sound like fun role play in theory, but imagine being confronted with an unexpected man clad in black when you come home. Poor Neil doesn't know what hit him.

Neil clearly loves Jamie a lot, and after he gets into the spirit of things, that’s the only thing that really counts. He plays along nicely, and as each surprise unfolds, quickly gets used to the idea. He is playful with Jamie, and whatever else they get up to, their encounter between the sheets is as hot as ever.

If you like funny stories that will make you laugh, if you enjoy reading about men in an existing relationship who try to come up with new things to surprise each other, and if you're looking for a read with heat and love, you will probably enjoy this free short story.
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The book was definitely okay. Weird but okay. Had some real laugh out loud moments but a few what in the world was the author thinking moments. To me it was just odd all the way around from the surprises, the dog, and everything else up to and including the burglary scene. I think it was cute but, ODD in which I had to give it 2 stars saying it was an OK read. ( )

cute, quick, short read. ( )